For an Alaska black bear trying to get some relaxation, this bald eagle nest was good.
The nest napper was noticed high up in a tree at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, a army base in Anchorage, throughout a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service eagle nest survey on July 17. The agency shared a photo of the storybook-esque scene on Facebook a number of days later.
“At first, my mind was trying to make it into a baby eagle … perhaps with its wings spread or something,” USFWS biologist Steve Lewis told McClatchy News on Thursday. “Then I realized it was a small bear sleeping there.”
The nest was about 6 ft large, he added.
As cute because the picture is, bears in eagle nests can spell unhealthy information for the birds. The wildlife service famous in its Facebook submit that black bears have been recognized to raid bald eagle nests, ensuing within the loss of life of younger birds.
This specific bear, nevertheless, might be harmless. Lewis mentioned he suspects that the nest had “failed” method again within the spring, earlier than the bear discovered it.
It’s not completely clear why the bear selected that spot for a nap. Sometimes bears are drawn to the smells of previous and uneaten food, like fish, that may linger in nests. It’s additionally attainable that the bear got here throughout the nest by probability and thought it appeared snug, Lewis told Live Science.
“It could have just happened to climb the tree and decided to take a nap,” he mentioned.
