A visiting Black Bear bears a blaze (a white V) on its chest. Fans of redundancy are wont to call this feature a white blaze.
Some websites that discuss the blaze claim that it is a common characteristic of Black Bears; others say that it is rare. Possibly the occurrence of a blaze varies from one region to another; possibly some websites are just poorly researched and edited (imagine that!).
What I can say is that around here, a blaze is rare. Indeed, the last time I photographed a bear’s blaze was a decade ago.
It is a rare bear that bears a blaze.
What a rare beauty!
As usual Alistair, you’ve presented us the bare facts.
Interesting that your bears rarely have a chest blaze, here in northcentral PA blazes are common on black bears.
Hm I see this bear bears a white mustache as well — a rare bear indeed 😉
Wendy