A Suprise Visitor
Saturday night was perfect for sky gazing. You couldnt ask for better conditions so my boyfriend and I loaded up our telescope and drove out to his parents country home to visit and escape the ambient light of Binghamton.
Billions of stars sprawled the sky, and his parents joined us in our quest for new things to see
By now, Jupiter and his moons, Saturn and his rings are old news to us tho still an awesome sight. On this night, we were looking for clusters and galaxies. During our trek across the visible universe, we stood around chatting, laughing, pointing, looking at star maps with our red LEDs, taking pictures of planets, just hanging out in the front yard having a good time
Somewhere in the dark, and not-so-distant from us, the noise of wildlife stopped us briefly. For a moment we stood quietly listening but dismissed it as some wandering deer, raccoon, or some such thing. It wasnt out of the ordinary, simply close in proximity
We turned our attention back to the night sky, and to a galaxy my boyfriend had accidentally come across on the way to a globular cluster.
Again we heard a noise, but this time much, much closer in fact 30 feet away where various birdfeeders hang from a tree We froze, wide-eyed, and listened. My boyfriend asked me to go inside, and for his dad to bring a flashlight quickly. The house was another 30 feet away
Seconds later, Im at the door but not inside - my boyfriend at my side, and his dad comes out with a flashlight.
On it comes, pointing directly on:
a black bear.
We three say Holy shit.
For about an hour we watched this lumbering creature devour birdseed one feeder at a time, plucking them out of the tree like apples. All the noise we made, all the lights and cameras flashing on it as we took pictures didnt phase it a bit. We attempted to scare it off since, after all, it was ruining the feeders - but it paid no mind to what we silly humans had to say.
We found it fascinating how brassy it was, to lumber up just 30 feet from we three star gazers. Yet how unsettling it was, that if it was interested in more than that, we wouldnt have known it was there until we came nose-to-nose.
Two bear myths were dispelled that night:
1 Bear DO have eye-shine. And
2 Banging pots and pans and yelling at bear youll make yourself look silly. It doesnt faze them at all.
Billions of stars sprawled the sky, and his parents joined us in our quest for new things to see
By now, Jupiter and his moons, Saturn and his rings are old news to us tho still an awesome sight. On this night, we were looking for clusters and galaxies. During our trek across the visible universe, we stood around chatting, laughing, pointing, looking at star maps with our red LEDs, taking pictures of planets, just hanging out in the front yard having a good time
Somewhere in the dark, and not-so-distant from us, the noise of wildlife stopped us briefly. For a moment we stood quietly listening but dismissed it as some wandering deer, raccoon, or some such thing. It wasnt out of the ordinary, simply close in proximity
We turned our attention back to the night sky, and to a galaxy my boyfriend had accidentally come across on the way to a globular cluster.
Again we heard a noise, but this time much, much closer in fact 30 feet away where various birdfeeders hang from a tree We froze, wide-eyed, and listened. My boyfriend asked me to go inside, and for his dad to bring a flashlight quickly. The house was another 30 feet away
Seconds later, Im at the door but not inside - my boyfriend at my side, and his dad comes out with a flashlight.
On it comes, pointing directly on:
a black bear.
We three say Holy shit.
For about an hour we watched this lumbering creature devour birdseed one feeder at a time, plucking them out of the tree like apples. All the noise we made, all the lights and cameras flashing on it as we took pictures didnt phase it a bit. We attempted to scare it off since, after all, it was ruining the feeders - but it paid no mind to what we silly humans had to say.
We found it fascinating how brassy it was, to lumber up just 30 feet from we three star gazers. Yet how unsettling it was, that if it was interested in more than that, we wouldnt have known it was there until we came nose-to-nose.
Two bear myths were dispelled that night:
1 Bear DO have eye-shine. And
2 Banging pots and pans and yelling at bear youll make yourself look silly. It doesnt faze them at all.
posted by Strange Little Girl at 3:37 PM
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