A few of my favorite wildlife encounters
A surreal black bear encounter. This story was part of my contribution to Carol White's compilation of
Catskill Peak Experiences. It was unique in that most of my black bear encounters have been very brief, with the startled bear immediately turning tail and running away. But in this one the bears ignored me. As if I wasn't there - an almost out of body experience:
On an overcast, breezy, and chilly Father's Day 2005 I was hiking up the Cathedral Glen trail on Belleayre through a deep and beautiful hemlock glen. Normally I am constantly scanning the woods with my eyes looking for wildlife, and this shadowless day was ideal. However, I was climbing at a good clip, had my head down, and was in deep in thought when I heard some rustling off trail. I looked into the woods expecting to see a deer perhaps, but was surprised to find myself only twelve feet from a very small bear foraging away from me. She appeared to be a three year old cub. Within a few seconds I saw a teddy bear size cub in tow, and then a second cub. I stopped to allow the bears time and room to move on. The mother was no more than forty inches long. I was almost tempted to ask her "aren't you a little young for this?" Multiple births are somewhat rare for first time mothers, but I suspect these were her first cubs. I later learned that females are capable of mating as early as two years of age. The encounter was very surreal. She never once looked toward me, although it is hard to believe she was unaware of my presence. The cubs also paid no attention to me. At one point they climbed a small tree, and so I thought I must have spooked them. But they immediately scampered back down and were just playing. Despite being Father's day, papa bear was of course nowhere to be seen.
Stuck behind a slow moving pigeon. One of my strangest wildlife encounters was a rock pigeon walking a narrow stretch of the Verkeerderkill Falls trail in the Shawangunks, NY. We initially met as she was bushwhacking a perpendicular path to the trail. We both arrived at the same spot at the same time. As we were both surprised upon meeting, we each stopped to gaze at the other. The pigeon apparently assumed by my pause that I was giving her the right of way. So she hopped onto the trail and began to waddle along the trail in front of me. Oh great, I thought to myself, now I am stuck behind a slow moving pigeon. But I was amused by the predicament, so I followed her for some distance. Soon I began to worry that darkness might befall me, so I eventually began to crowd her a bit. She hopped off the trail and glared at me as I walked past. Over my shoulder I observed that she hopped right back on the trail and resumed her slow traverse. Why fly when you have a nice trail to walk?
Water slap. Last week my presence prompted the normal warning signal from a mother beaver. I had come too close to her family's lodge at my neighborhood,
Esopus Bend Nature Preserve. I was trying to get photos of the resident, not-so-mute Mute Swans (who were vocalizing their displeasure at being photographed by the paparazzi). No doubt the beaver was warning her kits (whom I have seen a few times) to stay in the lodge. Several times she slapped the surface of the water with her tail. I caught the following photo just as she preparing to slap the water surface (click for a larger view). A short slide show of photos (including the swans) is
here
Just about the point where she was going to catch me I jumped off the trail and started zigzagging and she let me go. It was also fortunate at the time that I had Duffy who was running free and not Lauky on a leash which would have been much more awkward.
