We had our first bear sighting of the year. Unexpectedly, it is not a black bear but a young and bold grizzly bear. He (or she) was eating grass and for a while stared intently into a hole in the bottom of a large cedar tree. Do not know whether it managed to get any extra bits out for dinner or not.

Bobcat

Saw a bobcat on the way home yesterday. From a distance we thought it might have been a coyote, but as we got closer it clearly didn't have the tail. It also moved like a cat. As we passed it hid in the bush but Kristin got a good view of its head, just standing their staring. For both of us, this was our second bobcat ever. No photos, I'm afraid.

Flicker fight

For the last three days, we have been witnessing a duel between two male northern flickers (from the woodpecker family). There were both trying to claim the nest in an old tree trunk where we've had flickers nesting every year since our arrival.

After continuous chasing and dive-bombing into each other, the bigger and brighter colored flicker seems ta have won. As a sign of victory, he keeps tapping away on one of the metal chimneys on our roof, making the whole house vibrate. He won't let his rivals forget who is the boss here. Kristin.