SCHENECTADY — A black bear was spotted running on Nott Street overnight, police said.

A motorist saw the bear run east on Nott near Union College. A person in the car made a video of the bear as it hustled down the sidewalk. The animal then began to cross the street near Foster Avenue and Carrie Street.

Police said they received a call about the bear during the overnight hours but the animal was not seen again.

Sgt. Matthew Dearing said police on the overnight shift got a call about the animal and alerted the state Department of Environmental Conservation, the state agency that responds when bears become nuisances in populated areas.

Bear sightings in the area are not unheard of, especially during this time of year.

"This is the time bears emerge from dormancy and begin searching for food," Ben DeLaMater, the public information officer for the state Department of Environmental Conservation, said. "Bears are more likely to seek out human food sources in the spring, when natural foods found in the wild are scarce."

DeLaMater said that the leading cause of bear complaints in New York is about bears getting into residential garbage.

A lot of these scenarios can be resolved simply by removing or properly securing garbage, cleaning messing grills or removing pet food from the outdoors -- which attract bears.

Dearing said he can't think of any other bear reports in Schenectady this year but they have had them before.

In May 2012, a bear that strolled through the Stockade neighborhood was later tranquilized by DEC officers and returned to the wilderness.

In recent years, bears have been spotted at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, an Albany neighborhood and the University at Albany.

"Bears are opportunistic feeders and will remember where they find easy food, and return to that location frequently," DeLaMater said.

Anyone who sees a bear should steer clear of the animal and call local police or the DEC, Dearing said.