Thursday, July 30, 2020

An Unexpected Visitor...A Bear

Blogger has changed their format, and I am having some difficulties posting blogs.  I can't seem to preview my stories before they are published.  I reverted back to the old design, but in a month that won't be an option.  I hope they have worked out the kinks but if not, my blogging days may come to an end or I will have to find another option.  I thought I should write as much as I can until that happens.

We have lived in South Central Wisconsin for eighteen years.  We moved here after retirement from a more metropolitan area.  I have learned so much about nature, the good, the bad and the ugly.  Having learned that nature can be cruel, I realized the good still outweighs the bad.  I have written many nature stories but about a month ago, we had a new experience.  One morning, July 6, 2020,  I woke up to seeing the bird feeders flattened and hummingbird feeders broken off and on the ground.


My first reaction upon seeing this was that a Raccoon had done some damage.  Then I thought maybe a deer pulled the feeder over.  I had seen them stand on their hind legs to eat the seed.  As we were discussing the situation, our neighbor called and asked if we had seen a bear.  A bear, I thought.  Never was a bear on my radar.  In all the time we have lived in this area, we have never seen one.  A few times the rumor mill mentioned one was sighted, but we thought we were too far south for such creatures.

Later that day, we were sent a video confirming a bear was in the neighborhood.  Silly us, thinking it was just passing though, we fixed the feeders and set them up again.

The next night I was sitting watching TV, and it was completely dark out.  Out of the corner of my eye I saw the white pole that was holding the bird feeder.  It was bending.  I called out to my husband and the motion light came on.  There not ten feet from our window was the bear.  I had my husband go to the light switch and flip it on again.  I took my phone and snapped some pictures.



It didn't look like a very big bear, but there was no doubt who had done the damage to the feeders. The very next day we took down the feeders.  I miss watching the birds, but removing the feeders each night and putting them back up in the morning wasn't an option since I had broken my leg less than a week before.  I did remember that just before my accident, I was throwing some weeds on a brush pile we have at the edge of the woods.  I heard a loud sound and something bounded away.  It scared me, but I thought it was a fawn I had happened upon a few days earlier.  It might have been this bear napping in the woods.  Never again will I just wander around like I have for years.

That was it.  No more bear visitors because there was nothing to eat.   We didn't replace the seed and began to relax a bit.  It had been two weeks, and no one in the neighborhood had reported a sighting.  Then on July 28, 2020, our motion camera came on a little after midnight.  I checked the video and sure enough there was a bear walking down our driveway.  The next day we checked the trail camera and saw him again.




I can't be sure if this is the same bear.  It does look slightly larger, but it could be the angle or that he is all stretched out checking for food.  I hope it isn't an entire family.  Life will certainly change around here if that is the case.  I have to admit it was a little exciting, but now I would prefer that they move on to a more remote habitat.