Courtesy Photo A bear visiting the back porch of a Grand Lake resident is caught on a trail cam as it looks for birdseed last summer.

ALPENA — Winter is a great time to feed birds.

Spring, not so much, according to Shelby Hiestand, Michigan Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist for Presque Isle, Montmorency, and Alpena counties.

Each spring, when the world is waking up, Hiestand gets multiple phone calls asking what to do about the bears coming out of hibernation and into residents’ back yards.

Most of the time, Hiestand said, the culprit is bird feeders. Area residents, eager to enjoy the spring migration of their feathered friends, hang feeders from posts and rails and shepherds’ hooks, forgetting that the small seeds are irresistible to certain large stomachs.

Bears, which have an excellent sense of smell, are very attracted to the high nutrient content of seeds. They wake up hungry, Hiestand said, and look for the fastest source of protein possible. Like a kid raiding the snack cabinet, they go for the easy meal provided by the swipeable birdfeeders dangling within reach.

That brings them nearer to humans than they might like.

Bears may be hungry, but they don’t need us to feed them, Hiestand said. The woods will provide enough food for the big animals. It’s just going to require a little more effort on the bears’ part.

“They know how to do it themselves,” Hiestand said. “They just like short cuts, just like we do.”

The black bears found in northern Michigan are, in general, not aggressive toward humans, Hiestand said, but, all the same, they should not be encouraged to become a guest in your yard.

“It’s just not a safe situation to be feeding such a big animal near your house,” Hiestand said.

In addition to resisting the urge to hang bird feeders, Hiestand also recommends using caution when putting out garbage cans. She suggests hauling them to the curb on the morning they will be picked up rather than the night before to discourage bears, with their raccoon-like love of food any way they can get it, from foraging for your leftovers.

“They are so smart they can learn trash pick up day. They’ll come once a week because they know that’s the day,” Hiestand said, “and they’ll make a big mess.”

Bears are not an uncommon visitor in places like Alpena, with a high population area immediately surrounded by a wild area.

“You have a lot of people in neighborhoods, with their bird feeders out and regular trash pick up, and they are right next to a swamp that’s a great bear habitat,” Hiestand said. That interface between wild spaces and city or town is where backyard bear sightings are most likely to occur.

Last spring, a bear became a temporary resident of Rogers City, making appearances on city streets, drawn by local bird feeders. Local children were kept in from recess when it wandered near school property. While the bear was removed without incident, its presence was a reminder that big creatures shouldn’t be encouraged to get too comfortable being around small humans.

Animal lovers and those on the hunt for a great selfie maybe tempted to put out snackable temptations intentionally to try to attract a bear into their yard. That’s not best for your neighbors, Hiestand said. Many people are very frightened by the large animals, and the bears will probably go sniffing into neighboring back yards when they are done with yours.

Also, “it’s not best for the bear,” the wildlife expert said. “You are making the bear more unsafe around people, and it may potentially even have to be put down because it is too used to people and it becomes dangerous.”

If you love bears, she said, don’t feed them.

Presque Isle resident Nonnie Bannasch has twice had to go searching for her bird feeder after it was toted off by a bear that apparently lives in the wooded areas near her Grand Lake-fronting home. Last summer, after her feeders were knocked down once or twice– by raccoons or possums, she thought — she woke one morning to find her cemented post knocked out of its hole and a shepherd’s hook bent completely to the ground.

“I know that couldn’t possibly be a raccoon,” Bannasch said.

Hoping to catch her nighttime guest in action, Bannasch and her husband set up a trail cam in the back of the house, capturing photos of a huge, humped bear padding around the yard and climbing the steps onto their back porch.

The bear, which has been spotted in the yards of other residents on the lake, including in the daytime, once again swiped the same feeder when Bannasch forgot to take it in one recent evening, despite the reminder alarms on her phone. The feeder, which hangs right outside the bedroom window, disappeared for several days until it was found in a neighboring field, misshapen by powerful jaws.

Though wary of the bear and nervous about being outside in the evenings, Bannasch continues to feed the birds, careful to bring in the feeders every night — or, if it’s getting dark, to send her husband out for them.

“Now it’s the principle of the thing. Me and the bear,” Bannasch said.

Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693 or jriddle@thealpenanews.com.