Family united, all is well.

Early yesterday morning, while I was sitting quietly on the deck having coffee, as if out of nowhere, a family of black bears suddenly appeared - a large Mama bear and her cubs wandered right into the glen out back, casting a striking blackness amidst a sea of grassy green. 

I didn’t see the cubs at first, only the massive black shape of the mother bear standing by a large tree.  She noticed me right away and at first was reluctant to move.  But as she slowly turned, I saw a little head appear and the face of a baby cub sitting by her side. Adorable – breathtaking, in fact.  

The mother moved slowly away from me toward the woods, her little cub at first following obediently behind her.  But then, feeling that burst of universal baby energy, he took off bouncing into the grass in front of her, his little head bobbing up and down in the tall grass.  As I watched them head toward the cover of trees, suddenly, out of the side woods, another tiny cub appeared, racing into the glen toward the tree where Mama and his sibling had just been.
 
He stopped at the tall tree, put his front paws up on the bark as far as he could, looked around, saw Mama and paused for a moment.  Then, as kids are wont to do, instead of following her into the woods, he decided instead to romp through the high grass of the glen, bounding with full energy toward the tall trees by the fence … and closer to me on the deck. 
 
That’s all his little sibling needed to see – leaving the safety of Mama’s side, he took off running after his brother (or sister) cub, bounding and leaping over the tall grass through the glen, racing to catch up, determined not to be left behind.  All Mama could do was watch and, like all mothers, slowly follow them and wait for their energy to wane.
 
The cubs came very close to the fence, standing up on the tall tree trunks and surveying the area.  They were like little puppies playing with each other while Mama watched patiently from a safe distance, keeping her eye (and other senses) on the human with the camera on the deck.  Eventually, she got nervous about me watching them and came back up through the glen to retrieve her cubs.  They knew right away she meant business, they had to go, and they scampered back through the tall grass to her.  She took one more wary glance in my direction, turned her back and started running toward the woods, the cubs bouncing after her. 
 
Just as they were disappearing into the brush, another tiny cub appeared out of the side woods, all by himself, scampering and dashing through the grass, aware that, for whatever reason, he had been left behind, probably distracted by some wonderful bit of nature, some fascinating new thing he had discovered.  But now he wanted to be back with Mama and his siblings, and the panic set it.
 
He tried to run through the tall grass toward the woods and then realized he couldn’t see over the grass, so back to the tall tree he ran, propping his front feet up on the trunk and looking around.  He “barked” out his signal to Mama, calling several times, letting her know that he was lost, and then he listened carefully for her reply.  He must have heard it, because a few seconds later, he bounded off into the woods where the rest of the family had disappeared, stopping one more time at another tall tree to prop himself up, look around and “bark” a couple more times. I’m certain she found him, the family wasn’t far into the woods, just far enough to be safe from human eyes, and I didn’t hear any more “barking” sounds coming from their direction.  Family united, all is well.
 
And now, every morning out on the deck, I wait and watch for their return.