A Life Saved

This black bear coy rests atop a snapped off pine trunk, about 30' in the air, seconds after being attacked by a boar black bear.  His quick run to this tree, his ability to run straight up it to the top, and his ferocious mother doing battle with the boar - saved him.  She drove the boar off and up a hillside (where I was) and moments later called both cubs down from their respective trees.  They meandered away, feeding on occasional pine cones, as if this happened every day - and maybe it does - because she used to have three cubs.

It was a first for me to see this kind of bear behavior in person.  Shooting in the dark conifer forest is difficult at best, even at ISO 3200 or higher.  All my images of the fight and chase are blurry - though you can still see what's happening.  I'm always glad for those few moment when animals and birds in the deep forest pause - like this cub resting his head on the trunk and watching his mother below him.

Photographed in Sequoia National Park in California on Wednesday, August 20, 2014.  Nikon D3s body, 500mm f4 lens, ISO 3200, f4 at 1/800, +.33 eV, Indura tripod, raw converted to jpg in CS6.