Cub visits Merrimack woman's backyard for birdseed in feeder

MERRIMACK – It was one thing to knock down the birdfeeder, but did it have to trample the flowers?

A black bear cub that made a surprise foray onto Betty Mayben’s property last week paid no mind to her lovely, landscaped yard.

Instead, the cub swatted down her birdfeeder, munched on the bounty and eventually turned tail through her bed of bellflowers, astilbe and impatiens.

After watching most of the show from a safe distance, Mayben said, the flowers were the last straw.

“I went, ‘All right, all right. You’re crossing the line,’ ” Mayben said with a laugh.

Mayben, a physical therapist from Merrimack, arrived at her Drake Lane house Friday after work and saw the first clues of an intruder. The 8-foot pole in her yard with two bird feeders attached had mysteriously come crashing to the ground.

There had been no violent windstorm. No tornado touch-down.

All she had was a broken pole and two toppled feeders.

“I walked up, curious as to how in the world it could be on the ground,” Mayben said.

Mayben lugged all of the stuff into her garage, still unsure as to what had happened.

She realized this was a bit of deja vu. This past winter, she had arrived home to a broken bird feeder pole.

At the time, Mayben went to a local nature products store to replace the pole.

After describing the wreckage, a clerk there gave her his theory.

“He looked at me, smiled, and said ‘I think you have a bear,’ ” Mayben recalled.

That diagnosis was hard to swallow.

Mayben has lived in her colonial house in the Mallard Point housing development for 16 years. She’d had the feeder for just as long.

In all that time, Mayben said she’s never noticed any significant wildlife in her yard.

That is, until Friday.

About 45 minutes after she stuck the remnants of the feeder in her garage, a bear cub came moseying from a wooded area onto her lawn. Mayben was about 40 feet away, lounging on her deck.

“I didn’t see him come out,” Mayben said. “He was just there, eating, his belly on the ground . . . He was having himself a ball.”

Mayben stayed quietly on the deck and snapped some photographs for about 20 minutes while the bear feasted on spilled birdseed.

When he was finished, Mayben said, he stepped right across her flowerbed. Somehow, nothing got crushed.

The state Fish and Game Department recommends removing bird feeders during the spring because bears that frequent homes for easy access to food may have a shorter-than-normal life expectancy.

“I didn’t see him come out,” Mayben said. “He was just there, eating, his belly on the ground . . . He was having himself a ball.”

Mayben stayed quietly on the deck and snapped some photographs for about 20 minutes while the bear feasted on spilled birdseed.

When he was finished, Mayben said, he stepped right across her flowerbed. Somehow, nothing got crushed.

The state Fish and Game Department recommends removing bird feeders during the spring because bears that frequent homes for easy access to food may have a shorter-than-normal life expectancy.