Bears And Birds And More Backyard Critters.

As some of you may recall from my previous post, I am fortunate to have many different critters visit my backyard here in Northeastern Pennsylvania.  I love to watch  the many birds and mammals that visit every Spring, but my favorite are the bears that usually show up for a free meal in my yard.  

I have a large tract of woodlands for a backyard.  And it is not far from a large creek that foraging bears follow after awakening from hibernation every Spring. So I usually get a couple of visits from a bear or two in May. And they usually  tear down my bird feeders, eat the corn I put out for the deer and turkey  or raid a garbage can. They have taken down and destroyed dozens of bird feeders over the years.  But it is a small price to pay to see this magnificent creatures. 

I am especially pleased when a mother bear shows up with her cubs. And one did this past week. I knew there was a bear around when I found one of bird feeders ripped down on Thursday morning. And sure enough late that evening I saw mommy bear and her two cubs show up. 

They didn’t stay long but returned on Friday evening and helped themselves to the deer and turkey corn. The cubs were too small to travel far so I am pretty sure that they were born on my land.  The pregnant mommy must have hibernated on my land for the winter and gave birth to the cubs not far from my house.  

The two cubs were weaned and helped themselves to some corn. Mommy then escorted them to the edge of the woods and returned to eat,

as they frolicked about like two young children.

I know it is not legal to place food out to attract bears but this seed and corn is put out for  my deer, turkey and birds  and there is nothing I can do to stop the bears from stealing it. The male bears usually are foraging the area, having been attracted to the area by the thrash bins from the grocery store and fast food restaurants a few miles from my house. They usually are only here a night or two. Now mommy bear will probably stay  around for a few weeks until the cubs can accompany her on longer forages  for food. So I will enjoy them while I can.  I was able to take a lot of photos of the mommy bear and her cute cubs. Here is a link to a gallery  of these photos on my blog website. There are hundreds of galleries there so please feel free to peruse them at you leisure. Bears May 22 2020. 

In addition to the bears I have also get raccoons, skunks, opossums, foxes, coyotes bats to visit my backyard. However I haven’t seen any of these critters yet this Spring  However this groundhog visits this pretty much everyday.  

As do the squirrels, 

chipmunks 

and of course the deer. I try to only put out a small amount of corn and alfalfa for the herd of a out 11 deer that live on my property. 

I only want to supplement their natural diet, and encourage them to stay on my land where they are safe from hunters. 

Of course they must share the corn  with the flock of turkeys that live in my woodlands and which visit everyday

These colorful birds roam freely through my yard and the adjoining field. A hen has been coming to my bird feeders by herself to eat the seeds that drop from the feeders. I think she may have a nest nearby and that I may be seeing turkey poults in the near future. And of course some newborn fawns. 

And I continue observe the many birds that visit my backyard. This pretty brown thrasher returned this year and feeds on the leftover corn I put out. 

The feeders attract many different birds too. The rose breasted grosbeaks are gone but  this past week I had this pair of cardinals, 

this Baltimore oriole,

and the sparrows, house finches  and  goldfinches continue to show up.

On the ground below the feeders, this eastern towhee,

mourning doves,

 white-crowned sparrows and

 blue jays feed on the fallen seed.

The blue jays are pretty birds but they are noisy and scare many of the other song birds away. 

The woodpeckers, flickers, nuthatches and  black-capped  chickadees  also continued to frequent my feeders.  Occasionally I will see a hawk in the yard as well as turkey vultures in the yard. However, so far this Spring the indigo buntings haven’t made an appearance yet.  I am fortunate to have so much wildlife visit my yard but watching even the common sparrows can provide hours of enjoyment. I  hope that the bear cubs and maybe some  fawns, kits, pups and poults make some appearance  during the next few weeks. And of course I will share them with all the followers of my blog. Here is a link to some more of the  critters that visited my backyard this past week. Birds and Critters May 13 to 20 2020. 

“Always respect Mother Nature. Especially when she weighs 400 pounds and is guarding her baby.”
― James Rollins

fskokoski@gmail.com

This is my first post