The Northland Forest is waking up, and Momma Bear wanted to introduce her three cubs to Molly and me! Thursday night I looked up from the couch and realized there was a bear happily eating sunflower seeds at one of the bird feeders … only 10 yards from where I was sitting. When I stood up I quickly realized that the entire bear family was visiting Hoeg Hollow. There isn’t much food in the woods right now, and my seven bird feeders was just too nice an attraction to miss during their evening ramblings. The four bears spent over 45 minutes at our home on Amity Creek! Occasionally they would scamper into the forest, but within seconds one or more of the cubs would reappear.
We have a window seat which is only a few feet from the feeders, and I got down on the floor and crawled across the room to the light switches. Dousing the lights provided the two of us perfect viewing from our darkened house without scaring the bears.
As a fyi, we are NOT turning lights “on and off” during any of the videos. My security cameras automatically switch between infrared and normal modes based upon the amount of light, which accounts for the perceived “flashes”. Given the intensity of the floodlights the cameras took some video “in living color” as Walt Disney would say!
And now as Ed Sullivan would say … Let’s get on with the show!
My cameras were either my Decko Security / TrailCams … read full review, or my Pixel 7a phone. I did not use my Sony A6300.
Movies may be found underneath the still images!
The Bear Family first arrives … one of the cubs is very, very brown, not black
Radom Black Bear Family Photographs. Notice the “brown cub” is “in process” at ripping the suet feeder down … 3rd image! 
Oops … the BBQ is Hot! The cub jumped back quickly. It was smelling the pork chops I BBQ’d three hours earlier. Brownie learns about Smokey Joes!
Aftermath the Next Morning! Molly and I were sitting on the window seat … closest window.
Black Bear Family … The Movies!
Bears Arriving … Trailcam … No Sound (video link for email subscribers)
Our Reactions … Pixel 7a Phone … Taken from Inside (video link One and Two for email subscribers)
Up a Tree … and Down Again! (video link for email subscribers)
Inspecting the TrailCams (video link for email subscribers)
End of Post
Great footage. I feel badly for you about your feeders, but the up close videos of these bears was fascinating to watch.
That’s pretty entertaining, as long as you don’t mind the devastation to the birdfeeders! If you’ve watched Voyageurs Wolf Project videos, you can see how bears can do a lot of damage to cameras.
I definitely watch the Wolf Project Videos … great research. I have been involved on a much smaller basis with research at Sax-Zim Bog where I am a volunteer naturalist.
Thankfully, no animals have attacked and damaged any of my cameras. I have become an expert at bird feeder repair. 2 of 3 feeders are repaired and back up.
I love this! How straight up a bear can stand! Truly entertaining, but sorry about the damage they left. Thank you!!
Oh my, quite the night of bear watching! And now cleanup. Hope your cams weren’t damaged.