And unhappy birds. I had become complacent about bringing in the bird feeders at night. This morning as I sat down to my yogurt and looked out to watch the flock of various Finches that gather there, the scene was off. From the back deck, it was obvious that we had a strong visitor in the night. The half barrel of rocks and soil was tipped over and it is so heavy I can barely move it, the feeder that had small mesh on one side and larger mesh on the other for Niger seed and black oil sunflower seed was crushed and destroyed. The suet feeder tube was torn to pieces and crushed out in the yard.
It had to have been a bear and it came in under the scaffolding, took down the bird mesh around the walled garden that keeps the chickens out, damaged a few plants in the processes.
You can see how close to the house and deck it came. It is disappointing that the feeders were destroyed. Upsetting that a bear has found them and will come back looking again. The feeders were perfect for the double shepherd’s crook pole as it allowed the three favorite feeds to be put out. The birds will have to fend for themselves for a while. The feeders replaced and brought in every single night from now on. We enjoy watching them from the kitchen window and from the dining table.
I love seeing the bears here on the mountain, but I don’t want to contribute to them coming to homes to seek out food. Our garbage is secured inside the garage and the compost pile is inside the garden with electric wire around the top, so neither of them are attractants. I don’t leave chicken feed out in the open, it is inside the two coops as is their water. We don’t raise bees so there are no hives to attract them, but obviously, a hungry beast took advantange of my complacency. And the dogs that bark at even us coming down the driveway, didn’t make a sound.