WindStar Wildlife Institute Blog

Great Backyard Bird Count begins today, February 13th!

AS A NESTWATCHER, you already understand the importance of monitoring the birds to uncover changes in their numbers and distribution. The annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) is a quick, easy, four-day snapshot of how the birds are faring in winter across all of North America. The 12th edition of the GBBC takes place February 13 through 16 and we invite you to add your observations to this ever-growing database of observations via the GBBC website. Explore reports coming in from across the continent, take the GBBC survey, even upload images for the photo contest. Just by participating in the GBBC you’ll be entered into a drawing for great prizes donated by the National Audubon Society, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Wild Birds Unlimited, and Droll Yankees. Join the Great Backyard Bird Count this year and Count for Fun, Count for the Future!

Dealing With Rising Black Bear Problem

MICHIGAN'S Department of Natural Resources plans to deal with growing bear population.  It calls for:

• Allowing bruins to move naturally into southern Michigan to the extent that citizens are comfortable.
• Increasing efforts to educate citizens and law enforcement officials about bears 
• Gauging social tolerance for bears.
• Improving the state's response to farmers and beekeepers who suffer damage from bears. 
• Maintaining large tracts of contiguous forest for bears, along with travel corridors
• Changing 2009 season regulations for bear hunters who bait or run hounds.

Michigan has an estimated 18,000 Black Bears and more than 90% of those are in the upper peninsula. Michigan's DNR says the population has doubled in the past decade. That increase is a sign that the population is healthy, but it puts Michigan's black bears on a collision course with humans (never a good thing).

Road kill is becoming a familiar sight here in Michigan. Last summer my wife and I spotted a dead cub along I75. Now, Black Bears are turning up dead on Michigan roads in the southern half of the lower peninsula. A young bear was killed by a car south of Grand Rapids in 2008.   Another was killed on the outskirts of Grand Rapids in 2007. Another was killed on the road in Flint the year before and the list continues to grow. Bear crossing signs are becoming more common on Michigan highways.

Bears are moving into southern Michigan, the region south of a line from Saginaw to Muskegon. State wildlife officials believe some might be breeding.

More people are building northern homes in bear country. Often, that does not bode well for bears who are viewed as pests or nuisances by former city dwellers. People in the north country know what to expect of bears. In the south, no one knows what to expect. People like the idea that bear are around, but they are not sure they want them in their neighborhood.

Other parts of the plan address the need to get the word out to citizens and law enforcement agencies who might have encounters with Black Bears. The DNR hopes to avoid incidents where lethal force is used as the first line of defense.

A 250-pound Black Bear was killed in 2008 by Battle Creek police officers after it wandered into town. The bear was shot four times, hit by a police cruiser and eventually found in a tree where it was shot and killed. Officers reported acting with concern for public safety, but citizens complained that no attempt was made to tranquilize the bear and relocate it.

Roughly 60 miles west of Detroit may of 2008 there was yet another bear sighting  "There was a big bear, chewing on the feeder and busting up the plastic. I was just in shock, really." the 66 year old gentleman said. No one was hurt and the bear wondered off.

Another bear was sighted by Lansing police yast year as the were responding to a domestic violence call. This bear was never found.

Bears have turned up South of Grand Rapids in  Barry, Allegan and Ionia counties. At least once a year, a bear has been reported in Kent County (Grand Rapids area) every year from 2002 to 2007. The management plan would allow bears to move south naturally to the extent that southern Michigan residents are comfortable. The plan also  reserves the option of hunting to control southern populations if their numbers get too high.

Chance meetings with people and bears are becoming more common in Southern Michigan. Once believed to be a lost bear every now and then, Michigan's DNR is asking for volunteers to help locate and report bear and den sightings.

Education is an important tool and in some ways we are winning the war, if not a few battles.  However, people need to get aquatinted with the fact that there are bear here in The southern half of the lower peninsula and that there will be more and more in northern Michigan.

There is picture and living proof of a Wolverine in Michigan's thumb area since 2004,  now if the DNR will admit to the several Cougar sightings.

Ronald Patterson
Kentwood, MI
WindStar Wildlife Master Naturalist
www.gardening-for-wildlife.com