Birdseed, Recycling, and Bears – Oh My!

This is a special edition blog – couldn’t wait!

On Saturday night, I was working down at the kitchen table and heard some commotion outside at the birdfeeder. I was like, stupid racoons! and ignored it. A little while later, I heard more noise, this time out by the recycling containers near our cars, and I flicked on the outside lights, which usually scares away the racoons. The noise continued.

I looked over and didn’t see anything, just black…that’s odd, what’s this large, black mass moving around along with the recycling can…..yikes!…..That’s no racoon!!!…..MIKE!!!! COME DOWN HERE!!! (“What’s up?”) MIKE!!! BEAR!!! He ran downstairs, and he caught a final glimpse before the bear headed off into the woods. I had a bag of garbage on the front porch that I’d intended to put in the can at the end of our driveway later on, and it had disappeared, meaning that the bear was on our front porch, too!!!

Oh, and no, in case you’re wondering, the dogs who were resting inside a few feet away from the door didn’t alert me about the bear. I guess I can’t blame them for anything – I was a few feet away from the bear too, just on the other side of the house next to the kitchen window that overlooks the birdfeeder. I had a front row seat to this and missed most of the show!

We’ve lived here almost 10 years, and never had a bear experience. Had no idea they were even in our woods! Figured they were just on the nearby scenic Ridge, which is what I’d been telling Declan, who has had some out-of-the-blue bear concerns lately. So much for that! I was phasing out the birdfeeders anyway, since the squirrels are such a nuisance, and I was just finishing our last bag of feed when this happened. The chickens were asleep in the coop during this adventure, and it doesn’t appear that the bear bothered with them at all.

We are closing both entry doors now in the evenings (last night we just had the screen doors closed, for ventilation), and that’s the end of our birdfeeding and temporary “I’ll stick this garbage bag outside and get this in the can later” habits, at least until hibernation season is in full swing. It was thrilling to be visited by a bear, but something we don’t want to repeat by accidentally encouraging it.

I’m taking the whole thing as a positive sign because bears are considered powerful spiritual medicine totems. My Reiki healing practice has been pretty active this week, so maybe this bear was attracted by some of the energy going on, as well as the easy-access snacks!

Nikki sent us this link from a local newspaper about increased bear activity lately in our area:
http://www.freemanonline.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18940361&BRD=1769&PAG=461&dept_id=74969&rfi=6

Here’s a pic of my poor birdfeeder!