Big male Black Bear aka "Papa Bear" comes a little earlier this time and scores a small piece of suet. Captured with Bushnell Trophy Camera. I only put out 1/4 of a block for the woodpeckers etc during the day so that its mostly gone by nightfall and then take it in. Smart bear figured out to come before dark right near sunset :-) so now I have to bring it in earlier. A small price to pay to try and live in harmony with the bears and try and keep them out of trouble.
A big Black Bear standing just over 6 feet tall captured with a Bushnell Trophy Cam pays a visit to the bird feeder at 217 AM in the Great Smoky Mountains of western North Carolina. The suet feeders, hummingbird feeders and finch feeders had been put away for the night. The remaining wood feeder was essentially empty, but the bear found a small amount of seed in the corners. Bear could have easily ripped the feeder down as it's only hanging from a tree by some twine, but chose instead to stand and gently lick out any seeds and move quickly on. It is important to bring in bird feeders at night especially nectar and suet so that bears, as in this case, are not rewarded with a free meal. This bear has a large territory and stops by about every week to ten days and as long as it doesn't find anything good to eat it makes a quick survey of the area and moves on. If it were to find suet or such treats replaced every night and left out it would likely begin to hang around more often and then bad things could happen. The feeder is six feet off the ground which was nose level on tip toes so this is a pretty good size bear. Couldn't tell for sure, but this is probably Papa Bear - Moma Bear and the three cubs which keep apart from him are at:
A Demonstration of Bears Amazing Sense of Smell! This beautiful mother Black Bear with three cubs visited the exact same location three different times which provides an excellent example of a bears sense of smell - 7 times better than a bloodhounds and perhaps the best in the world. On the first visit there is birdseed inside a sealed plastic "coffee can" inside the deck box. She readily smells it and deftly flips open the lid with her nose like a pro. After I saw this the deck box was cleaned and kept empty. The next two visits she sniffs the box and can instantly tell there is nothing to eat in there and quickly moves on - even though she could easily flip it open as before to verify - based on scent alone she knows its empty and moves on. Note that the cubs were fascinated by the smell of my sandals as well :-)
