I assumed it was the herd of 56 deer, the pack of 9 coyotes or the wobbly family of active skunks that drew her attention.
When I came downstairs early this morning, the remains of all my bird feeders lay in pieces spread over the yard like the remnants of the Titanic at the bottom of the ocean. The super large chunk of fresh beef suet was missing too. Along with the net bag. The only thing left swinging from the chains, that use to hold a buffet of feeders, is the metal cap cover to the largest sunflower feeder. A sad sight.
Even sadder were 2 dozen or so purple finches, sparrows and gold finches sitting in the blooming forsythia bush waiting for breckfast. They kept flying to the chains that once held suet and feeders.
After my initial shock wore off, I got a container out of my recycle box and put 2 cups of fresh black oil sunflower seed from a farm down the road who grows the best in the region. The small birds dived in and flew off with their meals.
The bears are awake and hungry. Its so early in the season that there is not enough natural foods in the woods or swamps available for the bears to eat, so suet and seeds are the most logical target for grounchy, hungry bears. Feed birds during the day and bring your feeders in at night. That plan will reduce damage to feeders. Bears have never been in this particular area, so this experience is a new one for me.
Anyone have a big tube sunflower seed feeder they don't want?
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Bears are quite common in suburbs of Colorado. They roam down from the mountains in search of food and become quite the bother. We are too far east of the mountains to have bears, though. However, they are awaking early in the Colorado Rockies as well. Home owners have been advised to put away all bird feeders. How sad for the little birds that have come to depend on a hearty meal. I hope that your bear does not return. Mavis will be on guard now.
ReplyDeleteThat's a little too close for comfort!
ReplyDeleteFeeders didn't go up last fall for several reasons. If they had, we might have been caught also, as we traditionally have taken them down by the 1st of April, before bears came out of hibernation.
ReplyDeleteOnce, in the last few years, they came out in mid March and took out the feeders. So when it got really warm, I might have taken them down early.
We never put them up until it's been cold for a while, usually late November or into December. This year it never got cold until January....