These black bears…
They just don’t stop.
Whatever it takes, just to get a few small bites of bird feed.
Black bears have to be the most hilarious animal that roams North America. It all boils down to intelligence. Really, what they want is just the same as all wildlife; as much food as they can get as easy as they can get it.
Black bears are found widely across North America, in just about every state, even if it is just a small population. Hawaii is the only state to never have a recorded black bear sighting (which makes sense), however there are currently none, save for the occasional sighting in a handful of states across the Midwest.
They are too smart for their own good, and rather larger mammals with adult males averaging around 250-pounds. They eat an average of 5,000 calories a day throughout the spring and summer. But during the fall, they fatten up for the winter months, eating up to 20,000 calories a day.
Their whole goal is to meet their needs as easy as they can get them. With ongoing urban sprawl, black bears are increasingly likely to come across people. People tend to leave them easy pickings whether it’s their garbage or a bird feeder.
This bear is seen in a Westcliffe, Colorado, backyard scouting out the bird feeder high up in the tree. Quickly, the bear realizes it has no chance at easily grabbing the thing as its too high in the air.
She resorts to plan B.
The bear begins to climb the tree, and she gets to the branch, she starts to shimmy her way towards the bird feeder… Mission Impossible style.
The bear bends the branch nearly to the ground before it snaps off. As the branch breaks you notice two cubs in the background, and it’s clear that it’s officially family snack time.
The homeowner described the scene from their vantage point:
“I woke up early Sunday morning to enjoy the view when I looked up on the hillside and saw a brown fuzzy animal making some commotion. I chuckled to myself, thinking, ‘That is a really fat deer!’ – when all of a sudden it stood up, and it was a bear!
I ran inside to wake up my husband and kids so they could see it. When we came back out to the porch (leaving the cabin door open in case we need to make a quick escape), the bear started to crawl down the hill towards the cabin with two cute little cubs following right behind her.
When it got to the tree, which was about 30 feet from where we were watching on the porch, it tried to reach the bird feeder, but to no avail. She decided to climb it with the cubs following suit. After making several acrobatic moves to get to the bird feeder, she finally climbed out on the branch upside down, bending it toward the ground.
The branch broke, and she and her cubs were able to get the bird seed.”
