Now is a good time for an update on black bears, but why? One reason is that Massachusetts’ black bear population, at 4,500 to 5,000 bears, is growing and expanding eastward – into our area. Another big reason is that now, in spring, call it March to April, black bears (Ursus americanus) are coming out of hibernation. They’ll be out and about, though not necessarily near humans.
Meghan Crawford, community engagement biologist with Mass Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MassWildlife), noted in a bear talk for the Westborough Community Land Trust (WCLT) that hungry black bears head to wetlands in spring. For what? Skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus). It’s one of spring’s first wild plants to come up. Would you be surprised that plants are 90 percent of black bears’ diet year-round? Besides skunk cabbage, in spring, bears feed on grasses, sedges, shoots, lush greenery, leftover nuts, and occasional deer fawns.
As the seasons progress, black bears’ natural diet changes with what’s available in their environment. For example, in late summer-fall, bears go for corn and apples, nuts (acorns, beech nuts, hickory nuts), and any deer carcasses they might find. The bears go to upland forests, fields, and orchards for these foods…