Here’s another picture of a black bear getting ready to dine on some wineberries. This time, the bear was flying solo.

Black Bear and Wineberries

Black Bears

I did not get any great shots, but have spotted a few black bears recently around some wineberries growing along the edge of our woods. Mostly, the bears are spotted at dusk and dawn.

Black Bears and Wineberries

In this picture, there were two adult bears. According to Virginia’s Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, bears are generally solitary animals so perhaps these two are a couple:

Solitary or Social?

Black bears are generally solitary, except sows caring for cubs. Adult bears may be seen together during the summer breeding period and occasionally yearling siblings will remain together for a period of time. Bears may also gather at places with abundant food sources.

Wineberries

Wineberries aren’t my favorite, but we tried some over some vanilla ice cream which was actually pretty good.

Looking at the wineberry bushes, it appears that bear select individual ripe berries to eat, although other animals could have left these star-like areas of eaten berries.

Wineberries

Heat Wave Round II

Capital Climate has been following this second heat wave we’re in:

The Washington National high of 102° missed the record by 1°, and the 100° at Dulles missed the record there by 2°.

Here are some more preliminary record reports (old record and date in parentheses):

Salisbury MD 102° (100°, 1999)
Elizabeth City NC 98° (tied 1999)
Wallops Island VA 99° (97°, 1999)…

Here at Old Dominion Wildlife HQ in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, I recorded a high temp today of 94.3F. The Capital Weather Gang is just showing one more day (Wednesday) with high heat, before a moderating trend.

Dry

I don’t much care for high heat, but the one redeeming thing is the lawn doesn’t need mowing. The US Drought Monitor shows much of Virginia is abnormally dry.

Eric commented on an earlier heat wave post that black bear have been spotted more frequently in areas down from the mountains, probably looking for water. Here’s a photo Eric sent the link to:

Thirsty Black Bear?

This is a neat shot I got last year of a bear marching past our American Flag as part of an unexpected parade of bears.

Fourth of July Bear

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Black Bear by Boulder

Black Bear by Boulder

See also:

Deer by Boulder

Turkey by Boulder

Not too long after my trailcam got its first black bear picture of the year, I saw one in person as it was getting dark…

Black Bear