Bears & Bluebirds

From: "Karen Louise Lippy" brdbrain"at"superpa.net
Subject: Bears and Bluebirds
Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2001 10:18:56 -0500

Does anyone have suggestions to stop bear attacks on a Bluebird trail?

From: "Bruce Burdett" blueburd"at"srnet.com
Subject: Re: Bears and Bluebirds
Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2001 11:14:31 -0500

Karen L., et al,

I have never had a bear attack on a Bluebird site. I'm glad I haven't. I once had a bear attack on a stand of five strong bee-hives, and it cost me a bundle.

Bruce Burdett, SW NH

Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2001 15:45:40 -0800
From: Linda Violett lviolett"at"earthlink.net
Subject: Re: Bears and Bluebirds

Linda Violett - Yorba Linda, Calif.

I'm assuming bears are causing problems to post-mounted boxes? Look for alternatives . . . try hanging some boxes.

See: http://home.earthlink.net/~lviolett/construction.html

Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2001 08:23:26 -0800 (PST)
From: Rob Yaksich grobyak"at"yahoo.com
Subject: Re: Bears and Bluebirds

Rob Yaksich
Albuquerque, NM

I Karen - I used to have problems with bears on my trails near my hometown in northern NM. For all the problems bears caused this year up there (especially IN town), I can't imagine the carnage that would have happened had i still had trails up there.

It's been my experience that bears are creatures of habit, and are prone to return time and again to places where they've found easy food. So my first suggestion is to consider moving your trail. That worked for me for awhile, until they followed their noses to the new trail.

Another alternative was to mount the houses quite high up on stout metal poles. I had a couple like this in which i would just drive my pick-up next to the house and stand on the wall of the bed to check the houses (which were 8-10 feet off the ground). Those worked out well.

I also placed a few up high in the sides of barns and stables (far away from town, so HOSP and EUST weren't problems). Bears couldn't climb these walls, even though they were wooden.

My best advice to give is to be patient and be ready to accept losses. Bears are extraordinarily persistent critters and can drive you to near madness (just ask my Dad and what's left of his fruit trees).

From: "Mary Beth Roen" mbroen"at"hotmail.com
Subject: Bears as predators
Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 16:07:13 -0500

....I have had three episodes of a bear visiting bird feeders in my back yard in the past week. I now bring my feeders in at night, but my question to those of you who live in bear country, is, have you had any problems with bears attacking nest boxes? I have a nest box in the vicinity of my feeders, with a male Eastern Bluebird showing interest in it. I have had a pair of EABL nest in this box for several years. Do I have to be worried that a bear will tear apart the box to get at any nestlings it may have? Do the products that repel raccoons and deer work for bears? This is the first time that I have had to deal with bears, so I really don't know what I am up against, and want to take any preventative measures I can to protect my Blues.

Thanks for your help,

Mary Roen, River Falls, WI

From: "Dale Aulthouse" daulthou"at"epix.net
Subject: Bears
Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 18:05:36 -0400

Mary Roen,
I live in north central Pennsylvania. We have a lot of black bears in this area. I keep my bird feeders suspended from steel cables strung between trees and about 20 feet in the air. I have rope pulleys which allows access to the feeders. I have 52 bluebird boxes on my trail. Last year I had two boxes attacked by bears. My boxes are mounted on 1" electrical conduit which surrounds a # 5 rebar driven into the ground. # 5 rebar is 5/8" diameter, solid, high carbon steel. The bears bent the rebar & conduit 90 degrees. They destroyed one of the boxes and ate 7 young wrens recently hatched. They did not get into the second box which is a Peterson design and much stronger than the first box. It has a 2 X 4 back and front with 3/4" sides & roof. If bear wants to get into a nest box, there is not much that you can do to stop them. As you know, they have incredible strength illustrated by bending a # 5 rebar 90 degrees. I only had those two problems out of 52 boxes, which is not too much to be concerned over. Dale Aulthouse Wellsboro, PA

From: "Karen Louise Lippy" brdbrain"at"superpa.net
Subject: Bears
Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 19:46:37 -0400

Mary Beth,
I tried to get some comments on this topic last year when we got a similar complaint to our newsletter here in PA. Bear numbers are climbing and more and more people are having conflicts.

