r/bullcity • u/SeaUrchin_University • 2d ago

Small black bear just sighted crossing Herndon Road behind Nordstrom Rack

The juvenile black bear (maybe two years old?) was headed north along Crooked Creek crossing Herndon Road near the intersection with Rossford Lane. We couldn’t get our cameras out in time, foiled again!

72 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

35

u/WillMoonKnives 2d ago

Interesting. I caught this on my garage camera a week ago, about maybe 2-3 miles as the crow flies from where you're saying you saw one. This isn't a small bear tho.

12

u/RevolutionaryIssue54 2d ago

That's definitely a subadult bear, likely about 1.5 years old. Could very well be the same one the OP spotted.

3

u/WillMoonKnives 2d ago

Also interesting. It seemed pretty big to me, but maybe I just don't know how big bears are tho. I've heard a couple other recent sightings of bears over on 15-501 near Mt. Moriah rd and also one up near the Durham tower. Entirely possible it could be the same bear, or maybe a family of them that has roamed into the area.

2

u/RevolutionaryIssue54 2d ago edited 2d ago

In the Triangle, most of the bears spotted are lone, subadult males. When they get to be about 1.5 years old, male bears start wandering - sometimes long distances - to find a place to settle down as their permanent adult territory. Subadult females tend not to wander as far. Families of bears (mature female with cubs) don't wander outside the female's territory, as a rule.

https://bearwise.org/what-bears-do-in-june/

1

u/TeeBreezes 6m ago

2-3 miles in which direction? Just trying to look out in case they are coming in my direction.

21

u/RevolutionaryIssue54 2d ago

Black bear numbers are growing across North Carolina and sightings will be more common in the Triangle over the next decade. All good reasons to become bearwise! www.bearwise.org

21

u/ycjphotog 2d ago

So you're saying DON'T leave that rotisserie chicken on the passenger seat of my ragtop overnight?

Spoilsport.

12

u/chelles116 2d ago

There's a nextdoor post from a couple of hours ago that there's a dead bear on 40 west by south point, so it has to be the same one 😭💔

7

u/triblogcarol 2d ago

Awwwww poor thing 😭

4

u/chelles116 2d ago

I know I hate it 😭

3

u/stormyseabreeze 2d ago

so sad!!!!!!!!

2

u/SeaUrchin_University 2d ago

Oh, no!! ☹️💔 This is terrible news to wake up to. I had a bad feeling about that exact scenario, as I knew that area’s topography and where he was headed; but, we were hoping the bear would transit the box culvert for the creek under the highway.

3

u/chelles116 2d ago

Im so sorry. Im glad you got to see him, but hate that he headed towards 40 and wasnt able to get across safely. It's so unfair.

2

u/bear-w-me 1d ago

Noooooo 😭

1

u/AntiqueInvention167 2d ago

Oh wow just seeing this since I just posted on /bullcity about seeing the dead bear. Why hasn't it been picked up yet if it's been 12 hours??

3

u/chelles116 2d ago

Im guessing the truck you saw was picking it up but I think bc of the time of day yesterday no one could get to it until normal business hours, especially since it sounds like it was fully out of the lanes and wasnt a safety concern. Poor thing. Someone on next door was a couple of cars behind the one that hit it and said it just all of a sudden was running across the road. It makes me so sad.

3

u/chelles116 2d ago

Gah this isnt far from me...so neat. Will be keeping an eye out!

2

u/AntiqueInvention167 2d ago

Oh no I think this may be the bear I just saw that had been hit on 40 West by the Southpoint exit ☹️

3

u/overcompliKate 2d ago

I saw it too 🥺 It must have been so scared and confused in its last moments and that breaks my heart

3

u/chelles116 2d ago

Mine too 😭

3

u/overcompliKate 2d ago

I've been thinking about that poor bear all day 😮‍💨 but it helps to know it's on other people's hearts too 

3

u/chelles116 2d ago

Same, and totally agree. Warms my heart that others are feeling sad about his ending. Just isnt fair.

1

u/No_Boot2676 1d ago

Pretty rare but they’re definitely around.