This was a good day for bears. I moved the camera from the compost area further into the woods to another familiar camera location. This is the location that I have referred to as the black bear's comfort zone. In this series of photographs, we will view 120 photographs of a Maine black bear who considers this small clearing to be his home base.
This location is between a quarter and a half mile into the woods from a seasonal road that passes through the hundred acres of Petra, Maine. Four animal trails lead into and away from this clearing. You will see a brush pile in the background, and a small birch tree to the left of center in the photographs. Bears leave messages to one another on this tree, as you will see.
The camera is a Primos Truth Cam 35 wildlife camera, strapped to the trunk of a tree on the edge of the clearing. It is protected from harm by an optional rigid metal exterior case, which will withstand bear attacks, as we have already seen.
Petra is a 100-acre tract of land in the St. John Valley of Aroostook County, Maine, not far from the Canadian border. This property includes a couple of potato fields, a small brook and a cedar swamp, while the bulk of the land is in mixed forest, with about a thirty-year growth. Throughout the forest are several small clearings and some old logging roads.