Thanks everyone, glad you enjoyed the pictures. Sorry not to have responded earlier but I only just now figured out how to get back online after the hack (thanks for your help Erik).
It is thrilling to see the bear. This is my third sighting of a bear in our yard in 13 years so they are not animals you just sit around and wait for them to arrive. In this instance, I was sitting downstairs in my house next to a window and out of the corner of my eye, I sensed movement, looked left and the bear was walking past less than ten feet away. I rushed to grab a camera to get a shot and took these from our front porch as it came out of our garage. The average weight of these guys is 300 pounds and seeing him up close impressed me with the solid immensity of his bulk. From tail to nose he seemed at least six feet long as he shambled by.
Erik: they are great neighbors as they are very shy around humans. My only fear was when my thirty pound dog raced out the door and chased him into the woods. I ran after Reggie (my dog) fearing that if he got too close the bear would swat him with his nasty claws. Reg had the good sense to stop when he heard my furious and fearful command for him to "come"!
Borge: The bear has been tagged in both ears perhaps because he's been trapped and marked to track him and more than once at that.
Jakov: I agree with the effectiveness of the unsharp quality of the shots. I didn't plan it that way...
Akira: These bears would only be dangerous if you came upon them with their cubs. Otherwise they want nothing to do with humans.
Elsa: We also have the rare Moose, Fisher Cat and more often, Bobcats. I've never seen the moose I should add but they have passed through the neighborhood. If you came to visit you might see deer, turkey, squirrels and chipmunks but probably none of the more exotic species. You're welcome anyway!
John: The sock is actually an oak leaf he kicked up, it took me a while to figure that one out!
In closing, this is a nice sharp picture of why the bear came to visit. The can is where we leave our birdseed for our feeders:
