Living with Bears

You know I live with bears ambling through the yard on a regular basis, right? I love and respect them, but I am ready for them to go nighty-nite now. And although I see them less at this time of year, they are still not asleep. Many bears start their long winter's nap in early October, but if the weather is warm, the big guys will stay up accumulating fat (up to 40 pounds a week) until the cold really sets in.

We have had some really cold nights on the mountain already and that freak October snowstorm that lasted for days before finally melting; but the bears have not gone down. How do I know?

Garbage.

Bears eat garbage. Even though the township I live in got a grant to provide every household in bear alley with 2 screw-top bear cans; people do not use them. There are flyers all over town advising us on “How to Live with Bears”. The first item on the list is Do NOT leave your garbage out. Still, I drive to work on garbage day to find garbage bags ripped open and their contents strewn all over the road. You would think that would only need to happen once, before the light bulb would go on.

OK. The cans are heavy, do not have wheels, and the screw top is a pain. But they are made that way for a reason. Please, use them if you have them. If you did not get one, the local feed store has them for sale.

I cannot start feeding the birds until the bears go to sleep. The bears will not go to sleep as long as there is a steady food source and the weather is moderate. There will be a steady food source as long as people leave out their stinkin’ garbage.

Ok. I am done ranting now. Thank you for letting me vent.

Black Raspberries

I plunked down on a rock next to the trail and like a bear in a berry patch, started wolfing sun warmed ripe black raspberries. My sister had called last week to tell me she'd picked enough black raspberries for a pie. I couldn't even remember the last time I had them. The wild raspberries here are all red, I told her. Sissy, I lied. Apparently we do have them, though we definitely do not have blackberries, my personal favorite. I wonder why...? Anywho, I spied these while hiking. Couldn't let them go to waste. They really are better than red raspberrries. But there was not enough for a pie.

Emergency Intervention

I flipped on my left blinker to turn off my street, looking left, right, left…then right again. What is that? I squinted. On the street over by the mailboxes was a long piece of black tape and something wadded up. It looked like trash. I turned left and went two blocks then turned around. I had a sneaking suspicion.

I pulled up for a quick peek before heading off to work. I walked around the car to find out--it was what I thought—a full-grown black snake enmeshed in a wad of deer netting. Crap! I toed it with my black linen open-toed espadrille. It writhed. Double-crap!

I took a deep breath and exhaled heavily. I would have to do something. It was still alive. I happened to have a pair of scissors in the pocket of the driver’s side door. I never keep scissors in the car, but I guess I understand the parsel tongue of the snake gods and somehow knew I would need them.

I squatted on the street next to the snake. Its tongue flickered out. It was tangled from its head to about ¼ of the way down it body. Working my way toward the head, I eased a section of the black plastic filament away from its scales and snipped.

Snip by snip, square by square, I cut the snake out of the netting. The freer it got, the more it wiggled, until finally it was curling around on itself. I picked it, and the still attached mess of netting up, taking it up to the rock wall by the driveway. There on top of a gigantic boulder that I used as a table, I finished cutting it out. As I got closer to the head, around its throat and eyes, it stopped moving. When it was finally free and I pulled off the last piece, I nudged it off the rock and into the flowerbed. It slithered from view. I hope it returns the favor and hangs around. I need a few black snakes to ease the chipmunk over-population situation at my house. I am going to make a point of gathering up all of the deer netting anywhere on my property. I will never use it again. This is not the first time I have had to cut a snake out of it.

Bringin' Home a Baby Bumblebee....

$2.95! I pulled in.

“Fill it with regular. Thanks.”

While I waited for my tank to fill, I glanced over at the shopping plaza across the street. I was struck by all the gulls swirling around the parking lot. I had not seen many gulls there before, so it was interesting and unusual. There were not just one or two, but dozens. I assumed they were Ring-billed Gulls. I was too far away to see any field marks clearly, so I sat enjoying the movement of the white birds against the clear blue sky.

As I watched them, I noticed 5 vultures riding a thermal above the gulls. I always look at vultures, because sometimes even this far north there may be Black Vultures. The vultures circled closer to the where I was parked and as they banked I clearly saw the wing patches flashing in the sunlight. They also have a fat blunt look to the wing. Black Vultures are much more, hmmmm, flappy than Turkey Vultures. They soar less. These looked as if they were having a great time.

They chased and played in and out of the trees and around telephone poles. One vulture repeatedly dive-bombed another one. I watched as they flew first this way and then that. I wondered if they were a family group. Or, maybe it’s mating season for vultures? Off in the distance tiny pepper specks of Turkey Vultures rocked on the wind, above it all. Almost stately compared to the frenetic activity of their smaller cousins.

I remember how excited I was the first time I saw a Black Vulture in Florida. Then, about 10 years ago I started to see them occasionally in central Jersey. Curious, but cool. Now they are here all season long like Turkey Vultures. There are less of them, but they are here.

Do not dismiss vultures. They provide a much needed service.