...the bird feeder got knocked over. We got up the next morning to the whole thing in a pile on the ground. Some seed had spilled, but nothing was eaten, so maybe it wasn’t an animal. There had been some teenagers messing around across the road the evening before. The bird feeder is out front of the coach so we can see it through the windshield during the day. Pretty easy to get to. The kids could have knocked it over after dark. Or it could have been the wind, but we had left the awning out overnight and nothing triggered the wind sensor. Judy thought it was probably raccoons. I figured it was a bear.
We decided to reconfigure and narrow it down. We put the birdfeeder assembly all back together, but behind the motorhome this time. Less likely kids will casually get back there and mess with it. We kept the good feeders in and hung the suet back up. Next night, boom. Annie starts barking. The feeder is down. Judy goes outside with a flashlight to chase the raccoons. I don’t think its raccoons. We have a heavy metal post on a heavy metal stand, with heavy rocks piled on the base. A raccoon climbing the pole would exert a vertical force. He might trash the feeders and knock them down, but I don’t think he’s going to generate the horizontal force to knock the whole contraption down. I stayed in the house.
Tonight, there were headlights in the park; not an RV coming in late, but headlights starting and stopping and turning. They had a spotlight; and the guy walking around outside of the truck had a badge; and a gun. Wildlife wardens, responding to the call of a marauding bear in the neighborhood.
No more birdfeeders outside at night here. Judy spent the rest of the night watching out the window for the bear.
