By Stan Tekiela
Last week while leading a wildlife photography workshop to capture images of American Black Bears (Ursus americanus) we experienced a cuteness overload. Over three and half days, we saw many mother bears with spring cubs. The term “spring cub” refers to cubs that were born this past winter and just now coming out of den with their mother.
We are extremely fortunate in North America to have 3 out of the 8 bear species in the world. These are the Polar Bear, Brown Bear and Black Bear. The Polar Bear occur in the far northern region of Canada and Alaska. There are many subspecies of the Brown Bear including the well know Kodiak Brown Bear which is the largest of the subspecies and the Grizzly which is the smallest.
The Black Bear is unique to North America. This is why they are usually called the American Black Bear. It is found all across Canada and Alaska and reaching down the Rocky Mountains and extending well into Mexico. They are also found in many of the central and eastern states and as far south as Florida.
