I wrote about raccoons and skunks in this post back in January with better pictures ...Varmints....the downside of feeders..... so I will not repeat myself, but I have a raccoon or two visiting nightly right now and it is really frustrating! They eat an entire suet cake....or 2...or 3....unless I go out each night and remove them. This is not a handy thing to do. I don't have a good picture of this one yet. He stares at me, until I open the door to shoot flash and then he takes off. I can't photograph him through the window, as you can see! Last night we were sitting in the house and smelled a skunk outside......looked out and sure enough! Glad the cats weren't out. I may have to close down the "Driveway Diner".
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12 comments:
Hi Mary;
I just have to laugh at your post about the raccoons! I have exactly the same problem, and bring all the seed and other goodies in at night ! Last year I trapped 8 of them including Mom and 5 kids. We took them all to the woods about 7 miles from here, and then I read that raccoons can "smell" their way back home from 30 miles ! So now with the high gas prices I just take everything inside.
Good luck with your bandits..
Becky: Thanks for stopping by! It is such a pain having to empty suet feeders that are fixed to posts and such! And sometimes I forget! Last night they were there almost as soon as it was dark and I hadn't taken anything down yet. Last night we had all 3 types of varmint...raccoon, possum, and skunk. We could smell the skunk, before I even looked outside!
What a great Raccoon picture! Those eyes are very familiar; looking at you in the dusk for we used to have these masked visitors every day earlier this spring. For some reason they haven't been around lately and its nice for a change not to have them finishing up the left over bird food each eveing.
I actually like that misty type picture. Poor you!! It can be a great problem I am sure. Here we have a bit of a problem in places with badgers. What I have seen done is people putting what looks like an umbrella about 3/4 of the way up the pole which the feeder is on to prevent them going to the top. This "umbrella" it made of only the spikes and then wire is wound like a sider web around the spikes. This must sound like Greek to you and I wish I could explain it better. LOL!!
Ann: Well...this is a very poor picture of "flash on glass", but the eyes do shine through and just enough to tell its a raccoon! I went all winter without being bothered by them much, but now that Spring it here the varmints are showing up every night!
Saphotographs: I sort of understand what you are describing. My suet is mostly in a tree in wire cages and one that is mounted on a post. I did have one "tie wrapped" to a branch, but took that one down because of the raccoon. I'm not even filling one on the Oak tree or my hanging wooden feeder in the side yard, because they raid it every night and it is too inconvenient to go out in the dark and remove all these feeders! I'm going to cut back on the ammount of seed I put out and hope there is little left for them and they might go away. They stomp all over my plants, too!
That's too bad about the raccoons and skunks ruining your fun and your plants, as well. They sure can be a nuisance when they come around like that for an easy free meal. We don't have too many raccoons here, but when my son was going to university in Victoria on Vancouver Island a family of raccoons would come nightly to the patio door of his apartment and look in.
April: I've had them look in th epatio door, too! They are cute, but I hope they find a different door to peek in :-) Well, I guess that's part of feeding the birds...other critters are hungry, too! I've heard of people feeding them dogfood, but the last thing I want to do is encourage them :-)
Oh what laser eyes that raccoon has! I know we must have a lot of night-time visitors at our feeder too.....actually of course I know this because my mom leaves the blinds open by the feeder at night so we can watch the activities! Too bad I don't know how to use a camera myself yet or I'd get some great shots!!
--JB
JB: My kitties like to watch the varmints, too and would love to go out and play with them....especially the pretty black and white "kitty" that comes by :-)
That's actually a spooky looking photograph, the glowing eyes are creepy.
John: Well....varmints are creepy, so I'm glad it looks that way!
I really like this photo!! Those eyes ...wow.
I think we have a few around here but they are elusive, I can't really capture them...on film.
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