So, not only do our neighbors have evidence the bear is around (trail cam evidence and destroyed bird feeders), but they all watched him walk by the day I saw him in broad daylight.
They all support my description. He is huge and shiny black. Looks healthy.
Y’see, this is the difference between the US and the UK in this thread. Up the way, US people are marvelling at the big feet of a UK …
… and meanwhile, @Kayaker has got a bear wandering past his front door. @Dung_Beetle fends off huge rattlesnakes; I’m posting pictures of robins. We just can’t compete. 
Here’s another picture:
On a slightly more exciting note, out on the bike, a dear nearly cleaned me up again - appeared from nowhere, clattered right to left about a meter in front of me, disappeared into undergrowth. This time it was on a pretty busy road and I had traffic right behind me. Fortunately there wasn’t time to instinctively brake. Didn’t shut my eyes this time though. Scary stuff.
j
But you capture great photos.
Here’s a local bear encounter clip that has hit international news spread to australia by today.
I love the driver’s response. It’s so very Minnesota.
A squirrel perched on top of a fire hydrant, nibbling on something.
The grass is always greener. I envy you your European robins. Not that our big American robins are trash or anything, but they just aren’t the original item .
I once had a house guest from New Zealand who I took to see some tule elk. He was deeply envious of our large ungulates, NZ being a bit lacking. I on the other hand would love to encounter a kea.
Those robins are adorable (though I have read @Treppenwitz’s stories about what a-holes they can be at times). The blackbirds and wrens have lovely songs. I made several recordings using Merlin to identify who I was hearing around me.
My gf and a friend did a London trip a few years ago. They spent time in pubs and graveyards. In one graveyard they encountered a European Robin who would not leave Tom’s gravestone (it was a very old stone with the name Tom carved in it).
The robin stayed on the stone, even as they touched it. They thought the bird must be injured, but when they reached to touch it, it flew away to a nearby tree, but then it flew immediately back to Tom’s stone. It was a bit creepy.
It ain’t a bear walking past my front door, but…
We just had our first sighting of this years fox cubs. Never seen them out this young before:
For scale, you can see a couple of house bricks in the bed in the foreground. That’s only a meter or so from the cubs. We watched them exploring their territory and playing for about 15 minutes, with mom (I presume) watching over them most of the time. We have a total of three - here they are heading home (an earth under the back of the shed).
Not great photos, but they were out close to dusk and so there wasn’t much light.
j
Now see, I would way rather look at baby foxes than huge killer reptiles! 
A neighbor sent me this picture of the bear in her yard that then walked through my yard. She also got close up video (through her window).
I’d prefer fox cubs.
Point taken.My US/UK comparison was based on “spectacular” rather than “desirable”. That’s a big old bear.
Here’s one of the little fellas looking unbearably (no pun intended) cute.
Some time ago I said that I couldn’t leave the house without hearing woodpeckers drumming - and then confessed that I was exaggerating slightly - after all, we live in a town. Uh - can I withdraw that confession? They’re in town now, hammering away all the time. Never had this before - the population must be huge this year.
j
The Nature Conservancy turned the camera on the at the lek for the prairie chickens. There appear to be fewer birds this year. I guess the bird flu hit them last year. However, they are up to the usual search for females and fights with each other. They are fun to watch.
Peregrines are still sitting on the eggs. Per a website, the eggs can survive up to 10 days without being incubated and that is exactly how long it took from laying the first egg for them to start sitting on all four. Fingers are crossed that more than one chick hatch this year. I’m getting antsy a little too soon.
I haven’t seen the turkeys hereabouts in days, but there’s been a lot of spring cleaning going on with the HOA maintenance crew. If I were a turkey, I’d hide from that activity. Trees have leafed out and we are stepping into late spring weather.
Not today, but last week: Four buzzards sitting in a tree in somebody’s back yard.
Well, the silt fences are up on that area. Next comes the bulldozers. Ticky-tacky will ensue.
We have a lot of ducks in the neighborhood. Some live in the ponds over at the Hilton Hawaiian Village a block from us. Some live in the pond at the condominium complex across the street. We don’t have our own ducks, but we do have a swimming pool, and it is not unusual to see a couple floating in it late at night. Lately there’s been one waiting patiently on the side for these darned humans to get out of his pool so he can enjoy it. If the humans take too long to vacate, he tends to doze off.
We have some white fairy terns living on our grounds too. The wife and I always refer to them as “spooky birds” due to their glaring right at you. It’s like they’re daring you to start some shit with them. One time, two of them sat on the walkway ledge outside our unit and just stared in at us for quite a while. One kept dive-bombing this guy one time who was just minding his own business. It’s like they know they’re a protected species and have formed gangs just to mess with you, because they know you can’t retaliate. But they’re really pretty. There are a couple of chicks in one tree, and last week we saw mama flying in a fish for it to eat.
Even the baby looks pissed!
Over the weekend, I went to a farm animal rescue park. They only had pigs and cows on hand, but I was delighted to pet cows. I’ve always wanted to, but never met any friendly enough. The place had buckets of cow treats to feed them, so these guys were pretty affectionate. Here is a picture of one, “he slimed me”.
Finally! I heard the frogs singing this weekend for the first time. 
It’s music to my ears.
Saw/heard two Baltimore orioles this weekend. The Merlin app ( it identifies bird songs)is a real treasure.
Last night, while coincidently watching a Monet documentary at the part introducing the garden at Giverny, I spotted something out the window in the corner of my eye that flitted away quickly. I knew that it had to be a humming bird. The feeder had been in that spot last year.
I quickly got the feeder out and set up. Shortly there was a male black-chinned feeding at it.
I am always amazed when hummers remember where the feeder was last summer.
