I had a raccoon visitor this morning...

This large and healthy-looking fellow, who I have named Ahnold, came by to check out the bird table this morning.

Hmmm, lots of interesting stuff on the breakfast menu at this restaurant: cracked corn, sunflower seeds, bread crusts, Science Diet dry catfood, peanut halves, and a cold french-fry or two.

Ahnold says, "Aaah'll be back."

Cute! You're right - he certainly does look healthy!

what a precious looking face!! how cute.

how early was early? around here we really don't see them during day light hours. usually dawn as they [usually mom and kits] are wandering home from a night out.

tcs, I think Ahnold usually inspects the table top before first light, as I often see damp patches (from water dripping off his fur) on the wood when I take the crows and jays their breakfast at dawn. This morning he was out later than usual and hit the jackpot. He did not seem concerned about my presence until I was about 20 ft away, and even then he was in no hurry to leave.

The raccoon returned in the evening, and we were able to get a close look with binoculars. I was too hasty in assigning sex. Ahnold is in fact Ahnoldette. She is a nursing mother, and this morning she was nosing around the base of the bird table with one chubby kit in tow. As soon as I emerged from the house with the bird food in hand, Ahnoldina and Ahnoldette scampered for the bushes and did not reappear. I guess Ahnoldette (very sensibly) is more wary of humans when she has her offspring with her.

This message was edited Jun 13, 2007 7:03 AM

Hi June, Great photos. Ahnoldette is quite a beauty. As I was reading through several of your posts, I was thinking that you probably had a female with young there. That's how I first met Heidi. Seems like the nursing moms get a little desperate to find food. She had probably been observing your activities so that she knew when you would be putting out breakfast. I bet the little one is adorable. I look forward to seeing a photo of him/her.

Ahnoldette arrived this morning after I had put out the bird food, but the arrival of the guy who is helping us paint the house exterior spooked her, and she retreated into the bushes at the margin of the pond. I went out to get groceries soon after that, leaving the painter working around the house. When I returned home, he said to me, "I had to run off a big raccoon that was raiding your bird feeders!" There was no sign of the little one today. I'll keep my camera at the ready tomorrow, though.

Ahnoldette continues to be camera-shy, but I managed a shot of another, smaller female with five babies. It's a bit blurry, due to to the flash reflecting off the window, unfortunately. All six of them managed to squeeze onto the top of the bird table, after a lot of pushing and shoving, and then they settled down and ate all the sunflower seeds.

June -- what a treat!! they are adorable. that cute lil one just sorta hangin there on the right corner.
how precious.

Oh, June, they are adorable! I'm with Terese - love the cute little fella hanging off the side. Your photo brings back fond memories of the time I walked out to find all the kits dangling from the bird feeder at the same time. They just melted my heart. I was ready to give them the bird feeder. Great photo!

What a cute picture!

Ü Thank you for the ear-to-ear smiles and chuckles (re the hanger) June! Ü

Love your pictures June. Especially the little "hanger-on." Bet you have lots of fun watching all of them. I just love to watch critters. And what a beautiful view you have!

There's something weird going on. For a while we have been seeing three raccoon families visit our yard. Besides the hefty Ahnoldette and her chubby baby, there were two smaller females, one with two babies and one with five. One evening we watched Ahnoldette's baby running back and forth between mother and one of the other females, and neither adult seemed to mind. Yesterday morning I watched a lone, small baby raccoon eating seeds on the bird table with no mother in sight. Then a female and five babies paraded across the back deck and moved into the bird feeding area. The female and one of her five babies joined the lone baby on the bird table with no sign of agression. This morning, the parade across the back deck consisted of a female and SIX babies. Is it possible for baby raccoons to be adopted into other families?

June -- I don't know the answer to that question, but is it possible that the 6th baby may have been one that "belonged" all along to the mother who seemed to only have 5 (i.e., perhaps the straggler took longer to get out of the den/nest and start following the others for some reason). I say this because, as you may know, I've been interacting with a female raccoon Heidi in my yard for over a year now. Last summer when she 1st started to bring her kits to visit there were 4 of them. Every night when they showed up for dinner there were 4. Then some time weeks later I suddenly counted 5. Like you I was confused. I had to recount them a few times to be convinced. In my case, the 5th one was something of a runt that was either too small to follow along in the earlier visits or too afraid.

This morning, the poor old crow only got two beakfuls of bread before the raccoon horde showed up. All six babies swarmed onto the bird table, and although the two biggest were being rather snappish and bossing the smaller ones around, they managed to settle down to eat while I crept up on them with the camera.

