Several weeks ago, I got up in the morning to find one of the wife's Shepard Hook flower pot holders bent in a mess. I knew who the culprit was. A bear. I staightened it out, re-attached it to our back deck, and forgot about it. We have "visitors" to our yard quite often. I have watched a racoon drinking the nectar from one of the hummingbird feeders before, too. So it was no surprise to me when I flipped the deck light on around 1:30 A.M. the other night, and saw a hummingbird feeder swinging back and forth. Windy out, I thought. I opened the deck door, and found no wind. What I DID find was a very large black bear at the edge of the deck, about 15 ft. from me, and soley occupied with the removal of a Finch feeder. I yelled at it. Nothing. Paid no attention to me at all. I slammed the door several times. Nothing. It stood up. It was huge. My yellow Lab, Moses, wanted a piece of it. I got him into the basement, and went to check the situation. Gone. Finch feeder and all. I opened the door cautiously, and could hear it crunching the plastic feeder in the woods at the edge of the yard. I found it he next morning, smashed to pieces.
This is certainly not our first experience with bears here, but it does reinforce the point that they are definitely attracted to bird seed, and if you want to be spared replacemaent costs, take them in at night.
Sometime I'll tell you about apples for applesauce left out on the deck overnight............