Not long after my last column on backyard birds and bears, I got an email saying that I should admire bears for their adaptability.

I never said that I didn’t admire them — rather I am in awe of what these large, lumbering creatures can do.

I believe I pointed out that our backyard bear had learned how to unscrew the bottom of a bird feeder attached to the clothes line without taking down the line or feeder.

That’s impressive.

More impressive is that we almost never see them. Yes, they tend to steer clear of people and come out at night.

But that isn’t always the case in our neighborhood.

We’ve had our garbage can plundered in the middle of the day! I picked it up, put everything in new fresh bags, secured the locking lid — and had it spread across the yard less than an hour later.

And we never saw the bear, and neither did our neighbors.

We take other measures to protect our trash now, and I do bring in bird feeders or don’t hang any in the summer. I’ve learned.

And we’re not in the woods. We’re in the middle of a development not far from two state highways and lots of businesses.

Then, I saw something on Facebook that stopped me cold.

A different kind of bear encounter.

In Mountain Top, just 15 miles north of our home, a man had a bear take down landscaping and start making a bed on his property.

Under his deck, actually.

What?

I’ve been told by friends who hunt that we’ve had one denning under a small bridge near our home.

But under a person’s deck? With people living in the home? Coming and going?

Now, this is too much for me.

The property owner contacted the Pennsylvania Game Commission, and agreed to let the bear be and see how things go.

He even installed a camera under the deck to capture her movements and the possible addition of one or more babies.

And yes, I was also watching to see what happened!

The bear, which they named Sophia, or Sophie, has actually been a good house guest — no mess, no raided garbage cans and no people-bear encounters.

She did gnaw or claw away at the deck’s supports to give herself some more head room, but the owner was OK with that, too.

Sophie sleeps most of the time. She does get up and stretches her legs around the neighborhood, but quickly returns to sleep again.

The entire community has been on baby watch, but no cubs. They’re usually born in January and leave with mom in the spring.

While checking for updates on Sophie, another bear-related page popped up in my news feed, as they tend to do.

This one, the BEAR League, had video of a new mom, Sugar Bear, and her newest addition, Snowflake. I paused and watched, and more videos started showing up each day. I watched them all.

Finally, I went to BEAR League’s page to learn more. It’s a nonprofit group based in the western Lake Tahoe Basin in California that is dedicated to living in harmony with bears.

The group helps educate people about living with bears, works with authorities to deter bears from places they don’t’ belong and responds 24/7 to help people with bear problems.

In Tahoe, about 100 to 150 bears try to den in the crawl spaces under homes, and many succeed. Once cubs come, they can’t be evicted, the group said.

Sugar Bear is one of the successful moms denning under a house in Tahoe, and the homeowner and BEAR League found out about her after she gave birth. So, she and Snowflake are staying until April.

The group also has video of another successful mom who ripped away siding to squeeze through a small access to the crawl space under a home.

Did you know a bear can get into an opening as long as their head fits? Seeing this huge momma bear emerge from the small opening and wiggle back inside was believing for me.

The nonprofit offers all kinds of tips for living with bears.

Most of us know not to feed the bears, and to remove bird feeders at night and secure garbage cans and recyclables.

How about freezing food scraps until the morning of garbage pickup or using a disposal to avoid all odors? Bears recognize even rinsed recyclables as a food source.

The group recommends closing and locking windows and doors at night, or when not in the room. Did you know bears can smell food and dry goods through windows and doors?

As winter approaches, the group also recommends securing or blocking any access points under decks, homes or sheds, and installing electric door and window protection.

I’m not sure that our bear encounters are as intense or troublesome as those out west, but tourists here in the Poconos have unwittingly welcomed bears to vacation homes in the past year.

So, I’m taking back what I said about not caring where the bears go in the winter.

What’s the phrase? “Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.”

I’m not wishing for anything bear related.

I’m afraid I might just get it.