While I was concentrating on edging closer to the babies, I heard a gentle "Er, er," noise behind me. I turned round and there was mom raccoon, eating at the second bird table only about ten feet from where I was standing. For a moment, I was worried that she thought I was stalking her babies (well, I was, in a paparazzi kind of way) and might try to defend them, but after posing for her portrait she went right back to the sunflower seeds.

Oh my! .. What a sweet lil 'passel' of coon babies, June !!

Those last two images are fantastic! Of course, where lil 'sloopy' is hangin' on .. just makes my heart giggle the most ..

And it seems that you may've been wondering how they've become such a 'large and healthy-looking' coon crew .. HAH! .. (heehee)

((huggerooners))

- Magpye

June -- great photos! love the lil bits of seed stuck on "mom;s nose".

and those kits are adorable.

This morning's encounter was rather intense and I'm shaking too much to use the camera! We are painting the exterior of the house, and yesterday DH decided it was time to put the first coat on the rear deck, so this morning I could not use the back door to exit the house. Instead, bowl of food in hand, I emerged from the front door and made my way around the house to the back yard where the bird feeders are. As I turned the corner into the back yard, I came face to face with Mother-of-Six. She was probably as startled as I was, but instead of running away she came towards me, growling. Thinking like an ape, not a raccoon, I tossed her a couple of peanuts as appeasement. She ignored the peanuts and continued her advance almost to my feet. I backed up. She then sat on her haunches and stared directly into my face. I'm not sure what she was trying to tell me, but I felt put in my place. I was then allowed to walk to the bird feeder and deposit the dry cat food, stale bread, peanuts, and meat scraps that were in the bowl. Mother-of-Six was on the table seconds after the food hit it.

I next went to the garden shed and fetched the big plastic bottles we keep the sunflower seeds and cracked corn in. I had great difficulty persuading Mother-of-Six to move so that I could add the seeds and corn to the food already on the table, but eventually she hung off the other side of the feeder while I poured from the bottles. I then returned to the house. When I looked out of the living room window, I saw that the kids had arrived and were jostling for space on the table top.

I have never been so close to a raccoon. Mother-of-Six is a skinny, scruffy, little thing, but she sure is spunky. And very, VERY hungry.

WOW -- that would have scared the crap out of me... i would have probably tossed all the food up in the air and turned running and screaming all the way back to the house.... (well maybe not screaming) -- but i do bet i would not have kept my cool. BUT you are right... you probably scared her too and she was protecting the kids.

BUT ya figure.... with how smart they are.... she does no that you are the one feeding her and her babies all those goodies.

-- what an experience..

One thing I missed saying in my earlier account is: when Mother-of-Six was staring me in the face, not only was she sitting at my feet, but she was upright, front feet off the ground, stretching her body up so that her face was as close to mine as she could get it. It occurs to me now that maybe she was imitating or responding to my upright posture. In "body language" what does an upright posture mean to a raccoon, I wonder?

Firstly .. " You're LATE !! What's the hold up?!? "
.. or .. " Okay, now C'mon sweetie. Ya need a lil hep?!? " .. lol ..

Ahh, jes teasin' ya a bit, June .. I'd've liked to have been able to witness this account, let alone to've been able to document it - with video! .. heehee

I think tho' .. that it's when the coons puff up a bit while arching their backs and lowering their heads that it's intended as an aggressive posturing. Someone may know much more ..

Sounds like you have plenty of fun and entertainment .. along with miscellaneous mischief abounding at your place .. June!

((huggerooners))

- Magpye

Wait until you get up one morning and find one curled up asleep in your bathtub like I did. I have a pet door and the racoons were coming in and helping themselves to dry cat food. Apparently one decided he would just move in. My next door neighbor is a vet and I borrowed some Have a Heart pet traps and removed the family to the Game Farm.

Oh my .. kyjoy
May the Good Lord forbid such an incident happening here! (* that is, should we have had an inside pet and/or pet door) .. for we'd most surely have mice, rats, coons, possums, 'army-dillers', skunks, squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, and the Garter, Rat, and Timber Rattlers .. ALL; jes welcomin' themselves into the house! .. hee

The dust-bunnies .. I can live with! .. LOL

- Magpye

This message was edited Jul 2, 2007 11:19 AM

What fantastic pictures! Thanks for keeping us up on the story too.

Thanks for all the comments. Our house does have a pet door, but it's boarded up so our indoor cats can't escape, and the raccoons can't come in. Raccoons often come right up to the house, though, and I'm sure they would be inside if we left an opening for them. Although I have never found a raccoon in my bath tub, one of my cats is fond of dragging the bath mat into the tub and sleeping there.

