A Hernando County neighborhood is buzzing about an unusual visitor.

“When I saw it, I said, 'I’ve got to take a picture of this,' ” resident Jose Franco said about the 400-pound black bear he saw standing in his backyard one recent morning.

Franco put down his coffee and went and got his camera.

The bear behind his home on Alderwood Street had only been about 15 feet away when Franco first saw it. It was still there.

“I would say 400 pounds easy, if it wasn’t more,” Franco said.

The neighborhood is not rural. Houses are packed in and the yards are not very big.

The bear looked back at Franco a few times as it walked into another yard and then disappeared.

The neighborhood is right off U.S. 19 and, on the other side of, 19 there is some known bear habitat. So at some point, the bear probably crossed the busy highway.

“I was planting a flower bed in the front yard and the neighbor across the street yells at me that a bear just crossed the road," said Barry Campiglia, who lives a few blocks from Franco and says the bear is probably the same one his neighbor saw around the same time.

“He (the neighbor) was pretty excited, and he was, like, 'don’t go back there; it will be dangerous,” Campiglia said.

The folks with Florida Fish and Wildlife know about the bear sighting and say more encounters like this are possible since bear habitat is shrinking around the state. They also recommend keeping trash secure and pet food inside because the bears are usually looking for food.