WHOA!!
The day after the 4th of July promised clouds lifting and some early sunshine - a very welcome change from all of the smoky or cloudy skies, or rain. I arrived over at Ragged a little before 5am to try a new spot that I have found over there that was filled with wildflowers. My game plan was to be in the wildflower area at sunrise and then move on to one of my favorite warbler spots when the sun lit up their favorite trees and bushes.
The wildflowers were beautiful but I could tell the sun was going to make a big show so I knew I didn’t have much time since the warblers were on my mind! Have you ever seen one of these bees?
I don’t remember ever seeing one of these bees before- I believe it is a Western Honeybee. There were tons in the wildflowers! As soon as I took this shot I packed up and moved on over to the warbler area.
I believe this is a female Common Yellowthroat - she was just putting on the most beautiful show for me! I hope to share more of her at a later date and other birds from this morning as the light was stunning and lots were showing off! I stayed in this very spot for a very long time and finally decided I really should head home. The sun was getting high and the humidity levels were soaring - needless to say I was hot, tired and thirsty!
As I rounded the corner on the path that I was on I saw some birds in the distance flitting around and decided to just set up and see if any came my way. As I was standing there looking through my lens I saw some movement in front and to the right of me that immediately caught my attention. I lifted my head away from the back of the camera to see this!!!!
I honestly could not believe my eyes as this bear was huge and moving at a very healthy clip in the direction I was headed!!! ! The bear was traveling parallel to the dirt path that leads me out of the meadow area and than back to where I park our car. My heart was pounding like crazy but I maintained eye contact with the bear to hopefully convey that I was not a threat. I fired off these shots and then picked up my tripod and camera and slowly walked backwards on a diagonal to give him plenty of room.
The entire time I am backing up he was getting closer as his strides were incredibly powerful and long! So I backed up even more , continuing on a diagonal and stopped at one point as I was pretty sure he was going to cut through some tall grasses and bushes and keep on going in a fairly straight line. All of a sudden he was no longer in my line of vision because as I moved diagonally backwards I was also going down a slight slope so those few seconds were absolutely the most nerve wracking as I had no way to know if I had guessed right… until….
I saw him -right where I had hoped he was heading!! Phew!!!!! So I fired off this shot as he kept on going…. WOW!!!
Once I settled down enough to pick up my camera and tripod to head back to the car… I kept thinking… a) that was one HUGE bear!, b) he was moving fast!, c) did his ears have a blue tag on them??
After I re-lived the experience by telling Lorraine every single moment I then downloaded my shots… and wow - just seeing the photos got my heart going again like a jack hammer! :-). Sure enough - there was a small blue tag on each of this guy’s ears!! I was able to blow it up enough on my laptop that I could make out the number on the tag. I immediately called NH Fish and Game and the wonderful woman there told me that was a Mass bear! She suggested that I contact MA Fish and Game. It took me almost 2 weeks to be connected to the right person but today a terrific guy from MA Fish and Game contacted me about the bear! He was quite excited that I was able to send him photos and the tag number and location…. He also sent me these two photos from the day this bear was tagged! He was tagged in Dunstable, MA in April of 2022. At that time he weighed 325 lbs! He was quite confident in telling me that now he is a full grown 400ish pound male bear who traveled approx. 60 miles from where he was tagged to be photographed by me! :)
Just incredible…!
Thanking the universe for this guy……