Now, if raccoons could be trained to do housework, I might let them in to do away with the dust bunnies.

When I see that behavior of standing upright to look at me it seems more like they are just curious and trying to see me better. Sometimes, especially when I first started spending time with them, they would do that even when I was sitting down on my bench. But, again, that never seemed to be an aggressive or defensive posture, just curiosity, and I think it shows a level of comfort around you.

I'm surprised that she growled at you. I have found them to be incredibly non-aggressive creatures who opt to run away rather than fight if at all possible. I think you probably just scared her. That plus the fact that she had babies around probably just caused her to growl a bit as a warning.

Being so close to them is scarey at first but is also an incredible experience. (Still love that group photo with the little guy hanging off the side. That one is quite precious.)

Cheryl, thanks for the reassurance. Mother-of-Six and I are strangers, with no trust-building history behind us, so I think that her remarkable tolerance of my presence is based only on hunger and necessity. I will not try to increase contact, but just keep to the routine of putting out the bird food at the same time each morning, even though the birds now only get to eat the bits of food that fall off the edge of the table during the raccoon "rugby scrum."

During my pulse-raising close encounter this morning, I tried desperately - and failed - to understand what was in a wild animal's mind. I will eagerly watch your Heidi thread for more insights into raccoon behavior!

June -- LOL! But you don't understand. That IS very much how Heidi and I got our 1st introduction so long ago! She had babies just across the fence (out of sight). She climbed down the fence next to me and my puppy one afternoon last spring. She wouldn't leave. I was terrified of her, and just like you I was trying to figure her out - so I really can relate. I tried to chase her away but she wouldn't leave. Every time I went outside she would climb down the fence and look at me (up close). I was afraid to go outside. When I did I'd carry a broom or rake for a weapon in case she attacked me (LOL at how silly I was back then). It was only after I called the local wildlife people that I began to calm down and feed her.

It seems to me that because they move like ninjas in the night and lurk in the darkness watching us when we have no idea they are around, they know us even when we think we are strangers. I will be surprised if you don't soon find the kids coming to the house to greet you in the mornings or at least to meet you part way and "escort" you to the feeder. : )

It's a little scarey when they start coming to you like a bunch of hungry pets, but I have found that as long as I always leave them an escape route, they are fine. As for the growling. Could she have been grumbling as opposed to growling? Heidi has a vicious growl/snarl she uses to warn the others off of her turf; there is no mistaking the seriousness of that sound. Sometimes she grumbles with me a bit, especially at the height of her pregnancy, but that's more of a fussy sound than a threatening sound - although it probably would have scared me when I 1st met her.

As you can see, I'm keep an eye (and ear) on what's happening with Mother-of-Six, as well. (You have such a beautiful place there with the river and all! As a cramped city dweller I am most jealous!)

Hmm...I'm not sure I could tell the difference between growl and grumble, at this stage. I have heard a short, high-pitched snarl, when one raccoon gets too close to what the other is eating, and that was not what I heard from Mother-of-Six this morning. It was more like a deep, "Urrr, Urrr," sound, like a dog makes. I'm afraid of dogs, and when I heard that noise I automatically froze, since I know that running from a growling dog may trigger it to attack. I'm sure that Mother-of-Six did not really want to attack me, considering how much larger than her I am, but my anxiety level rose when her teeth were getting close to my ankles and I wasn't sure how to "de-fuse" the confrontation. Backing away seemed to work well, though. She could have just been complaining that I was late with her breakfast!

No trauma this morning. No sign of raccoons, unfortunately. I knew right away when I saw Canada geese feeding on the lawn that raccoons were not around. (At the first sign of raccoons, the geese shepherd their goslings to the water and head for the middle of the pond.) I put the bird food out on the table, and the crows had their best breakfast for days! Now, the neighbors three cats are out on the prowl, and they're probably going to keep the raccoons away for a while. So, today's a bit of an anti-climax, I'm afraid.

I was late with breakfast again this morning. As soon as I emptied the bowl of kitchen scraps and peanuts onto the bird table, a stampede of raccoons forced me back. Mother-of-Six and one of her offspring sat on the table, growling at me when I attempted to add sunflower seeds and cracked corn, so I poured seeds and corn onto the ground below the table instead. As I watched from inside the house, Mother-of-Six relinquished the table top to the babies and ate the food on the ground. The babies were tussling and grappling with each other like miniature furry Sumo wrestlers. Two of them climbed down, sat near their mom, and began grooming themselves just like cats, with little legs poking up in the air. I wish I had a telescopic zoom camera! There's no way I can get close enough to take pictures without the raccoons reacting to my presence.