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| rooftop raccoon |
Over the years raccoons have followed a trail through the
neighborhood, along fences, across the street, lumbering behind the arborvitae
with their cubs playfully in tow. Their midnight capers of scampering and exploring can be amusing, especially when a flashlight from the upstairs window catches their reflective eyes in the dark. First one huge set of unblinking eyes appear, then a smaller set on the left followed rapidly by a tiny set to the right and finally a pair of shiny circles on top of the huge ones. A family outing! One
year they took up residence under my deck, scheduling playtime to coincide with
my attempted sleep time. Their late night antics included toppling newly
planted patio pots and dragging their contents around the yard. What fun. When
the grapes begin to ripen, they add a loop to their route to include an
excursion through my tiny vineyard, cooing and chirping to one another when
they precede me to some ripe fruit. In the ultimate nocturnal foray, they scale the
arbor to mount the second story roof and peer into my bedroom window as if to
measure the risk of their intended escapades against my midnight watchfulness.
They’ve taken a recent liking to my birdseed, perhaps in a stomach-growling search for winter sustenance, and go to great lengths to acquire their midnight snacks. As I raised my
kitchen blinds one dreary morning, anticipating a happy view of birds flocking
about the feeders I was astonished by what I saw. The scene of theft and destruction
could not have been accomplished by the lightweight Mr. Nutkins. Broken
lilac branches trailing downward in unnatural bends and vanished feeders were
my first shock. The bulky raccoons had clutched at the remaining bare yet bending branches and swatted the feeders until they fell to the ground from
their “s” hooks and then somehow figured out how to get the tops UNSCREWED! They
dragged the feeders along the ground, leaving the two lids buried in a pile
of leaves and a faint trail of birdseed for the little finches and juncos to scrounge
through. That was some feast: two pounds of black oil sunflower seed gone in a
night. This surpassed even the greedy squirrels that at least leave half a
feeder of seeds hanging for a second round the next day.
Spotting a refill the following night the raccoons once again climbed
through my lilacs, continuing to break 1” diameter branches off with their
weight and again downed the feeders. I keep filling the feeders even though earlier this winter I conceded the battle,
more or less, to the squirrels who poke their little rodent noses through the screen
around the feeders to extend their sticky tongues just far enough in to capture
seeds. Bingo! Half or totally empty feeders in the morning. At least the birds get some of the scraps. Now the raccoons
were upping the ante! I had to find a new and better strategy against these
pesky creatures.
Watching from the kitchen window the next morning, I observed the
squirrels scoping out the new feeder. They reconnoitered around it in their
usual tail-twitching manner, mentally calculated the distance to the prize, and
finally leapt with military precision from the fence top to the feeder, hanging
on upside down by their little toenails. Aha! The feeder fencing was further
away from the seed tube than usual and their snarky little tongues couldn’t
reach it! They viciously chewed and clawed at the fencing in an attempt to
break it but it was, as I said, maximum security prison fencing and
impenetrable. Sweet victory!!! The little birds tipped their wings to me in gratitude and smugly chirped at the vexatious rodents nearby.
Apparently the carabiners discouraged the raccoons too as they
haven’t made a grab for the feeder yet although it was twisting suspiciously in
the wind this morning, so they may have tried under cover of darkness last
night. Only time will tell. If I hear the rumble of a cherry picker moving
through the garden at midnight I’ll know I’m doomed and will return the feeder
for a full refund. I kept the receipt.
