There were two hummingbird feeders on our deck this week. Now there is one.
A Dine Until Dark Curfew has been imposed on the little hummers and the one remaining feeder is taken inside when the sun goes down.
What happened?
A mystery intruder visited and vandalized our peaceful Virginia home.
If you are interested in solving mysteries, here are the clues:
- A favorite old hummingbird feeder was lying in three pieces on our deck,
- amid a wide swath of sticky sugar water,
- replete with large animal footprints, and
- unidentified animal scat on the deck stairs.
“What critter (or person) could it be?”we wondered.
Bill thought it was a raccoon. I thought a bear. Can you tell by these observations the differences in our personalities and outlooks on life?
I Googled SCAT and found some that looked like ours (NO, NOT HUMAN). Oddly, there are actual animal “poop charts” so you can compare and identify droppings! Somehow I find this offensive to my sensitive senses.
Bear Scat
Anyway, that was as far as I got researching when an email came in from our immediate next door neighbors warning they had seen a mama bear and her two cubs in their back yard!
Mystery SOLVED! IT WAS DEFINITELY A BEAR!!! AND A VIRGINIA BLACK BEAR WITH TWIN CUBS!!! Well, what did I expect when we chose to live in the country – civilization?
Then a second email came and a third. The word is out and we have a NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH with friends sending email alerts!
- “We saw a mama bear and two cubs in our back yard this morning. If you think this is information that should be shared with the neighbors, would you pass it on?”
- “Yep! We had some work being done at our house a few weeks ago and they videoed two cubs and the mom on our property.”
- “Also I saw them crossing the hunt road, heading up the hill into the woods between the pond and the riding ring, just like last summer. My mare has indicated their closeness to our place too. I have not viewed them there personally yet (but, she doesn’t fib).”
Virginia Views 