I agree completely @LarryGene. Animals learn where to feed quickly . Likewise if something is wrong such as dog, electric fence etc. it will teach the deer, opossum, raccoon etc to cut a wide path around your orchard. A family of raccoons stole some corn one year and I used an electric fencer atound my corn patch which stopped them. They did not touch my unfenced corn for many years because they got shocked. If their belly is full and they eat your corn or pears they will be back until they are stopped. .
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Two years ago I had a small flock of bluejays move in the end of Sept and eat a LOT of apples from two trees before I noticed what was happening. I was amazed at the damage. I don’t have a photo of the fruit but your picture sure looks familiar. It wasn’t as large amount as yours, and was apples not pears and none knocked on the ground that I remember, but plenty enough. I harvested all, damaged and not which sort of solved the problem that year. I’d never had anything like that before so I figure it was a migrant flock. No problem last year or this but I’ve been hanging “decoy” plastic apples in the trees when the fruit starts coloring. Can’t say as it works but can’t say it doesn’t either. Easy enough to do anyway.
Hope yours was a one-timer fly-through (if birds) and not to happen again. Sue
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I know this thread is a year old, but I recently bought a home with 3 Asian pear trees. Noticed pears eaten both on the tree and on the ground, so I started spraying with an orchard spray a week ago. Went out tonight to see if there were and candidates worthy of consumption, and instead found my culprit. There’s a 6ft fence surrounding the trees, but I’m sure there’s a way in somewhere along the woods, it’s a large area. I hope you figured out what was eating your pears, but if you haven’t then it might be opossum. Those are similar bite/eating traits to mine.
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Night time fruit thieves include but are not limited to opossums, raccoons and deer (they take fruit night and day). A forum member post pics of an owl taking his fruit, too.
Spraying with orchard spray does nothing to prevent these stealers.