A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Banter Hall The Critter Corner OMG - was it really...

a BLACK BEAR???
ON OUR SECOND STORY DECK???

EATING MY BIRDSEED???

Don called me downstairs just before dinner, with a tone that let me know something was very wrong! I flew down the stairs while he told me there was a black bear on the deck! Ran back up to quickly grab my camera, but when I got down he said that I "chased him away"! Oh really - my running down the stairs inside chased him, but your yelling to me right at the window just a few feet didn't? Silly man!!!

Anyway... there had been a black bear which I missed by a hair, on my birdfeeder pole - the weight of the bear bent the heavy metal pole all the way down - it usually is at a 45 degree angle upwards away from the deck railing!!!

He called the police to warn them that there was a bear in the neighborhood. Of course there wasn't anything they could do about it, especially since he had run off. But we still wanted to let them know. We live about 1/2 mile from some mountains that are in the Adirondack chain, and bears have been coming into the area much more often this fall than ever before. In the past month the newspaper has reported 4 bears - a very high amount for us here.

Here is the pole bent down with the feeders just as he left it...



and here is how it is bent at the base - not a good picture - sorry...




Always some excitement around here, huh???

Too funny Tina - I tried to get back in to fix that, but TGH was down again!
It's fixed now!

creepy

oh my goodness Lynne----

Is there EVER a dull moment at your house????? I think not !!!!


wait til Rod hears this !!!!

can Don fix your feeder???

Very cool, Lynne.
I really had no idea what the original thing was. The site must have gone down just as you were posting
I have never actually seen a bear here. i have seen bear tracks and where they scratched tree bark to shreds. So we have them at times too. Keep a watch out and your camera close. That is exciting.

that is scary. How much nutrition can a bear get from bird seed?

Carol - Don "thinks" he can fix it, but he hasn't looked at it yet - I hope so, as they are not cheap, and they don't have this exact pole anymore - got it at Wild Birds Unlimited.

Tina - while it is exciting to see first hand, I hope he doesn't come back. I've been told that they usually do not return - guess we'll find out. I had seen lots of bears when I lived in Alaska, but not at such close range, and certainly not when we were not expecting one!

Sheri - bears are notorious for eating at birdfeeders - each year the newspaper warms about putting out birdfeeders, but we never thought we'd get one on our SECOND STORY deck!!! He must have a very good sniffer to find the seeds up there from the ground!!!

WOW!!!!!!!!!!! That's always scary!!!!!! We've had a lot more bears here too lately Lynne. It's pretty freaky isn't it? Especially when the neighbor says one of them was the biggest black bear he's ever seen.

Wouldn't you just die if you'd been outside doing something and that came up your deck while you were there?

For sure loz - especially since I had been out there planting just a few short hours earlier!!!

......... ................

Lynne.....be safe..

that's what I was thinking to,, or had just stepped out and the bear was still coming up the steps, I'd still be careful and cautious even in day light!
~
Cindy If you saw a bear you'd have it named and rolling around on big balls and a bling bling collar around it's neck,,

Diane is right you know...............

Thank goodness I live in Middle Tennesse, hundreds of miles from from any bears. I feel lucky living in the suburbs. I can safely sit on my front porch and......OMG! IT'S A B..........

Just saw this now! That is scary Lynne but cool at the same time. We don't have bears around here. Well I say that but there have been some sightings...few and far between. In Northern MN there are lots of bears though. I have seen them when we go to the cabin up there. One ran across the road in front of us once. It was the first bear Tristen had seen in real life so he was pretty excited!!

There are a few 100 miles east of me and quite a good number about 200 miles east of me. I have seen LOTS of bears in my life.

We have bears around here but never on our porch! I'm glad you and Don weren't hurt and that nothing more was damaged than your feeder pole.


Merme

WOW! Glad it was not at my house, I would have been the idiot trying to make friends with it and probably coax it into the house to let it have a warm night and a good supper! You know me! Remember, this comes from a person who has gotten mange from a fawn and bitten by a baby snake................I WILL NEVER LEARN!