I thought using pepper spray might deter them, but was told that bears actually seemed to seek out camps that had used it as a deterrent in national parks. The two suggestions that seemed most helpful were 1. to hang the boxes high in trees close to the outer limbs. You wll need some kind of extention to raise and lower them. I use a pole with a hook on the end. Haleya has a "lifter box" with which she raises the boxes up so the hooks come over the limb. 2. Put your boxes on posts that can be extended high into the air. (I'm not sure how well this will work cause the gentleman said the bears were bending his metal posts to the ground. I suspect they would also bend extention poles more easily.)

One of our members who has been active for years said he has had some success detering bears by making boxes out of heavy duty PVC pipe. I'm not sure it it works, or if the bear just moved on.

I'm not sure if I've helped, but maybe someone else will have a better answer. Karen from South Central PA

From: "Mary Beth Roen" mbroen"at"hotmail.com
Subject: [bluebird] Bears as predators
Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 16:07:13 -0500

I have had three episodes of a bear visiting bird feeders in my back yard in the past week. I now bring my feeders in at night, but my question to those of you who live in bear country, is, have you had any problems with bears attacking nest boxes? I have a nest box in the vicinity of my feeders, with a male Eastern Bluebird showing interest in it. I have had a pair of EABL nest in this box for several years. Do I have to be worried that a bear will tear apart the box to get at any nestlings it may have? Do the products that repel raccoons and deer work for bears? This is the first time that I have had to deal with bears, so I really don't know what I am up against, and want to take any preventative measures I can to protect my Blues.

Thanks for your help,

Mary Roen, River Falls, WI

From: KCBSP"at"aol.com
Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 21:55:29 EDT
Subject: Re: [bluebird] Bears as predators

You might try the hanging boxes... Not much else you can do. Or you could try the telescoping poles ... get them up high.. but more than likely they will pull that down. That's all that comes to mind right now.

Kathy Clark

Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 21:18:31 -0700 (PDT)
From: Rob Yaksich rangerrobnm"at"yahoo.com
Subject: Re: Bears as predators

Hi Mary - as a kid growing up in the southern Rockies of New Mexico and Colorado, I had a year or two of serious bear trouble. They were solved when I just moved my houses out of their reach, like onto the sides of corrals (8-10 feet off ground) or onto stout metal poles they couldn't climb or knock over.

This year, I'm trying hanging my boxes several feet off the ground in sturdy ponderosa pines that i know the bears can easily climb. However, I'm placing the boxes on limbs that they may not feel comfortable climbing out on, and they're far enough from the trunks to not be knocked off by a swiping paw. I am anxious to see what happens. I've been humbled repeatedly by the wood duck gang at my Nature Center, and since bears are much more clever and persistent, I can only imagine the humiliation that awaits!%^)

Rob
"Ranger" Rob Yaksich
NM State Parks, Region 1
c/o Rio Grande Nature Center State Park
2901 Candelaria Rd. NW
Albuquerque, NM 87107
(505) 344-7240

From: "Mary Beth Roen" mbroen"at"hotmail.com
Subject: Re: Bears v Birds
Date: Mon, 15 Apr 2002 15:07:29 -0500

Phil,

Thanks for the link to bird feeding and bear problems. I do take my feeders in every night now.

I went to the Minnesota Bluebird Recovery Program conference this past Saturday, and asked the question to those in attendance. One suggestion was to move south! The other suggestion was to put planks with nails sticking out, around the nest boxes to keep the bears away. I guess before I do that, I will wait to see if I have more problems. May be removing the food source at night will solve the problem.

Mary Roen, River Falls, WI

From: MSBOC"at"aol.com
Date: Fri, 31 May 2002 08:06:06 EDT
Subject: Bears

Last night my yard was raided by a bear! My neighbors saw the bear and called  me this morning. If you could see the devastation to my bird feeders (metal ripped apart, poles bent in half) you could not doubt it. The bear did not touch the bluebird houses with two day old nestlings although he/she apparently passed right by them. Any thoughts? I guess this one is out of my hands???

