George The Bear

This is a story about a bear named George. I met George this year and had several encounters that were pretty funny because George is a goofy cinnamon colored black bear. Our neighborhood includes some of the most well-cared-for forest land - houses sparsely positioned and separated by large forest sections that are community owned which is ideal for wildlife to roam freely without much interference. Hunting is not allowed which adds an extra layer of protection national forests can't claim, on par with designated wilderness areas as far as wildlife safety. We love the animals here for sure. George enters the scene and further shows the balance found throughout this park.

George the bear scritching himself

I don't know much about George, although I know he was born on a neighboring ridge along with his sister last year. He is what they call a Cinnamon bear - a subspecies of the American black Bear and I've seen his antics from videos posted on the park's facebook page and didn't think much about him as bear encounters are common here. Inevitably George grew, his range increased and he made his way into my realm by visiting to take out our hummingbird feeder. Unusual, but not unheard of; he liked to travel by early evening to wreck havoc on an easy source of sugar water. So I'm sitting on the couch and hear the telltale noises of a clumsy bear knocking over stuff to get to his prize. I hurry to the door and there is George doing his best by climbing on our deck rail to harvest the hummingbird food. The basic rule is to scare bears off which I did and I hear the huffing grumble as he realized there will be no prize here. The grumble cracks me up because I know he is not happy about being run off so close to his snack. I got my camera and followed him for a while keeping distance. Here a few photos of as he wandered off into the forest.

George the bear - proud side view