What has happened to one of the baby maple trees outside our bedroom window?
Dear Baby Bear,
Why did you climb our little itty bitty maple tree?
Oh look, baby bear, you broke a branch!
Why did you fall to the earth, amazed that you couldn’t stay aloft forever?
Claw marks
How could you accidentally break these branches without us knowing?
Did your mama find you after your shenanigans?
What a tangle you've created, Baby Bear! Back to the woods, Before your mother sees what you've been doing.
Are you OK?
We hope you’re safe.
We only hope you and your mama are far away from our house, somewhere else in the woods.
Love, your fellow woods-dweller
Lake Superior Spirit 
lol
giggling and dancing thru woods and playing with bear!
whew, don’t you wish i’d been more specific about wanting to see bears?!?!?! hehe
I would like to see a bear. From the safety of the deck or front porch. Please.
Well done Kathy. I am originally from Michigan but moved away back in 1968!
Ann, where did you used to live in Michigan? I am from Yale (in the Thumb) but moved to the U.P. more than 30 years ago.
Where’s there’s a baby bear, there’s usually a sharp-toothed, large-clawed, loaded-for-human, protective mama bear. I, too, hope they’re away from your home. Far, far away…
Oh yes, I am sure Mama was around. I don’t want to get too close. But would sure like to see a bear from a distance.
Ah the bears ARE on the move in the U.P. We had a large male (likely) cross in front of us near Amasa. We were VERY surprised. Having a young one in your backyard, yikes!
Did you get pictures, Jane? I hope so!
I have to assume that if it’s not still there, it ran off after tumbling (gently) to the ground! He’s sorry for what he did to the tree!! 😉
Barry said he smelled bear smell last week some time. Bear smell is not lovely. It sort of smells like rancid fish. Must have been hanging around back then.
Love the way you read the signs and figured out who the culprit was.
I too hope the lil’ bruin is long gone.
We debated long & hard after examining the signs. We may be wrong that it was a baby bear. More likely–after reading bearyweather’s comment down below–we’re thinking it may have been a yearling. A teenage bear.
All the secrets of the forest! I remember unloading the car at our cottage one night and having a bear come crashing out of the woods towards me. A sound came out of me that wasn’t human and terrified my family already in the cottage. Later that night i told my husband I was still shaking and he said that he was still shaking from the sound I made. Glad you weren’t there when it happened and sorry for your poor tree.
But isn’t it amazing all the “life” taking place in your nesting place in the woods! I love hearing about it!
That would have been scary, Susan! Yikes! My heart would still be palpitating, all these years later. I LOVE to see bear. I LOVE it when they’re at a safe distance. So glad you enjoy hearing about this. It makes writing and showing pics so much more meaningful.
The bears are on the move in our high country, too – even though we still have much snow on the ground. Also, today at Cape Lookout, OR, bear signs were posted when we began our hike. Hope little bear doesn’t get too close to you when Mama is nearby!
You know, I would probably be more nervous living in Colorado bear-country than around here. Still snow in the high country? Oh, Barb. I hope the low-country shows many many signs of spring.
Unlike your other readers, I would love to see a bear outside my window .. especially a baby bear. (not a surprise);0)
Baby bears are all about playing this time of year and mama’s are hungry. I had a very busy squirrel in my maple tree .. right after the sap run, he was eating all the buds so I am guessing they are sweet. Maybe bears like them, too (or raccoons they are mischievous, also). The claw marks look a little bit big for baby, but he definitely could have been swinging on the branch.
(see how small they are this time of year in this cute video). The big bears are definitely moving around looking for food and marking territories.
There are daily updates about what the bears are doing in Minnesota (with really cute pictures) at bearstudy.org we are at the same latitude and not that far away, I bet it closely resembles what your bears are doing, too.
I hope they visit you again so you can get pictures of them playing in the trees.
Seems the cute bear video link I included did not work … here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv7KI_jDwUY
You know, bearyweather, Barry (not Bear-y, ha ha) and I just talked this over very seriously. After listening to your comments and checking out the link, I am thinking it was probably a yearling that climbed the tree and broke the branches. I want to see the bears. A lot. Just at a safe distance. That is always my wish.
You have a bear in your tree.
OMG i’d be really scared
We have seen a few bear over the years in the woods. This one would have been right outside our bedroom window. I am not scared when in the house–but I would have been REALLY scared to walk too close to one. Fortunately, that really has never happened–yet. OK, once I almost walked up to a bear in the woods, but I turned and hurried away really quickly.
Hi Kathy, it was fun reading all of the bear stories. Such wonderful animals. Fascinating and very much deserving of our respect and admiration. But too many sad endings when they become habituated to us and start to crave the lovely bear buffets that we unwittingly provide 😦
There were a lot of bears in and around Campbell River. The first year we were there a mama and three cubs were regular visitors. Lots of speculation about this. One morning I had to slow down (and honk the horn) while they loped? down the middle of the road.
Hi Colleen! It is sad when the bruins become too habituated. Not fun. Do you remember this blog: https://upwoods.wordpress.com/2010/08/14/dont-be-afraid-of-the-black-bears-or-church-jokes-at-breakfast/
Definitely a habituated bear… 😦
I hope you had your camera when the mama and three cubs wandered across the road!