Black bears are hungry when they come out of hibernation; so hungry that bird seed seems like a good snack. On our winter van trip we saw warnings about black bears in Tennessee, North Carolina, Florida and Texas. Every picnic table in the Smokey Mountains National Park was equipped with a bear warning sign. We didn’t see any evidence of bears in the wilderness as we camped our way across the country. Then one walked into our yard and I missed it.

Late one evening, on a dark night, a black bear ambled up the bluff behind our house, scouted our yard and decided to dine at the bird feeders. With one swat of his mighty paw he snapped the metal support pole for one set of feeders in the yard. Josh heard the crack and ran down the stairs to investigate. Lucky for us, Josh had enough sense to stay inside.

Paige, Josh’s girlfriend, took a series of photos through the kitchen window. The bear interrupted his meal long enough to stare directly at camera. Eventually, he moved on.

Josh was on a mission to save the rest of the feeders. Once the yard seemed empty, he collected each of the remaining 10 feeders. Keeping Josh safe was a group effort. Joe used a flashlight to search the yard, Paige rang a bell continuously and I sang a nonsense song. One loud snort, sent all four of us running inside. We thought the bright flashlight would be enough of a deterrent to keep the bear away, but he was out there, somewhere. Turns out he was busy decimating our neighbor’s bird feeders. Once the yard was quiet, Josh ventured out. He collected the all the feeders, then moved them through the house to the garage.

The next day, Joe called our county’s animal control department. They referred the call to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. A game officer returned Joe’s call. The officer said that with fewer people out and about, bears are roaming into neighborhoods. He suggested taking the feeders down for two weeks, so the bear removes our house from his evening scouting route. The officer also noted that the bear could come back during the day. Letting Joe know that with the “Same Home, Stay Safe” mandate in place, there are fewer cars on the road, so bears are more comfortable foraging during the daylight hours.

Josh did not want to disappoint his birds. He decided to keep the feeders up during the day, and to take them down each evening before sunset. I was worried about the bird feeders attracting chipmunks and squirrels —a minor nuisance when compared to a 300-pound predator that looked like he was capable of walking through our glass backdoor.

We haven’t seen the bear in the last month, but Josh heard him moving around on the bluff during the middle of May. A few night’s later, Paige’s Pug was uninterested in leaving the deck after dark. Paige stepped outside and noticed the skunk-like musk that warns us that the bear is near. In the morning, Josh saw the bear’s paw prints in the wet grass by the bird feeder pole. Our yard is still within the bear’s territory.

Summer was slow to arrive this year, but it’s finally here. Joe sets an alarm to remind us to put away the feeder each evening. So far our system is working. We do hope our neighborhood bear has found a new home in a swamp and stays settled in for the next month or two.