Badgers and Bears...

If I didn't know better, I'd think I'd moved back to the Midwest.

My trail cams recently have turned up video of a badger and a black bear.  As a native of Wisconsin, the Badgers are sort of a sentimental favorite; I tend to settle on any channel showing a UW football game.  And as a longtime resident of the Chicago area, the only NFL team I find worthy of my time is the "Be-lov-ed", the Monsters of the Midway, the Chicago Bears.  Even though it's been "wait until next year" for both teams for quite some time, it's tough to shake those childhood allegiances.  

Anyway, badgers are native to Colorado, but we don't often see them.  I think this is the third such sighting in the 17 years we've been visiting or living in Westcliffe.  Suffice it to say that it's always exciting to see that I've caught one on video...

Speaking of exciting, the first bear sighting of the year is something I eagerly anticipate each spring, and it's doubly fun when that bear is the gent I call "Handsome."  Handsome has been our neighbor for a number of years; it's remarkable how he's maintained his perfect coat after so many seasons competing with the other males in the area.  He's emerged from hibernation looking pretty fit, unlike some of the other spring bears I've seen.  A lot of bears, especially the young ones, barely put on enough weight before winter and end up looking emaciated in early spring.  Not our Handsome.  As always, he's perfectly coiffed.

Mary said, "Don't you wish we could just go out there and say hello to him in person, that he'd let us pet him and be our friend?"  I answered, "And not kill and eat us, you mean?"  

Personally, I prefer the wild Handsome.  Not all humans are as fond of bears as we are, and we don't need him thinking that we, as a species, will do him no harm.  Better to let him be himself and just enjoy the little glimpses we get of him every year.

​Hope you agree that Handsome is truly a handsome bear...