Dear Members,
Some longtime Six Mile Lake Association members and residents have, over the years, shared their experiences of seeing various forms of wildlife including fox, coyotes, white pelicans, osprey, sandhill cranes…just to name a few and some more rare than others. Many of us now have trail cams which enable us to see all kinds of nighttime activities we’ve never seen before, especially around our bird feeders, yards, porches, etc. One of the most frequent and most surprising sightings is that of bears and we have them here on Six Mile Lake and always have had them here. A few nights ago our dumpster was raided twice in one week and our trail cam revealed the culprit…a black bear. From our place he headed north and was caught all along the way on several trail cams our members had set up at their homes. On the north end of the lake our friend watched a bear run down his yard, jump in the water and swim across to the west side of the lake – a rare daylight sighting. Two winters ago a bear raided feeders from the south end of Six Mile Lake all the way to the north end. Earlier this year a member sent me a video of a bear cub wandering across his porch and just a few nights ago our webmaster who has a place on the north end/east side of the lake caught a bear ambling across his deck on one of his video cameras. So be aware…we have bears, at least several in the area and they’ve always been here but, for the most part, because they are so elusive and are mainly nocturnal in their wanderings, we just never see them in real life up close and personal. Just avoid leaving trash outside and bring bird feeders and pets in at night. And remember, bears are more afraid of us than we are of them. For further information about Michigan’s black bears see this article.
Until next time…
Cherie Hogan
Secretary