Bear III

Late Friday afternoon, my daughter yells out that there is a bear in our back yard. Sure enough... I look out the ham shack window and there is a black bear walking around the premises.

This is my third bear sighting here at the WA1LOU QTH on the top of Compounce Mountain and I have seen evidence of other visits in the past. It sure makes life interesting and for the next few days, I will make sure that all is clear before I go outdoors.

Springing

Saw my first groundhog of the year today (see photo) during my daily walk around the business park here in Wallingford where I work.

Also, the daily Waterbury rag reported yesterday that black bear #49 is out and about in Wolcott, so I took in my bird feeder and suet cage last night to avoid any close encounters between #49 and The Pies.

By the way, there still is some snow in my yard.

Number 49

I assume it was the black bear tagged 49 that visited us on Saturday evening.

I was watching the news, then the screen went blank, and we lost the signal from the Dish Network satellite. That had never happened before, so I went outside to see if the dish had fallen off the roof.

It was in place, but as I was going back indoors, I hear my neighbors shouting to other neighbors, “There’s a bear in your yard!”

I did not see a bear, but the bird bath was knocked over and I didn’t do it.

By the way, I stopped feeding the birds after the last bear visit two weeks ago. I will resume feeding them when the snow flies.

Bear

A bear visited the premises two days in a row last week.

Overnight Tuesday-Wednesday, the bear knocked over the compost bin and bird bath, ripped open the suet cage and ate its contents, and opened the bird feeder and ate its contents.

I was impressed by the bear’s strength. In the process of opening the bird feeder, the bear bent a loop of iron rod that holds up the feeder (see photo). The loop is now almost a straight line of rod that I cannot bend back into shape using my bare hands (pun intended). I will have to use a vise and some tools to reloop it.

Overnight Wednesday-Thursday, the bear showed up again and pushed the garbage can cart about ten feet down the driveway, removed the lid on one of the cans, but did not disturb the bag of garbage in the can.

Go figure. Maybe something scared it off before it could get into the garbage.

There was no visual sighting of the bear in either case. The accompanying photo is from a bear visit in early August.

A Bear Sits In My Yard

In the early spring, evidence (a mangled suet holder and a pulled-down bird feeder) indicated that a bear had dined in my yard.

As I was getting ready to take a shower yesterday morning, Pumpkin Pie started barking while peering out the bedroom window that overlooks the bird feeder. I went to the window to see what was the matter and sitting on the ground in between my antenna tower and the bird feeder was a black bear.

He had already mangled and eaten the contents of the suet feeder, but the bird feeder is of the heavy metal variety, so he could not mangle it and had to snatch sunflower seeds out of the feeder with his tongue.

The bear had tags on his ears that indicated he was Number 49, who has been seen all over town this spring and summer. The local newspaper had an article about him just last week, which claimed he weighed about 200 pounds (he looked bigger than that to me).

He did not seem at all bothered by me or my family watching him for over 20 minutes. I stood about six feet away from him shooting photos and videos through the family room window and he could care less.

After he finished off all the sunflower seeds, he drank water out of the bird bath and ambled off into the woods heading in a northeasterly direction.

bear diner

After dinner tonight, I went outside to replenish the bird feeder. I immediately noticed that the chain that supports the bird feeder was lower than usual.

Next I noticed that most of the suet holder was gone. All that was left was what you see in the accompanying photo.

I assume a critter visited last night... probably a bear.

I did not replace the suet feeder. I don't want the critter to get any idea that I am opening an all-night diner.

bear

On the way to work this morning, a bear ran across the road (Woodtick Road in Wolcott, CT) in front of the car in front of me. It was hauling dupa and heading in the general direction of my house about a mile away.

A bear (or bears) have been seen in my neck of the Wolcott woods for a few years now, but this was my first sighting.