Nancy
Newtown, CT...where it's supposed to be suburban

From: Haleya Priest [mailto:mablue"at"gis.net]
Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2004 12:10 PM
Subject: Haleya Priest Amherst MA

One of my area bluebirders has had her bird feeder and bird house knocked over by bears. Bears are just coming into our area, and I know this will be a real problem. However, I am "green" in this department, so I need advice. I bet she'll have to take down her feeder for starters. What about the pole, etc for the BB box??? Is there even a chance she can keep the box up

From: Mary Beth Roen [mailto:mbroen"at"hotmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2004 1:12 PM
Subject: RE: bears

Haleya, I had problems one year with bears tearing down my feeders, and I had to bring them in at night. It was a pain, as I had about 8 feeders, but they are no contest for a bear. The bears just bent my poles over. During this time, I had no problems with bears attacking my nest boxes. Mary Roen, River Falls, WI

From: Maynard R Sumner [mailto:m-r-sumner"at"juno.com]
Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2004 1:47 PM
Re: Feeder knocked over

In the fall I have a problem with deer knocking the nestboxes over in the park. Maynard Sumner Flint, MI

From: Bruce Burdett [mailto:blueburd"at"tds.net]
Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2004 5:17 PM
Re: bears Haleya,

Mary Beth, et al, Around here, leaving feeders up after the bears come out is just asking for trouble. Of course, if you ENJOY watching the bears rip your feeders apart, then by all means leave them up. Bruce Burdett SW NH

From: Evelyn Cooper [mailto:emcooper"at"bayou.com]
Sent: Friday, August 06, 2004 9:09 AM
Subject: Black Bears Play Havoc On Trail

One of our LBBS members that lives in Marion, LA, Union Parish, has 1,100 nestboxes. He told me a couple of days ago that this season he had 4 Black Bears that came and destroyed 65 of his nestboxes. He said they seemed to attack the ones that had nests and either eggs or babies. I suppose there is nothing you can do as these bears can tear down most anything. I think it is the same bears that had traveled from a little further up in Arkansas and they had a radio on the collar of the mama and she and 4 cubs wandered all the way down to our part of the country. They got out on the I-10 median not far from me and finally wildlife people tranquilized them caught them just about a mile above my house. I feel that we will begin to have problems with them as the Tensas Wildlife Refuge is just about 15 miles east of my place. Evelyn

From: lviolett [mailto:lviolett"at"earthlink.net]
Sent: Sunday, August 08, 2004 2:14 AM
Re: Black Bears Play Havoc On Trail Linda Violett - Yorba Linda, Calif.

Bears have been reported playing havoc on various trails during the past few years. In response to this problem, I have often recommended that monitors try duplicating what we do here in So. Calif. by hanging nestboxes about 15 to 20 feet high (see pgs. 66-68 of the Bluebird Monitors Guide). Has anyone tried this system to thwart bear problems? If not, why? I know, I know, Gary Springer has done a job on bashing hanging boxes whenever the topic comes up. He claims everything from opossums to snakes will destroy a hanging box trail. Well, my counter the snake problem would be to try putting a snake guard around the tree trunk same as you would a post. As to the theory of flying squirrels taking hanging boxes . . . someone needs to verify whether it would actually be a problem and, if so, to what proportion.. A few hanging boxes taken by flying squirrels or snakes (or whatever) would be small potatoes in comparison to losing 65 active post-mounted boxes to bears. And, as Evelyn alluded, bears that learn to raid one trail may soon become a growing problem.

[Note from webmaster: see remainder of thread under Hanging Nestboxes]

Keith Kridler Mt. Pleasant, Texas
...

In Bluebird a while back they told where black bears could smell a nest of cavity nesters and climb up the tree to a height of 45' to tear apart the snag to get to the baby birds. They gave very high mortality numbers due to bears breaking into natural cavities in the test area. Black bears are
increasing in numbers in Canada and in some states.

...

...

