I told you about the bear who visited us on July 2nd. If you haven't read that post, click here to read it and watch the video. He completely destroyed 3 bird feeders, but he left the finch sock feeder alone. At the end of that week, he came back for a new bird feeder that Mr. Cut Off had accidentally left out overnight. Fortunately, Mr. Cut Off was able to salvage that feeder. We didn't have any feeders out for a couple of days after that, but our little hummingbirds kept doing flybys in front of our sliding doors. It's like they were saying, "What's up? Where are our feeders?" Well, that softened our hearts, and we decided to put 2 hummingbird feeders out during the day. All was fine until Thursday afternoon when the bear decided to return. He came out of that same spot in the woods.
He spotted that finch sock feeder he had passed up on his first and second visits.
Guess it looked enticing now. I can't imagine there was more than a teaspoon of thistle seed left in it.
Got it!
Check out the look on his face.
He looks like he's smiling!
One last shot before he ripped it right out of the tree!
I was able to scare him away after that with a little more window-banging and crazy person hand-waving, but I was concerned. I saw the bear lurking in the shadows of the woods for about 10 more minutes, and I knew those 2 hummingbird feeders were still outside - very close to our sliding doors. I really didn't want to lure that bear that close to the house - especially when Mr. Cut Off was bedridden with his lower back issue. Call me a coward, but I wasn't feeling quite brave enough that day to go outside and retrieve those 2 feeders without a wing man. So, Mr. Cut Off put in a call to buddy, Marty, for emergency hummingbird feeder retrieval service. Marty arrived in less than an hour and helped us out, and we haven't seen the bear since.
Again, if you're keeping track, it's now:
Bear - 4
Bird Feeders - 1
Birdseed - 0
All is well in the Keweenaw.
Sending prayers that everyone is feeling better. Say hello to your sweet mom. Yikes! We are unfortunately very familiar with black bears. We got several small, hand held horns (in can-like containers w/red "horn") from Walmart. They are sold in the sports equipment section, and one blast scares away bears, strange dogs, coyotes, etc. (I think they were originally designed as boat horns, or safety signalling devices.) Take care, stay well. Bev
ReplyDeleteNote to self: Buy a "horn" from Walmart! Thanks, Bev!
DeleteYikes! We've never had anything larger than a squirrel go after our feeders.
ReplyDeleteI think our mosquitoes are larger than your Chicago squirrels! Love ya, Deb!
Delete