As the temperatures rise...

Critters that have been hibernating begin to awaken. Nightly visitors return to areas where food is still plentiful, ie. bird feeders. For the past two weeks I have taken the feeders, suet and other food sources down from their hangers. I try to discourage the raccoons and other nocturnal visitors. Even though a number of seeds are still available on the ground, at least I can remove the majority of food. The main reason for removing the food is to also discourage bears. I thought I could just remove the feeders but, leave the clean metal trash cans, that I use to store the black oil sunflower seeds. I even tied the top to the can shut with plastic coated wire. That was a joke, in the morning I found the cover, wire and the can in the yard. The bear had simply pulled the handle off the can, off came the top and the wire. Thirty pounds of seed were gone. Some of the seed fell between the steps of the back stoop. The next night, even though the cans were now secure in the garage, the bear returned. He tore up the lattice work near the steps, to get the rest of the seed he had missed the night before. The bear also left several large piles of scat, just to let me know, who had been visiting.