Black bear spotted wandering in Sisters

Sisters residents are used to visits from wildlife. Deer are like lawn ornaments in some Sisters neighborhoods and all sorts of birds and squirrels are residents.

But Sisters residents don’t often get a visit from a black bear.

Last week, Sisters resident Rick Geraths was driving along Camp Polk road near Sage Meadow when he stopped to pick up a big cardboard box that had fallen in the roadway.

He got back in the truck. “I started going and I saw something moving (in an adjacent field) and said ‘That’s a bear!’’’

He grabbed his brand new digital camera and started snapping pictures.

For 20 minutes Geraths watched as cars sped by, drivers all unaware of the wildlife spectacle going on 50 feet off the roadway.

“Every time a car would come by he would spin around and hide behind a tree,” Geraths said. “He was pretty freaked out. I think he was in that field and when I stopped it scared him.”

The next day, a sheriff’s deputy warned residents at the far end of East Cascade Avenue in Sisters about a black bear lurking in the neighborhood.

The deputy wanted residents to be cautious about children playing near the creek or in the undergrowth.

Several otehr sightings were reported over the weekend.

The bear Geraths sighted was an American Black Bear.

The bears are found across the United States. Despite the implications of the name, the bears can be different colors, including brown and even blonde.

Gerath’s bear was clearly brown or “cinnamon” in color.

According to the American Bear Center, black bears are divided into 16 subspecies based on small differences in appearance and DNA.

The Pacific Northwest subspecies is called Ursus americanus altifrontalis.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

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