BLACK BEARS are out and about. How do we know? Well, because one of our staff didn’t take the bird feeder in on Sunday night.

Monday morning, the metal caged feeder had been found under a tree, bent in half. And the short shepherd’s hook it had hung from the day before was also bent in half — must have been a big bear.

According to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, adult black bears can “weigh around 200 pounds, with males being heavier than females, often more than twice as much. Some weigh up to 600 or more pounds and rare individuals up to 900.”

The cubs that are wandering around with their mamas right now, only weigh roughly as “much as 10 pounds by the time they leave the den.” And bears started leaving their dens in early April.

The Game Commission website gives lots of info about keeping harmony in Bear Country. “Perhaps the best way to keep bears from being attracted to your home is to keep them from finding food there in the first place,” the website directs.

Other tips include: put the trash out in the morning instead of the night before, clean the grill and dispose of grease after each use, bring in bird feeders — including hummingbird feeders, don’t leave pet food dishes outside overnight, and beekeepers should use an electric fence.

The site also said, if you come across a bear on your property, do one of two things: make loud noises or shout at the bear from a distance — like you’d react to a dog getting into your trash; or just leave the bear alone and clean up the mess after it leaves, making sure to get rid of whatever brought it to the yard.