Bears up close and personal near Floyd Hill

Warm weather brings everyone outside, including the bears, and wildlife officials say it's up to us to keep them from getting into trouble.

“The bears start coming out and looking around for food sources and unfortunately our homes can be a place that they look for food,” said Jennifer Churchill with Colorado Parks & Wildlife.

The video above of black bears roaming in the mountains was taken by Stuart Henderson near Floyd Hill in Clear Creek County.

“Black bears can actually be black, brown, cinnamon colored or even blonde,” said Churchill.

She said bears should be eating natural foods like mountain mahogany, choke cherry, basically berry bushes.

But if they taste trash, they're in trouble.

“Once they start getting all those calories from garbage or bird seed, it's really hard for them to resist that,” she said.

That’s why it's so important to bear-proof your home and property.

“That means making sure that you're taking down bird-feeders this time of year, cleaning grills after use, taking trash in bear-resistant bear containers,” she said.

And while it's okay to take pictures from a safe distance to give these bears their 15 seconds of fame, Churchill said these photo-ops should also be teachable moments.

“Go get the pots and pans, get an air-horn, make noise and chase those bears out of the yard it's really important,” she said.