Ever wonder what happens in the backyard while people sleep. Here is a fun sample of mammals passing through a backyard in the Great Smoky Mountains captured with a Bushnell night vision trail camera. I think you'll be surprised!
Music - "Swamp Stomp" by Silent Partner from the YouTube Audio Library.
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 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 :-)
Big Mother Bear and her three healthy cubs, born over the winter, pay a visit to the front porch in the Great Smoky Mountains. Mother Bear deftly flips open the deck box with her nose which contains a bird feeder put away for the night and the three cubs find the box endlessly fascinating in addition to a pair of flip flops. One of the cubs does a nasty header trying to get down from the box at the 1:05 mark, but shakes it off! The young are flexible.
