This is an amazing story that needs to be communicated widely. Living in bear country you can have problems even without making any obvious mistakes.

http://wildobs.com/kathykeating/2008/7/30/what-a-bear-can-do-while-searching-for-food

The robin are here en mass taking berries from the bushes. A wonderful yearly encounter:

http://www.wildobs.com/adam_jack/2008/9/8/Berry-Marauders

Today is grey; foggy here at 8000 feet (although since we are up in the clouds I don’t know if this counts as fog.) It is a cold and damp. There are a few hummers holding out, seeking shelter from the elements on the feeders under the eaves. Me, I am huddling by a fire.

The robin are amazing to watch, the word “snarfing” comes to mind for their frenzied eating. They strip a bush from top to bottom. Unfortunately for them, an American black bear beat them to many of them:
http://wildobs.com/adam_jack/2008/9/1/Bush-plunderer

One thing I’d like WildObs to do for me is act as a reminder service; let me know those robin are coming next month, to increase my anticipation and hence help increase my pleasure. I want to know when the hummers are coming, when the bears will wake or sleep, when the blue birds will be back. WildObs should do that for me.