BoredinEarth

#re bear? Enjoy bear. Follow @boredin.earth for more bear. . I've been watching this bear family a few times a week for about a month and it's been cool to see the two cubs becoming a little more independent. . This was the first time I'd seen the cubs without their mom. They're too young to be fully on their own, so I am sure she was close by and keeping an eye on both me and the cubs. . I'd also never seen them fish before and in fact, just a couple days before this pictures the two cubs were watching their mom fish from the banks. The salmon are at the tail end of their spawning and in pretty rough shape so I guess it's a good time for these novice fishercubs to start practicing. . I saw them chase after some fish and splash around unsuccessfully from pretty far upstream. I lost sight of them for a few minutes as I hiked away from the river and back down to try to get into a good position for photos. When I spotted them again, both cubs were sitting on the river bank. After a moment, one of the cubs walked to the edge of the river and picked up this fish so I'm not sure whether they really caught it or if it just sorta washed ashore. . Regardless, way to go little, bear. . . . #bear #bears #bearcub #bearcubs #blackbear #blackbears #americanblackbear #wildlife (at Washington) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTqG1tOP5_T/?utm_medium=tumblr

Northern flicker trying to remember if it eats bugs. . Lots of animals including myself are sort of confused about what we're supposed to eat lately. . Flickers are a species of woodpeckers, but they do occasionally eat insects. Maybe some don't either for health reasons or as a personal choice. I bet some eat bugs occasionally but regret it later. Like humans who are gluten or lactose intolerant. . Well, there's still more bears coming. But it seems better to try to keep some variety in the feed. One of my bear reels did t get shown to almost anyone and my best guess is that it was identified as possible spam since I'd already posted a bear reel. . Do flickers eat spam? . . . #northernflicker #flicker #woodpecker #woodpeckers #bird #birds #bitdsofinstagram #birdwatching #birdwatchingphotography (at Horan Natural Area & Wetlands At Confluence State Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTpi6FZvGcI/?utm_medium=tumblr

Cub bashfully sneaks a snack of the forbidden salad. The other bears just wouldn't understand. They all believe every growing bear needs plenty of protein from salmon because that's what they heard from their corporate overlords. You can't really blame them, most bears never went to school and even those who have only learned what the powerful lobbyists controlling the curriculum wanted them to learn. . Solidarity in nonCubformity, little one. . . . . . #bearcub #bearcubs #blackbear #blackbears #americanblackbear #blackbearcub #washingtonwildlife #wawildlife #Leavenworth #wildlife #animalphotography #naturephotography #wawildlife #cuteanimals (at Leavenworth, Washington) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTnlnLgvMVy/?utm_medium=tumblr

Couple more pika pics. . Also, there's something I want to explain, don't take it too personally, though. . The state of society is not acceptable and that affects everyone-- certainly some more than others. It's absurd to think your life should be all rosey all the time. In fact, it's probably evil to feel happy all the time and at the very least, expecting to be happy all the time reflects a lack of critical thought that can't be considered as simply innocent naivete. We should all think about our own complicity in maintaining a system that's causing so much suffering to other people and destroying the planet before distributing some sage advice about wellness. That neoliberal nonsense is designed to placate the masses by spinning structural issues that require social change into individual ones. If we don't question that, we're all gonna be chasing this personal zen, hedonism, or whatever other dope while the world burns. . There is a difference, though, between coping and complicity. If your mindfulness or whatever else helps you, I'm not suggesting it's wrong in and of itself. However, consider whether your personal pursuit wellness, either ignores or actually relies on the suffering of others. . All of that is to say, it's normal, healthy, and important to feel discontent and angry. Rather than only trying to force those feelings out of our minds, we need to understand why we feel that way and whether it's something internal or external that needs to change (and often it's both). . None of that is to say poor mental health should be the norm, and people suffering poor mental health should get help. That said, delusion and denial are just as harmful as depression and anxiety and neither should be accepted as the norm. . Seriously, go read something. . . . #pika #animals #wildlife #americanpika #wawildlife #washingtonwildlife #northwestwildlife #northcascades #pikas #cutestanimals (at Washington) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTnLedWvYKF/?utm_medium=tumblr

