{"id":9020,"date":"2013-07-28T05:52:44","date_gmt":"2013-07-28T11:52:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=9020"},"modified":"2026-02-12T06:29:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T12:29:15","slug":"american-black-bear-surprise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/07\/28\/american-black-bear-surprise\/","title":{"rendered":"American Black Bear Surprise"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AmericanAmerican Black Bear along the Big Hole River<\/span><\/p>\n

Last Wednesday I took a scenic drive to the Big Hole National Battlefield<\/span><\/a> in Montana. This is in an area of Montana I had not been to before, so as usual I was spellbound by the scenery as I looked for birds to photograph along the way.<\/p>\n

After going through the visitors center, I got back on the road heading toward Deer Lodge County on a road that follows the Big Hole River.<\/p>\n

Stopping right before Deer Lodge County, I had lunch a few feet from the Big Hole River while watching swallows skimming over the water to take food back to their young at the nests under the bridge.<\/p>\n

After I finished my picnic lunch, I got back on the road that winds toward Divide where I could pick up I-15 again. As I followed the edge of the river, I wondered if bears came down to the river to feed.<\/p>\n

In less than ten seconds I knew I\u2019d just been handed a gift. I had been studying the shoreline where the tree line comes down to the river when what looked like a large dark boulder shifted.<\/p>\n

Boulders don\u2019t shift. The \u201cboulder\u201d had legs and the face of a Black Bear. I kept my eye on the bear as it moved in and out of the trees and their shadows, knowing how easy it would be to lose sight of it.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t get great images of the dark cinnamon<\/span><\/a> colored bear but I was extremely tickled to have spotted it and to have taken a few images of it. For a few moments the Black Bear came out and stood on a large boulder in the bright midday light, not the best lighting conditions but I was happy just the same.<\/p>\n

Spotting that bear just seconds after wondering about them felt almost ridiculous. The timing was unreal. I\u2019m still grinning about it.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my mammal photos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had been looking at the shoreline where the tree line comes down to the river when I saw what appeared to be a large dark boulder move only the “boulder” had legs and the face of a Black Bear!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":168871,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2306,2307,12],"tags":[4004,12893,12894,2311,4956,2310,4035,5558,4470,4188,2315,4076,2308,2309,3996,4032],"class_list":["post-9020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-black-bears","category-deer-lodge-county","category-montana","tag-adult","tag-bear","tag-bears","tag-big-hole-river","tag-boulders","tag-cinnamon-bear","tag-nature-photography","tag-river","tag-rocks","tag-shoreline","tag-summer-3","tag-trees","tag-ursus-americanus","tag-ursus-americanus-cinnamomum","tag-water","tag-wildlife-photography"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/american-black-bear-montana-mia-mcpherson-8402.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-2lu","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9014,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/07\/27\/swainsons-hawk-in-flight-over-beaverhead-county-montana\/","url_meta":{"origin":9020,"position":0},"title":"Swainson’s 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