Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Midnight Visitor

Oh, I've just gotta tell somebody!!!   I just had a black bear sitting hardly 10 feet from me chomping away on the safflower seeds in the birdfeeder!!!   He was outside and I was inside, but still!   And only a window between us.   

I heard this soft clunking noise several times and it finally occurred to me that there might be a critter on one of the feeders.  I went to the back door (a french door), turned on the patio light and looked out to the feeder I had in mind.  Nothing.  Then, it dawned on me that the feeder next to the patio was much lower to the ground than normal and there was a big black body busily fishing seeds out of it! Because the lid is hinged on, it was the loose side that he kept bumping and it would clunk back into place. 
Black Bear along Alaska Highway, 2008
After watching for a couple of minutes, I wondered if I dared try to get a picture and went for my camera.  Unfortunately (or not), I had also turned on the motion sensor lights in the back and when they flashed on, he got spooked and ran off.  I got back to the door just in time to see his black butt disappearing into the brush.  

So, no pictures here except for those in your mind.  And hubby is so lucky that I didn't go wake him up to see it too!    We've suspected ursine visitors a couple of times before over the years when strange things happened to our birdbath, but had no proof of it.   Until now. 

Y'all take care. 


10 comments:

  1. Oh FFG! How cool is that! Glad you had that pane of glass to separate you. Just kidding.... Sorry you didn't get a good photo. But maybe tonight, he'll come back for another snack.
    Can you leave the light on, so the change won't scare him away?

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  2. Don't you just love seeing nature's critters up close and personal - as long as there is structure between you to protect you from their curiosity? It makes you stop and go Whoa! Thanks for sharing. - Karen

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  3. I'd have been pretty nervous. I have a healthy respect for bears. Nice shot by the way!

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    1. Oh, believe me, my heart was going thumpety thump real fast!! I love to see bears, but I want it to be on MY terms. And I'm with you. They get a whole lot of respect.

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  4. Not sure I want one that close to my house, but how exciting!

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  5. Hey you, so glad to see a Floridian visiting - so many of my favorite writers and food bloggers are from Florida ... hope to connect with you again...
    and I must say, I like that porch, could sit on it all day long... hey, we have black bears roaming around here in the Mobile's delta too... it must have bee surreal seeing this beaut right from your window, and the scary part too.... Happy New Year to you and best wishes for a very best 2013

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  6. How absolutely amazing - and even better that all you wanted to do was take photographs :}

    We've heard so much on TV recently about sport shooting in America and all I can think is "why?". I just do not get the mentality that see beautiful creatures like this and wants to put a bullet in them?

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  7. Why does it amaze me that you get a bear in your backyard in Florida, and we've never had one on our place here in Oregon???

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  8. I had a bear in my yard once (once that I saw, I mean!) when I lived just west of Crestview, FL. It was night and I thought it was black garbage bag until I started outside to get it and it stood up... luckily it ran away before I had to figure out how to get away!

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  9. I had a bear in my yard once (once that I was aware of!) when I lived just west of Crestview, FL. I thought a black yard-trash bag had blown into my yard one night so I went out to get it; turned out it was a black bear. Luckily it ran away before I had to figure out how to get away... it was still a pretty cool experience! Sounds like your encounter was neat, too!

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