Perched pika projects powerful peep. . I didn't get any work done today. I think I'm only productive when the anxiety over falling behind on work outweighs the dread of actually working. Somehow that actually manages to keep me meeting deadlines and everything, but it also leads to a lot of wasted time neither working or doing the things I'd rather be doing. Guess it's fine, though. Keeps me fed and with consistent access to shelter. . Maybe something will give eventually. Maybe I should start buying lottery tickets. Or try harder to make money at photography. . Anyway, I'm gonna head up to Leavenworth and see the bears now. . Oh, also, I like to occasionally remind people that I write these captions expecting no one to read them. Even though I know by now that several people do read them, I still just write whatever passes through my mind. Don't take any of it too seriously. . . . #americanpika #animals #roundanimals #cutecritters #cuteanimal #cuteanimals #smallcreatures #cutecreatures #wildlife #fluffy #fluffyanimals (at Washington) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTk3-GbPjMb/?utm_medium=tumblr

Chicken monk has rejected all of the arbitrary colors in order to seek the deeper meaning of existence. . In other news, I've been thinking a lot about buying some off-grid land to live on next year. There would be some big pros and cons, though. The biggest consideration is that I'm not sure whether committing to that sort of lifestyle is something I really want or if I'd regret it in the future. . I am also starting to feel like maybe going back to a "regular" 9-5 type job might not be so bad. Like, not office work or academic stuff, but something sort of blue collar. Before college, I spent like 8 years working in factories and warehouses and I feel like I was happier then. At least you don't take that sort of work home and generally don't have to think about it all that much. . Maybe the change of setting when I move next month will bring some fresh perspectives or new opportunities. . I'm just bored and sick of the grind. . . . #chipmunk #chipmunks #groundsquirrel #squirrelsofinstagram #squirrellove #squirrel #squirrels (at Washington) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTkh93qPF3-/?utm_medium=tumblr

Smol Theodore Bear. Still photo of animate bear. . I don't like the distracting grass in the foreground, but these shots best show the white V on the cubs chest that I thought was pretty adorable. Well, maybe it's a manufacturing error and the seam where they added the stuffing isn't supposed to be so visible. . Anyway, I'm hardcore procrastinating on work again. Its so monotonous and boring and hard to force myself to focus on it. At least when you work in an office, you're stuck there and self-conscious enough not to lay on the floor watching YouTube on your phone. . . . #illegallysmol #teddybear #cuteanimals #babyanimals #bearcub #bearcubs #cub #cubs (at Washington) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTh3HilJCcU/?utm_medium=tumblr

You could have a peek of a pika. And leave a like if ya'd like'tah . Anyway, I had a plan to make a long drive to see elk today, but my GPS kept saying traffic was getting worse and that it was gonna take like an extra hour to get there. So instead I went exploring some forest roads near the tiny town of Liberty, WA. If you know this area, it's sort of the mountains between Wenatchee and Ellensburg which is sort of where I live except I made a long loop around the mountains and came back up from the west. Anyway, there are elk, but I can't get far enough in there without an off-road vehicle. . So after driving around for practically forever and getting out to look a few times, I didn't find anything any signs at all of elk or any other wildlife and I was sick of dusty roads so I just went back to the Leavenworth hatchery. I did see a few bears, but I didn't get any photos that really even compared to the ones I already got. . Kind of a long boring day and too much driving. I really get a bug boost when I get great pictures and kinda need that to get through the work week and didn't get anything this weekend. But at the same time, if if you got great photos every time, those great photos would just be average. Or maybe it'd be a sign that you're deluded. So you sorta need to sometimes not get any good pictures for it to mean something when you do get good ones. . I'm also starting to really look forward to moving to San Juan Island for a change of scenery. If I get some good pictures there, I wanna try a little harder to sell them. It's a little more touristy there than other places I've been lately so maybe I can try to make prints and get shops to take them on consignment or something. I gotta figure out some way to do photography full time. I've completely run out of motivation for my consulting work... It'll be a long slog till the end of the project in around April, but at least it's steady income. . . . #pika #americanpika #pikas #wildlife #cuteanimals #roundanimals #wildlifephotograpy #wildlifephotographer (at Washington) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTgcF0jrcNn/?utm_medium=tumblr

