Don Lloyd was on a late-evening walk last month when the light from his headlamp caught the reflection of a pair of eyes off Silver Hills Road. When he switched the lamp off, he said, “there was just enough moonlight filtering through the trees to reveal the distinct outline of a bear as it turned and moseyed off, glancing back toward me once or twice.” In the morning, he searched the clearing for scat, finding only trampled weeds. But the following evening, Mr. Lloyd’s neighbor, Ellen Serber, heard the “unmistakable” grunts of a bear outside her house, interspersed with the frantic barks of a fox. Then, last Monday, Maria Bennett reported a bear sighting on Forres Way near the Inverness School at 8 p.m.
The black bear first spotted near the Nicasio Reservoir last month has apparently made its way to Inverness. In between, a Lagunitas School parent reported seeing a bear on the former San Geronimo Golf Course on May 12. Wildlife experts say in an area where bears are rare, it’s almost certain these sightings have been of the same animal, likely a young male searching for new territory.
The Point Reyes National Seashore could support a black bear with its undeveloped wilderness and seasonally abundant food sources like berries and acorns, but it has had no resident bear population since the early 20th century, said Dave Press, the park’s wildlife ecologist and acting natural resources program lead. He said the fleeting sightings suggest the bear is avoiding humans.
“My sense is that it’s a good wild bear that doesn’t like to be detected,” Mr. Press said. “My primary concern would be whether or not the bear might get distracted with food sources like trash cans and other things that could end up being a problem.”
Black bear populations are growing in the mountains of Sonoma and Napa Counties, but the animals have been largely absent in the Point Reyes area since about 1901. In the last two decades, however, isolated bear sightings in West Marin appear to be growing more frequent. Bears were reported in the seashore in 2003, 2010, and most recently, last summer, when an adolescent male made his way west after getting stuck in a San Anselmo backyard. Lone bears can cover quite a bit of ground, and Mr. Press said the bear will likely not remain in the park.
“We can assume that eventually, it’s going to be looking for a mate and realizing that there doesn’t seem to be any luck in the area,” he said. “They have a pretty good sense of direction and are able to make their way back to their place of origin.”