We had a report of a bear that chased some feral chickens in a nearby yard. He was not deterred by the home-owners attempts to scare him away. A bear that is not afraid of humans can be dangerous. Fortunately, no human or property was hurt and the feral chicken issue is diminishing.
I enjoy wildlife from a distance – from the safety of my home. We do not leave out garbage cans but they do like the natural food source along the Alsea River on the Oregon Coast.
This black bear is big enough to reach the low-hanging apples. Well, relatively low. I picked what I could with a 5′ ladder.
Watch this video to see him stand. Maybe I’ll give him a sign to wear that says, “Will dance for apples.”
[youtube https://youtu.be/FawkfPsv3iY]
There is another pile of scat in our driveway that looks way different from the others. See the two kinds below:
Can a bear’s diet change that fast? These were left 2 days apart. Maybe there’s another bear around who is eating something different?
The salmonberries are the first to come on – and they’re here! I like them a little bit riper though.
I see a new white wildflower and zoom in. I thought the brown things were the seed tops of grass. But they are actually flowers too.
It’s amazing what you can see if you take the time to look closely (metaphor alert! I don’t have to spell it out for you, do I?).
I don’t know what kind of ferns these are but they grow like grass.
Then we have the ones that grow in clumps.
I like the curly ends and the way they unfurl in the spring.
So I’m wandering around looking for more wildflowers…
…and see this! Where are my scat experts? Would you say bear? It is definitely NOT elk.
Well, actually, after a little research I found out that if elk have a rich diet they can poop a pie too. Since I didn’t see any bear tracks, I’m thinking this has to be an elk pie.
That’s the only reason I can think of that we’d have a bear in Tillicum Campground.
He tipped over the garbage can, got something yummy out, and took it into an empty campsite to eat it. He didn’t pick up after himself though. 😦 RUDE!
Here’s YOUR sign:
Bear find food as much by sight as by smell. If they have found some sweet liquid by poking through a soda can, they’ll look for more soda cans (they can’t tell if they are empty or full from a distance). If they’ve gotten food from a cooler or a plastic container or a dog food bowl, they’ll look for those again.
Store your food/drinks in your trunk or hard-sided RV; NOT your tent. Keep a tidy campsite to keep all critters, large and small, out of your campsite.
A camper reported the bear came through his site and bumped his trailer at about 3:30am. You know I had to go on a bear tracking expedition this morning. 🙂
I found the beginning of his tracks at the creek, north of Tillicum.
I don’t know how to tell, from a footprint on hard sand, how large the bear is. I’m not disclosing my weight, but I didn’t leave a footprint next to his. Let’s just say that I’m over 130.
I thought I was taking all these good photos for research-sake.
Now that I’m writing about it, though, I should have taken a picture of what my tracks look like in the same sand. Oh well!
We’ll treat the garbage can with bad-tasting chemicals in case the bear comes back. And Don will wait for him with a camera.