Keith's comments on bears are very true. Almost all bears are pretty omnivorous, with the predominant major exception being polars. Does not surprise me that a black bear would raid a natural cavity... and yes, black bears are increasing in many areas b/c they are now managed or protected... considering we pretty much removed them from the vast majority of the
natural habitat during the early settlement of this continent. These
animals are extremely adept at raiding any and everything, and will eat
whatever they can find.

Thanks --J

My Dad has a place in the southern tier, NY where the black bears are making a comeback. The bears have knocked all four of his EABB nest boxes
down. I'm not sure what can be done about that other than writing a letter
to the DEC protesting the bear problem. The bears are very bold, people have
reported them looking through windows in search of food, no fear of people
at all.

Gordon
Rochester, NY

One suggestion that I have not seen tried for boxes specifically, but may be worth a shot...

...to combat bears getting into things, campsites in the Smoky Mtn Nat Park employs a cable between either two old phone poles, or between two large trees. This put items you needed to keep out of reach of the bears.

... you might try to secure a cable or line of some sort between two trees or poles, and suspending the nestbox(es) below the cable. Some points to consider are... 1. you have to keep the nestboxes "at" least 8 feet above the ground, 2. you WILL need to protect the securing ends if you choose not to use cable, as the bears have clearly shown in the park that they are capable of figuring out how and where the lines are attached & would likely just tear a rope or cord down, 3. you will need to keep any suspended boxes at least 10 feet horizontally from any pole or tree.

GSMNP has had considerable luck with using cables to protect suspended items, except on "thicker" diameter cable, where they encountered an ingenious female that would send her cubs out onto the cable to "open" or knockdown any container, while she patiently sat & waited for the spoils below --they utilized a 10" diameter metal disk installed on the cable about 4 feet from each end -- the cubs couldn't step over it and keep their balance.

Just an idea, and a bit of work, but if they wish to keep boxes and make them raid-resistant, it may work well. --

Jimmy Dodson
Asst Forest Manager -- NCSU Dept of Forestry
NCSU Hill Forest
P.O. Box 71
Rougemont, NC 27572

I will print this out and give it to one of our LBBS members. He had four cubs raid his trail and they tore down and mutilated 40 nestboxes. I will have a picture of some of them in our next newsletter. He said they would pass up the empty nestboxes and tear down the ones with eggs or babies. I
live in Black Bear country! So far, though, they have not visited my trail.

Could other climbing predators get past the disk?

Evelyn Cooper
Delhi, LA
Louisiana Bayou Bluebird Society

I was sent an e-mail a couple of weeks back that showed a bird feeder suspended about 10 feet off the ground on a strong cable between two trees that were about 30 feet apart with a bear looking up at the feeder. The next shot shows the bear has climbed a tree and is hanging from the cable like a tree sloth. The last shot shows the bear destroying the feeder while hanging upside down. Not sure if this series is real but it sure looks like it. If so then not too many nestboxes would be safe from raccoons as they are really small bears. KK

...if on both sides of the feeder, they'd threaded the cable through a 3'-4'long section of 2" (or so) diameter PVC pipe, the bear would never have made it to the feeder.
When they try to hold onto the PVC pipe, it just rotates and dumps them off. A gymnast may get past it, but that's because they can figure out what's going on and defeat it by arching their hand over the PVC tube, but most bears aren't as smart as most gymnasts. I know, I know--generalities are dangerous but I'll stick with that one.

Chuck

Hi everyone.

I have had bears attack my bird feeders twice, but fortunately they must have just been passing through, because I took down my feeders for a week, then left them up with no further problems. I did have a bear bend over a nest box pole once. Maybe he thought it was a bird feeder. Fortunately it didn't have a nest of Bluebirds in it. I bent it back up and had no further problems.

Mary Roen, River Falls, WI

We have a member of LBBS who did have problems with bears in the 2004
nesting season. Over 40 of his boxes were torn down and mangled, presumably
for the eggs or babies inside. There's a photo of the damaged boxes in the
June 05 issue of the LBBS newsletter at www.labayoubluebirdsociety.org.

