Bear With Me...

Okay, not a bird but SUPER cool.

These pictures were taken near Gordon, Wisconsin by Ron Rudquist. It's not every day that you come across a white black bear cub. Ron said, "I don't know how rare it is for a black bear to have a white cub but at least we can say we've seen it no matter how rare it is! Since there seems to be no sign of a pink nose or eyes, I would say that it is not an albino. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the photos!"

As Ron points out, the cub doesn't appear to be an albino since the nose and eyes are not pink. Black bears are known to have several color variations including cinnamon, dark brown and blonde. There are occasional albino black bears but I know in Minnesota there was at least one white phase black bear that showed up a few years ago at the Vince Shute Bear Sanctuary in Orr (which, by the way, is one of the most exciting things outside of birding that you can do in Minnesota). You can read more about white phase black bears at the Sanctuary's site.