Bear eats babies in broad daylight

[Steven B in PV]

I have a dozen nest boxes around the property for Violet-green Swallows.  On Friday, a bear climbed to a swallow nest box mounted on an aspen tree, tore off the front door and ate a nest full of baby squirrels.  There are usually 6-8 young in these squirrel nests. This happened sometime around noon after Deb had seen a squirrel enter the box an hour earlier.  We were working in another part of the yard at the time.  A few years ago, a bear had climbed the same tree to rip the box open.  Thankfully, Mountain Chickadees had fledged from the box a week earlier.

I think the culprit this time may be "Lumbering Jack", a bear that's so heavy it looks like he just ate a tourist.  He's shown up on wildlife cams here recently.

Bears and moose.  We had four moose hang out in the yard for two weeks in late May.  They forage on hummingbird plants as the hummingbirds fly over, around, and through the legs of the moose.  What a sight!  And what wonderful gifts we receive as observers of wildlife.  But the moose strip the leaves and branches of aspen saplings, preventing them from growing larger.  Moose also strip the bark from mature aspens which usually kills the trees.  With the loss of mature aspen, sapsuckers and woodpeckers don't have the trees to excavate cavities which other cavity nesting birds would use in following years.

Steve


   

[John Hardman]

Hey Steve ~

Bummer about your baby squirrels.  Our Bears ARE hungry!  Mr. Jack is a good looking Bear!

I am reading a book about and co-written by Steve Searles "The Bear Whisperer", from 
Mammoth Lakes,CA.  He was talking about a huge Bear in his charge, that was SO BIG
he just named him:"Big".  Steve said: "A Bear doesn't get to be that big by being stupid!"
They are so resourceful.

~ john