Several years ago, a man-made reservoir was put in close to where my parents
live near Delhi, LA. As it has filled, water has backed up into land that
is bear habitat, and the bears are looking for new range. My dad has seen
two dead bears along the interstate. But, hey, property values skyrocketed,
so I guess that makes it ok in the minds of some! (Excuse my sarcasm; it's
a hot button issue with me).

I would imagine that we'll see more and more issues arise with bears as they
continue to lose habitat and search for new territory.

Sheryl Bassi
Leland, MS
LBBS

In a message dated 5/2/2006 2:05:23 PM Mountain Standard Time, blueburd"at"verizon.net writes:
Cher,
I have never known a bear to bother a nestbox. It's the
bird-feeders that attract them.
...In Colorado we have had incidents of bears destroying nestboxes (and consuming the contents) that are nowhere near any human habitation, bird feeders, etc. As omnivores with a great sense of smell, bears will consume anything they come across, wherever they are.

Kevin Corwin
Centennial, CO

As Kevin mentioned... bears eat anything and everything. Feeders may attract them, but do not put it past them to "attack" nestboxes for the contents (baby birds, eggs, parents, etc.). They are omnivorous... eating berries, seeds, plants, birds, fish, rodents, and so on. It's the "easy"
meal they are after... which is why there are such problems with them raiding garbage cans, dumpsters, and landfills nationwide.

Hanging boxes might work in brown bear country, but black bears are extremely adept climbers. Some females in the Great Smoky Mtn Nat Park essentially "train" their cubs to "fetch" hanging food bags at campsites while they sit patiently on the ground below (the park service has now resolved this issue pretty cleverly, but it's not applicable to nestboxes).

If you have a "problem" bear, the wildlife office in your area will likely assist you in resolving the issue. The GSMNP bear guys employ some "noise-makers" (aka fireworks) and sometimes rubber-buckshot to frighten and deter problem bears in picnic and garbage areas -- ***NOTE... by what I've been told, YOU can't do this legally without an enforcement/mgmt officer.

To put it bluntly, if you've got a bear problem at feeders, take them down for a period (as I think Bruce suggested). If they're into your boxes, call someone or take the boxes down. It's definitely a risk/benefit situation...
you may get lucky and never have a problem, then again you may end up with a big problem. Decide and do your best. Take care --J

Jimmy Dodson
Asst Forest Manager -- NCSU Dept of Forestry & Environmental Resources
Campus: 3024B Biltmore Hall, Raleigh, NC

Cher, did you know bears climb trees too? I saw a cub up in the very top of a huge bush chowing down on some berries in the Smokey Mountains. Also, a bear at my husband's camp went up a tree so fast and out on a limb, it would make your head swim.

They can smell the babies and eggs and will pass up empty boxes and choose only those that have the food they are seeking to rip apart. The LBBS member that had the problem was no where near feeders. These bears were just passing through, migrating to the Tensas Wildlife Refuge that is about 10 miles from me.

Evelyn, Dehli LA

From: rebel1956"at"comcast.net [mailto:rebel1956"at"comcast.net]
Sent: Tuesday, May 02, 2006 11:31 PM
Subject: Re: It's bear time!

When I helped run a Boy Scout camp in the Adirondacks near Long Lake, NY, I watched a medium sized female black bear tear the door off a 1968 Chevy pick-up truck like it was made of cardboard to get to a three day old ham and cheese sandwhich and a six-pack of Utica Club beer. Their strength and determination at least equal their taste in human food. Black bears kill a lot of people and other
more useful wildlife than grizzly bears do. If you have them in your area and choose to keep feeding
birds in the summer, keep your eyes open.
Rob barron

From: Bet Zimmerman [mailto:ezdz"at"charter.net]
Sent: Monday, July 24, 2006 10:28 AM
Subject: bears - picture of the week

http://www.sialis.org/picture.htm (from Dave Richmond of Idaho – I contacted him after I saw an article by him in the last NABS Bluebird journal)

and a new webpage on preventing bear attacks on nestboxes here: http://www.sialis.org/bears.htm - suggestions/feedback always welcome! ....

Bet from CT

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