I have (or had) three feeders for my fine-feathered friends. I have an antique wrought iron feeder that I keep sunflower seeds and a few raw peanuts for my buddies the nuthatches. A bird feeder with suet feeder wires on each end mounted on a pole. I also had a niger seed feeder for my gold finches. On Sunday morning I went out to feed my two pet rabbits. My vegetable garden is close by and I noticed the wrought iron feeder was laying on the ground. Then I noticed the bird feeder was not on top of the pole. The finch feeder was broken in half and laying in the garden. Bear tracks in the garden. I put the bird feeder on a Shepherd's hook. I put seeds and suet in the feeder. I decided I would put the feeder inside my shed before dark. I didn't get home until after nine so I didn't bother putting it inside the shed. Well, a little before eleven o'clock I heard noises outside my living room window. I grabed the big flashlight and what did I see? Mom and her two yearling black bear cubs. I tried to get a photo but they didn't like the light and left.
Talk about wildlife in the garden! Is this normal for your area? I've only seen bears in the zoo, and I think I would have been half scared to death if one was in my yard.
Oh no! They are wonderful creatures to view, just not so close! You will have to be very carefull now ... they tend to return once they have found a food source.
I think the squirrels around here can be a nuisance thank goodness I don't have to contend with bears too!!
I don't think I would be too thrilled to see a bear in the back yard. It's so peaceful and bears just break everything as they feed. I like watching the deer they only eat bushes and the bushes grow back. Jerry
At my old house we had tons of them. Even though it seems more out in the country here and by donm's area (he is 2 hours west of me) bear are not as much of a nuisance here. I have had 3 close encounters with them. One time I was riding my bicycle on the highway and up came a bear out of the brush crossing my path. I almost hit him, as he looked at me and tucked his hind end in for me to miss him. I was shaken up that day. One day my daughter was laying in the sun on a blanket and all of a sudden a bear came sniffing around. I asked her what she did as there was no one around on 100 acres and she told us she just played dead. Being disabled, she couldn't have gotten up to move quickly. From that time on she had one of those boat horns on her and she layed out in the sun right at the bottom of her deck. They are very strong and powerful beings and you get respect, real quickly, for them when you are up close and personal with them. donm, my bird feeders are on a 10 foot pole and we hoist the feeders up on pulleys. At our old house we had an electric cattle fence hooked up right on the tree to keep them away and it worked....
Yikes I am so glad we do not have them around here to come into our yard. Where your bunnies OK? I hope so. A friend who lives about 2 hours away had one visit in the middle of the night. He had gotten up to go--well you know. Heard some noise on his deck and grabbed a flash light. Upon shining the light out a window that looked out on the deck he got quite the shock. A black bear was looking back at him on the other side of the window. They never let their four year old son out to play by himself after that.