Here's a sequence of photos of a bear diving after a fish. . I never saw her catch one, but I only saw her try a couple times and she didn't seem very committed. I'm sure they're getting enough to eat. . . . #wildlife_seekers #wildlife #wildlifephotography #wildlifephoto #wildlifephotographer #wildlifepictures #wildlifepics #wildlifephotos #wildlifeplanet #wildlife_inspired #wildlifeshots #wildlifecentral #wildlife_perfection #wildlifeonearth #wildlifeaddicts #wildlifeconservation #wildlifelovers #blackbear #wildlife_shots #wildlifeperfection #wildlifeofinstagram #wildlife_photography #wildlife_vision #wildlifefriend #wildlifelover #wildlife_captures #wildlifeig #wildlifeseekers #wildlifepage #wildlifeaddict (at Washington) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTfPg0FlgTz/?utm_medium=tumblr

Here's a very small bear but this bear is vegan instead of pescatarian like the other bears I posted pictures of. However, just because it doesn't choose to eat the fishes, that doesn't mean it isn't strong and mighty. It could beat you up if it wanted to, it just doesn't feel like it right now. Already slayed many dragons today and have very important business under the rocks. Not hiding. Attending to an urgent matter which happens to require immediate attention inside safety bunker. . Also, ooh, tough guy big black bear thinks he's all that? Can't even stay awake good. Sleeps for months at a time. Loser. . . . . #pika #americanpika #lagomorph #wildlife #cuteanimals #rockrabbit #bunny #cuteanimal #cutestanimals #animals #cutecritters #cutecreatures #wonderfulanimals #cutewildanimals #cutewildlife #washingtonwildlife #pnw #pnwwildlife #northwestwildlife #wildlifeig (at Washington) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTdtHDZrZ7y/?utm_medium=tumblr

I like taking photos through the bushes, but never of people. So far. Although, my impulse when people come near is usually to hide. Pretty sure there's like a little bird that ate my brains and is now controlling me like that little alien in Men in Black. Or really like lots of movies where someone's controlled by some sort of alien, parasite, or supervillain. Except in my case, it's just a kind little bird. It probably got stuck in there by accident. Can't really blame them. Birds gotta eat. . Well anyway, I was gonna share a pika pic, but will post that next instead because I was curious if this would get much reaction. I was trying over the past couple weeks to learn more about Instagram and get my photos viewed more, but unlike the bird in my skull, Instagram is a cruel machine overlord. Its very unpredictable if/when it'll decide to show people your photos. Anyway, thanks to the same handful of people that always like my pictures and the random bits and spammers that seem to round out my pictures to about 100 likes whether it's my best or worst picture. . . . #squirrel #squirrelsofinstagram #chipmunk #animals #wildlife #fantasy #fantasyart #squirrels #squirrellove #cottagecoreaesthetic (at Washington) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTdMtphvT_W/?utm_medium=tumblr

Here are a couple photos of chinook salmon spawning in the icicle river. Chinook didn't run in this river in the past, they were introduced by the hatchery. I read on the hatchery website that they chose to put the hatchery there so it wouldn't interfere with already established fish populations. . I don't really know that much about the purpose or impact of fisheries. I think it's mostly for human benefit. However, salmon populations are increasingly threatened by climate change. The flow in many rivers is decreasing and temperatures are decreasing so a lot of fish can't survive their trips up/down stream. In California, earlier this year, salmon were actually loaded up into vehicles and released at the ocean because they couldn't make it downstream on their own. . Although human caused climate change exacerbates the issue, better water management could alleviate the issue for a while. . The water level around the hatchery is also much lower than it was in spring, but I haven't been around long enough to know whether it's at a normal level and I haven't heard anything specific to Leavenworth about whether that's impacting their population. I suppose the hatchery would just hatch more to compensate... . Anyway, hard to take a good salmon photo, I learned. They also looked mostly pretty gross and beat up. But I thought sharing a couple pics would be kind of interesting and unique and complement the bear photos. . . . #nature #wildlife #salmon #spawning #salmonspawning #hatchery #fishhatchery #natureconservation #conservationphotography #conservation (at Leavenworth Fisheries Complex) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTcrXD_lgVP/?utm_medium=tumblr

Ok bear. If you're keeping track, this is the sow (momma bear) again. . I could go back to see the bears today, but still have all these bear pics queued up. Also have some pika pics but might go see the pika. I like this time of year for pika because it feels like they're making their final arrangements for winter and their haystacks are really big. But I most want to go see the elk rut and I don't know of a great spot nearby that I can get to without an off-road vehicle. I might go drive around looking for them, though. . . . #blackbears #blackbear #bear #bears #bearsofinstagram #bears🐻 #bearsofinstagram🐻 #washingtonwildlife #wildlife #wildlifephotography #oso #conservationphotography #welovebears #raw_wildlife #wildlife_perfection #featured_wildlife (at Washington) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTaU8qBv-3l/?utm_medium=tumblr

