He's Baaaaack!!! 🐻 Ernie survived!!!
My heart is full. 💗🥰
And judging by the size of him, I'd dare say he thrived, too. 😂
Since this was the very first local bear to discover the rubber ducky that I left out by the Rub-a-Dub-Tubs, back in 2020, I ended up calling him, "Ernie."
Ernie the bear has a broad head, and very gentle demeanor, just like his Sesame Street-Ernie name-sake. I think the kinda name fits, don't you?
This makes 4 years in a row that Ernie has come through during bear mating season to visit the tub and play with his rubber ducky. He loves to Zen out in the water and get all blinky-eyed in the sun. It makes me so happy and relieved to see him return each year! (I believe I saw him swing through here in earlier years, too. I just didn't have the tubs back then. That's something i need to do more of -- scour my ridiculously-large archive of trail camera footage. Whenever I do that, I begin recognizing more and more bears. So cool.)
I just love this guy so much.
Every time he returns to the mountain, it's a reason for celebration. (Plus, all the girls are happy. He had waiting in the wings for him when this footage was captured. Zoe was being skittish, but was definitely interested.)
P.S. At 1:06, it kinda looks like I baked a loaf of Bear Bread, doesn't it? 🤣🍞🐻