June 15, 2010 - Every spring since 2008 we have carefully watched our
feeders for signs that hungry bears have found our easy to use bird seed
buffet. Bear sightings in the local paper make us even more cautious. Early this past spring, bears invaded a local aviary that
sells all things beekeeping related and really good honey products. We
felt very bad for the business as quite a bit of damage was done.
Since the bees and their honey are about 13 miles away from our
backyard, we felt we were probably safe for another year.
Imagine our surprise when I noticed a peanut nugget feeder on the
ground on the evening of June 15th. Much squinting and binoculars showed that
a bear was sitting and eating from a ground feeder full of sunflower
seeds. We watched helplessly while he ate his way through several
feeders, then stood up and yanked a four slot suet feeder off a tree
branch. At that point he grabbed it in his mouth and ran out of light
and camera range. The light of day later showed damage to six
feeders and a pole.
We fully intended to bring in the feeders the next night on June
16th. However, when we stepped outside to walk the dog at noon, a bear
was quickly advancing on a different set of feeders across the yard.
In we went to grab the cameras.
Since we didn't want to stop feeding the birds entirely, we again
played host to our bear at 4:00 on the afternoon of June 29th. At 7:30
PM the next day a new, thinner and younger bear showed up for
treats.
We had a very moist spring and there was domestic and wild vegetation
galore. So we were shocked that the bears decided enough of
salad-like meals, these feeder cans of nutty food products can be popped
open with relative ease. Thanks for the treats, Food Guys!
It's pretty common knowledge that black bears are sprinkled liberally
throughout the upstate New York area. Obviously you aren't going to see
them during the winter months. Bears in this area hibernate, but can be
awakened, although there just isn't any good reason for them to venture
out in the cold. Come springtime the bears emerge and grab something to
eat. You'd be 'hungry as a bear' too if you'd taken a few months long
nap and that's exactly what they have on their mind; food.
During the winter months we normally leave the bird feeders outside
at night. This gives the early birds a chance to have breakfast before
we food folks have our coffee. We sometimes did bring them in when a big
storm was expected, but even then they were a good photo backdrop
decorated with snow and ice. In 2007 we had left the feeders out during
the spring and summer, so along comes 2008 and we just 'continued on
continuing on' not expecting anything to change. We were wrong.
Bears need a pretty big territory, easily covering 2 to 20 square
miles as part of their regular routine. Unlike 2007 where we were not in
a selected bear territory (or if we were it was just dumb luck
they didn't visit), spring 2008 started off with a bang. The local paper
printed a photo of three black bears on the edge of a wooded area not
half a mile from our property. It was a good confirmation of what we
already knew since some shepherd's hooks holding feeders, a wheelbarrow
with sunflower seeds, and bear paw prints in the yard and on window
panes had already announced their presence. Bears have a very keen sense
of smell (15 times greater than people) and can detect food sources
three miles away. We learned to put trash cans in our sheds after
a bear removed one bag from our can of trash to find the treasure of the
second filled with edible garbage.
While the bear(s) made numerous return visits to the yard in the
early spring before we wised up and started bringing in the bird feeders
every night, they never appeared during the daylight hours. Bears are
diurnal and do forage day and night. Quite a few
times we'd hear them outside at night and flip on the porch light for a
better view, but were never able to get a decent photo. Several
times we saw one standing on our porch batting at a sunflower seed
feeder right outside the door. We finally rigged
up an outside light and waited, but they never returned again while the
light was on to make photos possible. They did however sneak back after
the light was out, toying with us and defying our photo attempts.
Luckily, we know a relative of Dan Pemrick who took the photos
published in the paper. The following week or so, there were many
complaints of female bears with cubs visiting garages and yards in the
nearby village looking for anything to eat. It was very early
spring and natural vegetation, fruits, berries and even insects were in
short supply here. We don't know if others more successful than we
were in photographing any bears, but we are very grateful to Dan
and his mom for allowing us to show our feeder thieves on this site.
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Size:
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Length: 4-6 feet
Shoulder Height: 2-3.5 feet
Weight: Female 150-250 lbs; Male
200-600 lbs
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ID:
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Male: Usually black in
eastern North America; brown muzzle; possible white chest patch;
small brown eyes (poorer eyesight than
many animals); round ears (hearing range greater than humans;
long snout and black nose (sense of smell excellent-possibly 15
times that of humans; large head; body profile is highest at
rump; very muscular, long, thick body; walks on entire foot
(flat-footed gait); short tail (not often visible); heavy coat
of fur; excellent memory (returns each year to same food
sources)
Female: Smaller than male
Juvenile: Similar to adults; blue
eyes at birth
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Habitat:
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Large forests (with various fruit and nut
trees) mixed with sunny open areas (with edible vegetation
and berry bushes); near wetlands with streams or pools (for
drinking, fishing, and cooling off)
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Diet:
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Prefer nuts, fruit, greens (grasses, roots,
twigs); omnivores (eat vegetation and meat) consumes many
insects (ants, termites and bees after eating the honey and the
entire nest) and small animals (mice, squirrels and rabbits),
fish and carrion; with scarcity of natural foods, especially in
spring may raid garbage cans and bird feeders
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Family Behavior:
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Mating Habits: Male
territory (3-60 sq mi) covers that of several females (1-15 sq
mi); females breed every 2 years; mate late May to early July)
Nests: Born in winter den to hibernating
mother
Young: 1-6 (usually 3 in Northeast) born
January to February; weigh .5 to 1 oz; weaned 6-8 months; travel
with and learn by watching mom how to eat and find food;
yearling hibernates with mom during second winter; spends about
17 months with her (until she is ready to breed again); may
continue to live with siblings but separate after 1 year
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Activities:
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Walks slowly and makes
frequent stops to lift snout and smell for food or danger; roams
and sleeps at different places within territory; diurnal (can be
awake night or day- prefers to roam at night around humans); can
run 25-35 miles per hour; hibernates 5-7 months in den (lives
off stored body fat); excellent climber; male mostly solitary;
female travels with cubs (rests near a tree for cubs to climb in
case of danger); overeats to add fat for warmth and nourishment
for the winter (may take on 100 lbs.); sleeps in caves, fallen
logs or dig dens in the ground (needs only enough room to turn
around); uses different den each year; may attack when surprised
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Predators and Dangers:
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Encounters with humans (guns and autos);
destruction of habitat; rarely dies of natural causes outside of national parks or zoos;
young bears (less than 17 months old) may die of starvation,
falls from trees, predators (wolves or mountain lions), or other
accidents)
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Sounds:
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Often silent; may grunt in friendly
circumstances; huffs and loud blowing noises when threatened
also clacks teeth and stamps foot as warning; female calls cubs
with a grunted uh-uh (woof like a dog) cubs squeal and some say
purr; communicate with snorting and whining
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Lifespan:
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25-30 years in the wild possible, but
averages 3-10 years
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