Midnight snack? Black bears steal from bird feeders across Charlevoix

CHARLEVOIX — Charlevoix residents on both the north and south side of the bridge have reported seeing black bears raiding their bird feeders this month.

When southside Charlevoix resident Pam Kentala opened her dining room window at around 3 a.m. on Nov. 5, the last thing she expected was to find herself face-to-face with a black bear.

“I wake up in the middle of the night every night and sit at the table in the front of our house which is by the window, and I always have it open to get some fresh air,” said Kentala, who described the window having no screen on it.

“I was playing on my phone, and I heard a rattle noise near the suet feeder about six feet away from the window. I saw some fur and thought it was a raccoon at first ... but then I looked again and realized it was not a raccoon at all, but a bear. I was in shock,” Kentala said.

Kentala said the bear was soon moved into action by her watchdog Timmy — a 10-pound Maltese poodle mix — who erupted into a barking frenzy and sounded the alarm for her other two dogs, Sierra the Chihuahua and Tammy the Morkie.

Their noise caused the bear to take off across the yard too quickly for Kentala to get a photograph.

Kentala and her husband decided not to take down the bird feeders, and a few days later they awoke to find the bear had returned to finish its snack.

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“When we got up in the morning, both feeders were on the ground. The bird feeder was a little bit smushed and the suet feeder was destroyed and the suet was gone,” said Kentala.

Wanting to see the bear again, Kentala — who lives near the wooded area next to the Belvedere Club — laid another block of suet out and set up a motion sensor camera. The bear didn’t return, but she did manage to capture images of a fox snatching the food.

Linda Scheffler also posted about her own encounter with a bear on Facebook, which prompted reactions from hundreds of members of the Charlevoix: What’s happening in our city page. Many also claimed to have recently seen black bears near their homes.

Scheffler was able to catch a video of a bear in her yard on North Country Club Drive as it dismantled her bird feeders to reach the treats inside.

At around 9 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 25, Scheffler said she was in the kitchen getting a drink of water when she noticed one of the bird feeder’s squirrel protectors lying on the ground. While trying to figure out why that was, she soon saw the culprit close by, leaning up against her fence.

For the next 25 minutes, Scheffler said the bear worked to procure the insides of her suet feeder, at times being less than 2 feet away from the window she was peering through. It seemed completely unphased by her presence, or that of her barking dogs.

“I wasn’t quite sure what to do so I called the sheriff's department who advised me to call 911,” said Scheffler.

“I think it was the lights from the trooper that arrived that scared him away,” she added.

This bear also returned later to finish its snack, and Scheffler eventually attempted to drive it off with an assault horn and by pounding on the window. But the bear did not leave.

“He didn’t even flinch,” said Scheffler.

The bear eventually left of its own accord, squeezing through a fenced area.

According to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, male black bears live in areas that can be larger than 100 square miles, while females — which give birth to an average of two to three cubs every other winter — stay in smaller areas ranging from 10-20 square miles. Adult female black bears typically weigh 100-250 pounds. An adult male Michigan black bear can weigh more than 400 pounds and stand 5 feet tall.

Black bears, which are Michigan’s only bear species, prefer large, hardwood or pine forests, intermixed with wetlands. They can be colored black, brown or cinnamon.

Observations and encounters of the bears are more likely to occur during the spring and summer months, while bears forage for food. They are rarer during this time of year, which makes the recent spate of sightings even more interesting for residents.

Most wild animals, such as black bears, are generally fearful of humans and will leave if they are aware of people present, according to the DNR.

Charlevoix County Sheriff Chuck Vondra agrees.

“Black bears are not a problem for us. They typically don’t want contact with humans and run away,” he said.

“Most folks are fascinated by them and want to watch them,” Vondra added.

The sheriff’s department rarely gets calls alerting them to the animal’s presence, but Vondra did make note of two car-bear accidents, which is an unusual occurrence and potentially an indicator of a larger population in the Charlevoix area.

“I’ve been here 30 years and I can’t remember the last time that happened, and we had two this year,” said Vondra.

According to the DNR, the black bear population has been on a steady incline since 2012, growing by over 80 percent in the northern lower peninsula.

Residents increase their risk of encountering a black bear by having food sources on their property — such as bird feeders, garbage cans and chickens. Human-provided food sources are often an easy meal for these opportunistic feeders.

For those not wanting a late-night visit from a hungry bear, Vondra recommends not putting out any potential lures.

“Remove the food source and they’ll go away,” he said.

For more information on how to handle a conflict with a bear and other wildlife, visit Michigan.gov/Wildlife.

— Contact reporter Annie Doyle at (231) 675-0099 or adoyle@charlevoixcouri

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Black bear sightings reported in Charlevoix