It is the time of year when bears awake from their slumber. Here are tips to avoid them coming near your home.

With the warmer weather we have been having, that is a sign spring is here. Another sign is the way more obvious one, the official first calendar day of spring is this Sunday, March 20th. As noted above, bears are starting to wake up out of their winter hibernation, and they are hungry. So what can you do to avoid seeing a bear strolling through your yard?

It Isn't That Hard

American Black Bear
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Bears by nature are very opportunistic eaters according to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. In other words, they literally will take whatever they can get in most situations. That garbage bag sitting in the can beside your house might just be a prime target for them. Bird feeders and food left outside for your pet can also be a source of attraction for them too.

Unnerved? Here Is A Bear Fact That Might Change Your Mind

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See this bear just chilling up in a tree? He could be sitting like that in your back yard patiently waiting for another round of garbage to be served. The DEC also says bears have a keen memory, especially when it comes to where they can find sustenance. If they have found food in your yard once, it is very feasible they might return remembering just how easy it was to get a meal.

What Do You Do?

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This is the easy part, bears haven't woken yet. the NYS DEC is advising by April 1st you get down all birdfeeders, avoid allowing trash to sit outside, and also bring in your pets food to avoid an unwanted issue there too.

RANKED: Here are the most popular national parks

To determine the most popular national parks in the United States, Stacker compiled data from the National Park Service on the number of recreational visits each site had in 2020. Keep reading to discover the 50 most popular national parks in the United States, in reverse order from #50 to #1. And be sure to check with individuals parks before you visit to find out about ongoing, pandemic-related safety precautions at www.nps.gov/coronavirus.

LOOK: Here are the best lake towns to live in

Many of the included towns jump out at the casual observer as popular summer-rental spots--the Ozarks' Branson, Missouri, or Arizona's Lake Havasu--it might surprise you to dive deeper into some quality-of-life offerings beyond the beach and vacation homes. You'll likely pick up some knowledge from a wide range of Americana: one of the last remaining 1950s-style drive-ins in the Midwest; a Florida town that started as a Civil War veteran retirement area; an island boasting some of the country's top public schools and wealth-earners right in the middle of a lake between Seattle and Bellevue; and even a California town containing much more than Johnny Cash's prison blues.

LOOK: Here is the richest town in each state

Just saying the names of these towns immediately conjures up images of grand mansions, luxury cars, and ritzy restaurants. Read on to see which town in your home state took the title of the richest location and which place had the highest median income in the country. Who knows—your hometown might even be on this list.

LOOK: Here are the 50 best beach towns in America

Every beach town has its share of pluses and minuses, which got us thinking about what makes a beach town the best one to live in. To find out, Stacker consulted data from WalletHub, released June 17, 2020, that compares U.S. beach towns. Ratings are based on six categories: affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life. The cities ranged in population from 10,000 to 150,000, but they had to have at least one local beach listed on TripAdvisor. Read the full methodology here. From those rankings, we selected the top 50. Readers who live in California and Florida will be unsurprised to learn that many of towns featured here are in one of those two states.

Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.

KEEP READING: Here are the most popular baby names in every state

Using March 2019 data from the Social Security Administration, Stacker compiled a list of the most popular names in each of the 50 states and Washington D.C., according to their 2018 SSA rankings. The top five boy names and top five girl names are listed for each state, as well as the number of babies born in 2018 with that name. Historically common names like Michael only made the top five in three states, while the less common name Harper ranks in the top five for 22 states.

Curious what names are trending in your home state? Keep reading to see if your name made the top five -- or to find inspiration for naming your baby.

READ ON: See the States Where People Live the Longest

Stacker used data from the 2020 County Health Rankings to rank every state's average life expectancy from lowest to highest. The 2020 County Health Rankings values were calculated using mortality counts from the 2016-2018 National Center for Health Statistics. The U.S. Census 2019 American Community Survey and America's Health Rankings Senior Report 2019 data were also used to provide demographics on the senior population of each state and the state's rank on senior health care, respectively.

Read on to learn the average life expectancy in each state.

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