Daytime Bear Family

A couple of days ago, I was lying on the couch trying to get some much needed sleep when some yelling and screaming disturbed me.  I was still in a lot of pain from my spinal injuries but I was now able to get a bit of sleep for an hour or so at a time.  What awoke me wasn't the sound of screaming kids playing though. This was older people yelling like they were rodeo cowboys and that is odd since we have no rodeo cowboys within hundreds of miles from here!

After our encounter with a fox in our backyard a couple of weeks ago, I have a camera already set up with a long telephoto lens on it and ready to grab if something noteworthy happens again.  When I heard this commotion the other day, I got up and grabbed this camera and stepped outside the front door.  

It sounded like the yelling was coming from a couple of doors down from our house and I suddenly saw a bear cub clawing its way up a big tree...  actually, I heard it first then suddenly saw the cub scrambling up the tree...  then another cub...  then another cub...  then the big ole momma bear.  At this point, I realized that the yelling was a couple of guys trying to scare off this bear family.  It was still daylight out, kids were out playing, people were walking down the street, and this momma bear could seriously hurt someone.  

I heard rocks and sticks hitting the tree as the bears were scrambling up the tree.  The two guys who were trying to scare off this family were actually throwing rocks and sticks at the bears.  Momma bear was huffing, then moaning, then huffing, then moaning.

Below, you can see the Momma bear alternating between huffing and moaning.  It was clear she was conflicted on what to do.  Within a minute of two, the two guys relented and came over to my house to talk about what we should do next.  They kept the street clear of kids and adults walking as we watched this bear family climb higher and higher into this tree...

If you look closely at this photo, below, you can see that the Momma bear was hit in the head with a stick thrown by the two guys trying to scare them off...  I'm sure she was hit by a few thrown rocks too!

I was able to capture one of the cubs backing his way back down the tree after the Momma bear had already climbed down and was waiting from the cubs on the ground.

I don't like these bears frequenting the area even at night but it is really bothersome seeing them during the daylight hours too!  Fortunately, this bear family was effectively scared out of the area and nobody was hurt...  oh...  and I happened to capture a few decent photos of the encounter!