On Thursday, May 19th, Herb and I went to check our cameras at the bear tree, south of Peachland Creek. Three bears had been there to leave messages, a large male black bear, another big brown coloured male bear the brown variety and the other and a smaller black bear, of undetermined sex. 

Beside the trail that leads to the bear tree the, we noticed an aspen tree with a fresh wound. A large piece of bark had been removed and the surface of the wood underneath bore the marks of a bear's teeth. 

The height of the mark above ground gives you and indication of the size of the bear. Herb's height is about 5 feet 6 inches. He had to raise his arm to touch the bear's teeth marks.

Bears have many ways to convey messages to other bears, some involve scent marking, such as rubbing their bodies against certain trees to anoint the tree with the oils of their skin glands. 

This bear is just arriving at the bear tree.

Another way to leave a message to other bears is by rubbing their bellies along the ground. They also use urine and feces to mark their trails. 

The big brown bear arrives at the bear tree.

From these body scents, other bears can tell the sex and age of the marker, also his or her mood, including readiness for mating.

The smaller black bear at the marking tree.

You can see this sequence in action at: https://youtu.be/PS_yMXEcjDk

This wild rose grows beside the trail.

 The peavine is a wild legume that is in flower in the forest now.

Rosy Pussytoes, growing along the trail.

This final picture is of another Short-winged Blister Beetle that Herb noticed on the trail. It was in the process of digging a hole and in reading about this beetle, I have learned that it lays its eggs in holes in the ground, usually near a nest of ground nesting bees. The larvae, when they hatch, feed on bee larvae and the provender brought in by the foraging adult bees. But the beetle larvae are not pleasant guests; they eventually destroy their hosts.

These beetles are so named because when disturbed they exude a fluid which contains the poison cantharidin, commercially known as Spanish Fly. It causes blisters on human skin on contact. The beetles and their exudates can kill livestock, usually by contaminated baled hay. This is a quotation from an internet site: "Males of some other beetles (notably, Pedilus and some Anthicidae) seek out blister beetles, climb onto them and lick off the exuded cantharidin. These other beetles, resistant to the toxic effects, use the agent to impress their females; the cantharidin is transferred to the female with the sperm packet during mating. The eggs the female lays are coated with cantharidin to protect them from predators. Some plant bugs (e.g. Aoplonema) are also attracted to meloid beetles." http://bugguide.net/node/view/181 

Note: To make the pictures larger, just click on them.