sttpgh's Favorites

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.

A bird call recorded by a friend. Starts at 1 second in, and again at 17 seconds, with a Tufted Titmouse in the middle of the recording. Sounds like Northern Cardinal to me, but the beginning of the call seems a little odd to me. This bird (and/or its offspring) has been there for many years, I am told.

Mink? Fisher? I originally thought it was a groundhog but the ears and tail don't seem to match. No stripes on tail or black mask like a raccoon either. It was around 1 and 1/2 - 2 feet wide. Didn't move around a lot. Was about 15-20 feet up resting in a tree, just sitting there. Didn't make sounds. Near marsh and flowing water.