When I returned to Nordegg on the afternoon of May 17, it was obvious that a bear had been around. The bird feeder by my back door had been bent down to the ground, the clear plasticwindow punched out of it, and all the seed was gone. The hummingbird feeder that I had just put up a few days prior was broken and drained of sugar water. Then a couple of days later, the second bird feeder out by my driveway, also got pulled down. The hummingbird feeder was new, but the other two have been up for several years, and there has never been an issue.
There had been reports on social media about a black bear in the area. I knew that everything was untouched when Shawn and I were last out at Nordegg on May 14. So I went through the footage on my security cameras and I found the culprit. On Thursday May 16th, at first light, I saw that the feeders at my back door were victimized. Then on Monday May 20th, just before 3:00 in the morning I caught a black bear heading up my driveway towards the second feeder.
All three feeders were damaged and I will have to attempt to repair them. For now I just put them away, as there is no point putting them back up and getting the bear habituated to a food source. If he moves on to higher country later in the spring or summer, perhaps I can put them back out. Sadly, the birds will probably stop coming around for a while.....
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