In a recent post, I wrote about a probable bear attack on my bird feeders. Here’s the culprit, captured by my neighbor’s wildlife cam. I didn’t want to write about it while it was still in the area, because I was afraid some yahoo would hunt it down.
I took my bird feeders inside every night for a few weeks, but lately, I’ve been leaving them out, and the bear seems to have moved on.
We don’t hear a lot about bears in southern Rhode Island, but yearling males are known to frequent bird feeders in the fall as they roam around, looking for a territory of their own. (Although in recent years, researchers have speculated that there might be bears living and breeding in RI.) I was told that this one weighs approximately 150 pounds and is very skittish, running away from people.
We moved here because it’s wooded and quite wild. I love the idea that an animal as impressive as a black bear has been here, even if he was just passing through – and even if he destroyed a couple of my feeders.
Digging RI 
That’s cool! Being from Pennsylvania I’m used to co-existing with black bears, so it’s always seemed a bit strange that RI’s woods didn’t have bears. On the other hand, I did appreciate the fact that I’ve never had to put up with their predations on my beehives either. Did your neighbor’s hive survive?
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Beautiful! My parents, in Exeter, lost a few feeders this year. Never did get him on camera. We’ve seen a bobcat or two. That’s why our cat stays in 🙂
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sounds like bear damage to me! We’re probably going to get one of those cameras. Dying to know what goes on around here at night!
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Nope. The hive was trashed. Not surprising.
Talking to the neighbors, it seemed to be an expected thing. But this is southern RI and I hadn’t heard of them around here.
It IS cool though.
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So glad you got a pic of the rascal! I’ve never seen a bear in the wild. I think that’s a good thing. 🙂
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I thought he looked rather sweet!
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