Two nights ago, about 2:30 am, the automatic outside light went on and woke us up. A few moments later, M heard a thump on the deck, which is about five feet off the ground. She jumped out of bed and looked out the slide by to the deck, where in the overcast moonlight she saw a black bear about to investigate our bird feeders, one with sunflower hearts in it, and the other a peanut butter stick for woodpeckers. As soon as the bear saw her, it jumped off the deck, and then turned and stood up to look back through the rail opening as I
shined the flashlight at it. From the height of its eyes against the rail, it was more than 6 feet tall. After a tense moment or two, it decided to meander across the lawn to our neighbor's yard, where their outside light turned on as it went by. The next morning, I inspected the deck and the posts, where we found that the bear had broken the railing lattice and deeply scratched the posts and joists as it climbed onto the deck. We have taken our feeders down.
After a few days of rain, today brought a very early spring day, with bright warm sun and temperatures approaching 70F, so M put the feeders back up just for the day. This afternoon, I took the camera with me to enjoy the deck in my Adirondack chair, from where I could watch various birds enjoy the last of our seed. First several woodpeckers came for the peanut butter, then a sparrow, then several American goldfinch, of which the males are changing their color from winter drab to summer gold.
Two nights ago, about 2:30 am, the automatic outside light went on and woke us up. A few moments later, M heard a thump on the deck, which is about five feet off the ground. She jumped out of bed and looked out the slide by to the deck, where in the overcast moonlight she saw a black bear about to investigate our bird feeders, one with sunflower hearts in it, and the other a peanut butter stick for woodpeckers. As soon as the bear saw her, it jumped off the deck, and then turned and stood up to look back through the rail opening as I 
shined the flashlight at it. From the height of its eyes against the rail, it was more than 6 feet tall. After a tense moment or two, it decided to meander across the lawn to our neighbor's yard, where their outside light turned on as it went by. The next morning, I inspected the deck and the posts, where we found that the bear had broken the railing lattice and deeply scratched the posts and joists as it climbed onto the deck. We have taken our feeders down.
After a few days of rain, today brought a very early spring day, with bright warm sun and temperatures approaching 70F, so M put the feeders back up just for the day. This afternoon, I took the camera with me to enjoy the deck in my Adirondack chair, from where I could watch various birds enjoy the last of our seed. First several woodpeckers came for the peanut butter, then a sparrow, then several American goldfinch, of which the males are changing their color from winter drab to summer gold.
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