Bear in the river. . How are you all feeling about the constant bear photos? I usually prefer to mix things up, but I wanted to experiment with how consistently posting pictures of bears would work out. . I also just really like the bear pictures and I sort of figure a lot of them would be missed if I did just a couple carousel posts with 10 pictures each. . Anyway, mixed in with the rest of your feed, I can't imagine seeing some bears every day would bear problem. Anyway, if I hear from any of you that it's getting unbearable, I'll mix things up with some other recent photos and "greatest hits" . . . . . . . #sow #bear #blackbear #blackbears #bears #wildlufe #washingtonwildlife #bearsofinstagram🐻 #bearsofinstagram #wildlife #wildlifephotos #wildlifephotograpy (at Leavenworth Fisheries Complex) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTYZ9QYlD5T/?utm_medium=tumblr

Little cub for ya. . It was kinda funny, the cubs mostly stayed out of sight while the sow fished, but they'd occasionally peek out from behind the bushes or through the grass. It seemed like when I looked their direction they'd hide again. . Bears are actually very nearsighted and rely more on their sense of smell and hearing. Several times I've seen these bears and others catch my scent when I'm not sure if they've seen me or not. They'll kind of put their nose up in the air and sniff around and sometimes follow the scent a bit. . Anyway, I've never read anything suggesting this, but I think cubs might have better vision than adults. I really feel like the cubs were consistently noticing me before the mom, reacting to small movements, etc. It could also be that the cubs are just more timid and the sow has gotten somewhat comfortable around humans. . Again, I want to reiterate that I wasn't as close as these pictures might make it seem and that I was practicing good bear safety. Honestly, this is more for the bears safety than mine. . When she did start to get a little close, I backed away from the river and made enough noise to be sure she noticed me without trying to startle her. Think, gently waking up a human... Quietly saying hey bear, hey bear." Im really not scared of bears and comfortable with the risks I take to try to get close to animals, but if that bear had hurt me, or if I contributed to her habituation, she'd likely pay with her life. So that's the risk I won't take and why I keep emphasizing bear safety. . If wildlife didn't pay the price for human stupidity, my ethics would be much different. I try to minimally scare or stress animals mostly because they don't always have energy to waste. But outside of that, I'd have loved to get much closer and probably could have. . . . #bearcubs #bearcub #blackbear #bears #blackbears #bear #wildlifeconservation #wildlifephotography #wildlifeofinstagram #wildlife_vision #wildlife_inspired #wildlifeperfection #wildlifephotographic #wildlifeseekers #wildlifepictures #wildlifephoto #wildlifepage #wildlife #wildlifeaddict #wildlifephotograpy #wildlifecentral #wildlife_aroundworld #wildlifepics #wildlifeig (at Leavenworth, Washington) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTXqQb0vQd2/?utm_medium=tumblr

Caption this! . Pretty sure he's a male blackbear. He hangs around the opposite side of the hat very from the sow and her cubs. Every time I've seen him, he's just lounging by the river in the early evening. I love the look on his face in this photo. . . . #blackbears #blackbear #bear #bears #bearsofinstagram #bears🐻 #bearsofinstagram🐻 #washingtonwildlife #wildlife #wildlifephotography #oso #conservationphotography #welovebears #raw_wildlife #wildlife_perfection #featured_wildlife (at Washington) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTVgeMNvvTv/?utm_medium=tumblr

Brown black bear cubs. It's kind of silly to name two species of bears black bears and brown bears. Brown bear is the species grizzlies belong to but black bears can be brown or black and do can brown bears. . Anyway, just to be clear, the bears in my photos are all American Black bears. The black black bear sow just happened to have two brow bear cubs. They also look browner in the golden lightning these photos. Also like human cubs their hair might get darker over time. . Still lots more pictures coming. Might be mostly bears around here for a while. . . . #bearcub #bearcubs #blackbear #blackbears #americanblackbear #blackbearcub #cinnamonblackbear #washingtonwildlife #wawildlife #Leavenworth #wildlife #animalphotography #naturephotography #leavenworthwildlife (at Leavenworth, Washington) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTVDBqNFDjc/?utm_medium=tumblr