This bear was from the Seminole Forest area close to our neighborhood. He stopped in my yard to eat berries from a tree he was under. He stayed for about an hour and was very relaxed even while I took pictures of him.
I am always scanning for wildlife as I drive, in case something tries to cross the road for instance, and this bear easily caught my peripheral vision attention about 20 meters off the edge of PA State Route 22, north of Johnstown, about two hours from home. I pulled over immediately and walked back a little, to see if it was still there. I stayed about fifty meters away from it and took pictures. It seemed to want to cross the road, but turned back a couple times.
It seemed to catch scent of me, and then clearly looked right at me, sitting back on its haunches.
I have some experience with the Fish and Game Commission inspecting bear carcasses harvested by hunters, weighing and extracting a tooth for analysis etc., but this bear was noticeably bigger than any I have seen before. I would guess roughly in the 400 pound (180 kilogram) range. It was a bit scary actually to be looked at by such a huge animal. I did not see any cubs. That, along with its tremendous size suggests that this was a big male. It did not seem disturbed. It turned away from me calmly, and walked around a little for a couple minutes. It then went farther away, at one point standing up to get one more look at me (he was towering standing up), before actually laying down for ten minutes. He then got up slowly and walked away north into the woods.
Another couple that stopped when they saw me with my camera said they had been seeing a bear with two cubs in the neighborhood lately, but that this one was much bigger.
Wow. This was, for me, a very rare encounter with a literally awesome creature.
Mother and cub. The cub ran up the tree when it saw me and the mother stayed at the base of the tree watching the cub and me for a minute. Then she ran off in the opposite direction and the cub quickly climbed down and ran after her.
Saw it glide onto the tree. Such a cool experience. First time ever seeing one.
Observed two minks along Janes Scenic Dr for about 10 minutes until one was unfortunately eaten by an alligator. Second and third photos are screenshots of a video.
first savannah hare!
Florida Panther (Puma concolor coyri)
It's as good as I could get from the car...they're fast!
Write up from Flickr when we initially found the animal:
We were driving west on alligator alley this morning with our friend Randy when I caught a quick glance of a roadkill in the middle of the road. I instantly thought it might have been an everglades mink (highly endangered). We kept driving and about 2 miles later we saw an animal running across the highway. We got a really good look at it and I am sure it was a live everglades mink (my second live mink, first was in Fakahatchee).
Randy turned around so we could go check out the roadkill I had seen a few miles back. It turned out to be an everglades mink also! I called Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park biologist Mike Owen to tell him . Mike said we would submit it to the University of Florida under his permit to collect roadkill.
According to Mike there are about 15 mink which have been collected over the past 80 years or so and send to the University.
two cubs from last winter
GRIZZLY 399! first sighting!
Young male, seen from a boat on the Rio Manu in Manu National Park, downstream from Cocha Cashu research station.
Breached repeatedly near boat
Continuing for a second day in the same area. Yellow House trails, Mindo
Unfortunately, this snowy had a badly broken wing. Fish and Game with animal control were to efficiently capture him. Hoping he was able to recover.
ecoEXPLORE Username: gavinr