A paradox often occurs in gardening, when you intentionally do something and get the opposite result. Japanese beetle traps are a common example: Unless you position them exactly right, you’ll not only end up with a gazillion stinky dead beetles, but also you’ll attract every other beetle in the county to feast upon your roses and green beans. The reverse is true with pesticides: While zapping that bug munching on your cabbage, you’ll kill all the bugs that munch on your bug, plus the bees that pollinate everything, and the fish in the pond where the groundwater flows.
Bird feeders offer the same predicament. I keep them up year-round, despite warnings from the neighbors and wildlife experts that bird feeders will attract bears from April to November. In 11 years of living in the country, I’ve never seen a bear. Heck, we rarely see deer, while suburban friends are overwhelmed by them. Here in the boonies, I need no deer fencing, have no trouble with rabbits, and my garbage remains undisturbed by raccoons.
Until last week. I awoke at dawn to find the pole supporting my fancy triple-tube sunflower feeder bent double, the empty feeder rolled down the hill; a hanging tube of thistle seed shattered on the ground; the iron hanger attached to the house, supporting suet and a squirrel baffle, snapped in half and the suet cage missing. At the foot of the tree beside the destroyed thistle feeder, a paw print larger than my hand.
We’ve been beared!
Must’ve been a hungry bear, or a sow with cubs, because the yard seemed vacuumed — not one morsel left on the ground. I had just filled the feeders the evening before, and that constituted about 5 pounds of seed and a suet brick. Happily, the triple-tube feeder was intact (otherwise, a $60 replacement!), and I had spares of the other components. So within an hour I was back in business, though I now have a new daily ritual of taking in the feeders at night.
I’ve forgotten them a few times, but no further bear ravages. I wonder where it came from and where it went. I especially wonder what became of the suet cage!
Carolyn Haley
Author: Open Your Heart with Gardens
Posted by: Opening the heart, gardens, gardening, yard, plants, cultivation, spring — Carolyn Haley
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