May
26
The Hood
Posted by: lmairs | May 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Every once in a while, particularly in spring, the neighbourhood hosts transients who sometimes get up to mischief. This particular visitor seems to have come and gone in less than two weeks wrecking minor havoc along the way. The bear visited Nancy’s garden first, breaking two sections of her fence and tearing her bird feeder to bits. She said she was disturbed at 3 am and thinking it was the racoons who were regular seed raiders, she marched out onto her deck with the flashlight to scare them away only to be confronted with the steely-eyed gaze of a hungry bear, mouth full of birdseed, caught in the act. She e mailed me in the morning to let me know the bear was headed in my direction. Nancy is not only the lead architect on the Woodhaven Eco Art project, she is also my friend and my neighbour. Nancy is, however, a good neighbour and doesn’t break fences and wreck birdfeeders.
That the bear ended up at Woodhaven makes sense. If I were a bear I’d aim for here too. This photo was taken early in the morning following the birdfeeder incident. She or he was perched on the hillside watching me as I watched it. I, however had a camera, the bear didn’t. Every night for the next week the bear made itself at home in my garden. It helped itself to a bag of dirt (must have had some kind of hankering for bonemeal) and made off with a square of beeswax that was left on my work bench. It must have had some left over honey on it, that bear must have thought I’d left it there on purpose.
……….
I met up with Isabelle on the trails tonight. She’s a neighbour from down the road. She asked if I’d seen the bear lately. I told her I hadn’t seen it in nearly a week. Isabelle said the last time she saw the bear was on Saturday, she came around the corner and there it was about 20 feet away on all fours, standing in the path. I asked what she did. She said she just stopped and looked at it, it looked at her, for a long time, at least a few minutes then she said the bear just turned around and walked off down the path in the opposite direction. I asked what she did. “I followed it,” said Isabelle, “for about a hundred feet then it took off into the bush.” She followed it, I love my neighbours.
I was able to get significant footage of the bear the first few days it was here while it hung around the house. Many, many people saw it. People walking with their kids and just wandering through. I am always inspired by these human neighbours in my hood. Such a privilige and opportunity to connect with this very orderly world of nature while coming from the haphazard and wild world of the human experience.
Just a reminder: All the photographs on this blog are by Lori Mairs unless otherwise noted. If you wish to use an image please ask permission.
Woodhaven Nature Conservancy is a 22 acre parcel of land managed by the Regional District of the Central Okanagan. It is located at 4711 Raymer Road, Kelowna, BC. Go South on Gordon, cross over Dehart, second left is Raymer Road, it zig zags stay on it, turn left where it say slow to 30km and when you come to the T in the road go directly onto the gravel driveway. You have arrived.