Birdfeeder thief strikes!

Bryan J

Bryan J

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Apr 16, 2010
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Not too long ago, I bought a new birdfeeder for my wife, who enjoys feeding and watching the many species of birds behind our cottage home on the NY/CT border. This was one of those cleverly-designed, "squirrel buster" models made of steel and plexiglass designed to deny squirrels access to the store of birdseed. Aside from being smooth and slippery on the outside to ensure that squirrels will slip off if they try to mount it, it houses an elaborate spring-controlled system that regulates access to the seed--the feeding doors close when any animal weighing more than a small bird climbs onto it. It worked great, but hey it should for the amount of money it cost me. I think I paid close to $75.

We have a sun room off our kitchen that looks out over our deck toward a clearing in the forest where there is a small lake. Directly behind the deck stand a couple of mid-sized trees, and it was in one of these that I decided to mount this super feeder to a branch about 15 feet up off the ground where is easily visible from our sun room. I hung the suet feeder a few feet away from the squirrel-free feeder to complete my little bird zoo.

Since installing the feeders last October, we've enjoyed our morning coffee watching the many species of birds indigenous to the area. Once a week or so, I simply break out my ladder, climb the tree and refill the feeders. It's worked out pretty well and I guess it's developed into somewhat of a hobby for us. One of the simple pleasures of life, so to speak.

This morning the hobby came to an abrupt end. When we looked out the the back window we noticed both bird feeders and the iron hooks upon which they hung from the tree had were gone. I was a little confused since it hadn't been windy or otherwise inclement overnight. The feeders had been pretty well secured anyway. I figured they must have been knocked over by some animal. Unfortunately there is a very large rock under the expensive squirrel free feeder so I was curious to see how badly damaged it was.

However, when I arrived at the rock at the base of the tree, there was no sign of the bird feeder. I looked all around the tree and in the nearby bushes. It had vanished! It's a pretty heavy piece of equipment so it's hard to imagine some small animal dragged it off into the woods without a trace. I could see no dragging marks in the surrounding dirt. I could also find no tracks. I did manage to find the wooden suet container. It was broken in two, the suet gone.

I went back in to tell my wife the puzzling news and we tried to hypothesize what could account for the evidence. She seemed to think that raccoons were responsible, but I wasn't sure. (we had a raccoon problem at our previous home and those critters travel in packs, are very loud, and usually make quite a mess). After thinking about it for awhile, it occurred to me that I hadn't examined the tree itself.

Lo and behold here is what I found:

Clawmarks1.jpg


These fresh claw marks were tracked all the way up the tree to where the birdfeeder was hanging, one set on each side of the tree which has a diameter of about 9 inches.

Clawmarks2.jpg


These were closer to the ground, probably the hind legs:

Clawmarks3.jpg



Now, I've been told that there are no bears in this particular area, but I cannot think what other animal is capable of climbing a tree, leaving marks this size, and dragging a rather large chunk of metal off into the woods.

Can anyone here confirm these are bear claw marks?
 
Pretty crazy! I have seen video of black bears climbing trees, and man they get up there quick and agile like a cat :eek:
 
Before you even got to mentioning the claw marks or used the word "bear", I was already thinking "bear" and was going to look to see where you were from. I cannot confirm that those are definitively claw marks of a bear, but I would bet that they are. I can confirm that bird seed and bird food does in fact attract bears. As such, in areas with bear populations, feeding the birds from feeders in your yard can invite complications to an otherwise simple pleasure in life.
 
I see bear claw marks, but I'm certainly no expert. Are there any mountain lions in your area?
 
It could be mountain lion, but I doubt a mountain lion would go after birdseed. Maybe, but I doubt a Wolfman would either.
 
TxSxB said:
I see bear claw marks, but I'm certainly no expert. Are there any mountain lions in your area?
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I'm not sure if there are any mountain lions in the region. I have seen a bobcat on occasion, but those are pretty small. In any case, don't forget that whatever it was carried my $75 bird feeder away with it. I don't believe even a mountain lion could manage that. It's a pretty large, and awkward object to drag around.

Here's another strange anecdote. Our garbage is picked up from a dumpster which is halfway down our driveway toward the main road. We have a very long driveway, about 75 yards, so at night rather than walk all the way to the dumpster to throw the trash bags away, we just leave them outside the front door and do it in the morning. Well, my wife left the trash out last night, but it was untouched. You'd figure if a bear was in the area it would have been very interested in the trash bag.
 
They (Fish and Feathers) put those warning out EVERY YEAR here. Bears will wreak havoc on feeders of any kind to include the dog food. Don't feed them outside either or you might be serving up more than a few nuggets to the BEAR, yowza!!!
 
We've had bears stop by here in north Jersey, and one time i asked our Park Ranger what the current bear was up to and he said, raiding bird feeders in backyards.
 
Black bear use primarily their front legs when climbing trees, and only use the rear legs if they slip. And when descending the tree, they come down rear first. Are there any other things that might indicate that it ws a bear.

I looked it up in a mammal track book i have, and your signs sure do look like bear.

A puma or lynx might climb the tree, to prey on the birds. But i dont think it looks like a feline track.

5658105864_3dd5a30ddc_b.jpg


5657534709_9c59a20f69_b.jpg
 
PropThePolecat said:
Black bear use primarily their front legs when climbing trees, and only use the rear legs if they slip. And when descending the tree, they come down rear first. Are there any other things that might indicate that it ws a bear.

I looked it up in a mammal track book i have, and your signs sure do look like bear.

A puma or lynx might climb the tree, to prey on the birds. But i dont think it looks like a feline track.
Click to expand...

Those are some interesting pictures. I've pulled up some similar pictures from a Google search for "bear clawmarks on trees" and noticed that many of the claw marks are diagonal or even semicircular. The marks on my tree are pretty much all up and down. Not sure if this means anything, but that's the fact.

I couldn't find any other physical evidence to support the hypothesis that it was a bear. Then again, I don't know what to look for. Unfortunately the ground under the tree is very mossy so there are no tracks.

Apparently, many of the posters in this thread are correct: bird feeders attract bears. According to the New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation, 80% of all bear problems around homes in NY have been attributed to bird feeders, and the bear usually involved is the Black Bear.
 
Buy a new feeder and a "trail camera" and set the camera up so that it can take pictures of the tree the feeder is hung from. That should catch the culprit in the act.
 
Do you have a flourishing Sasquatch community nearby? Those buggers will scratch a tree all to hell if they don't clip their toenails before climbing.
 
TxSxB said:
+1 on the chupacabra :D
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Chupacabra doesn't really have carzy claws and they feed on blood through the slender pointy tongue, birdseed probably isn't the best for their toothless mouth.

I favor the original central America version, the hillbilly Chupacabra found in US is totall bullbutter.
 
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