Acorns for Breakfast: A Bear Cub Peers Down in Cades Cove
- Location
- Cades Cove Scenic Loop, Cades Cove Loop Rd, Townsend, TN 37882
- Date photographed
Along the Cades Cove Scenic Loop near Townsend, Tennessee, breakfast was being served high in an oak. Two cubs and their mother had climbed into the canopy, where acorns hang in clusters between lobed green leaves, a few already edged in orange. One cub wedged itself into the fork of a pale, sun-dappled trunk, chin nearly resting on the bark, and stared down with an expression somewhere between curiosity and mild annoyance at the interruption. Below, a second dark shape pressed into the branches, mostly screened by foliage. The cubs looked completely at home off the ground, claws hooked into bark and bodies draped over limbs as easily as we stand on a trail. It makes the old joke land: if a bear ever chases you, climbing a tree is not the plan. They were up here first, and they are far better at it. Photographed with a Nikon Z8 and NIKKOR Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR lens.
Behind the frame
Nikon Z8, NIKKOR Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR Lens
Explore in: Wildlife & Birds