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In heavily-wooded areas of California, bear encounters are expected. But several bear sightings have been reported in more urban Northern California landscapes this year. According to bear behavior experts, there are a couple of reasons why this may be happening and both are related to factors that drive a bear's hibernation instinct. "Hibernation is a response to food shortage," said Heather Johnson, an animal research biologist with the USGS Alaska Science Center. When a bear's main natural food source — think berries, nuts and insects — becomes scarce, bears know it's time to rest and conserve energy. But as human territory increasingly intersects with bear territory, bears learn that human food sources can be a good backup calorie supply."Bears that have access to more food, whether it be natural food or human food will postpone their hibernation and basically just keep eating,” Johnson said.And the less bears hibernate, the better chance a human will see one out, especially if a bear has become dependent on human food. Weather events can also contribute to a bear's lack of natural food. One example is a late spring frost that kills off vegetation that bears feed on. This past March was overall mild and very dry, leading to the early return of many plant species. Then, in mid-April, a cold snap brought frost to parts of the valley and a hard freeze in the mountains.Bears themselves are also very sensitive to temperature and will alter their hibernation patterns based on unusually warm or cool weather. This can lead to widely variable hibernation periods from year to year. According to Johnson, depending on latitude, elevation, weather conditions and the individual bear, they can hibernate anywhere from 3.5 to 7.5 months.But as climate change nudges the average temperature of each season up more and more, bears may eventually follow a shorter hibernation schedule.“What we do know is when we see these years where you have these warmer winters, warmer falls, we see a really different behavior of bears," Johnson said.Johnson said more research is needed to confirm any long-term trends in bear behavior. That can be tricky given a bear's typical elusive nature."Bears perceive risk with human encounters. They naturally want to stay away," Johnson said.Johnson said that the best thing a property owner can do to discourage hungry bears is to make sure that any potential food source is secured. That includes picking and storing ripe fruit from trees and locking away pet, wild bird or livestock feed.