Of Unicorns, Heid's Babies, and Other Mythical Creatures

This thread is a continuation of a series.

Start of Series: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/603944/
Prior Thread: (last thread before this one) http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/742551/

Subject: The ongoing antics of the wild raccoons that visit my backyard each night. Last summer Heidi, my 1st wild raccoon "pet" and mother of most of the others, brought her babies to visit each night. They became very comfortable around me. We are waiting for Heidi to bring her new 07 babies around. They should be here soon.

Explanation of the title: Well, we've been waiting SO long to see the babies. They are becomming like Unicorns: beautiful, mythical creatures that no one has ever actually seen.

Explanation of the photo below: That's Fraidy - the cute, little (runt) from last year's litter. She's licking the sweet fruit/syrup from a fruit on the bottom yogurt container. (Fraidy has a serious sweet tooth.)

Awesome pic!!! : )

Last night was a wash - literally. I got out there early, during daylight, and with my camera in tow; but the weather quickly turned nasty. Juliet was the only one there; she ate as ominous clouds darkened the sky plunging us into an early darkness and thunder rumbled in the background. I gave her 2 eggs and tossed mini marshmallows into the pool for her to fish out.

After she left, I waited a bit hoping that to see Heidi or Fraidy - but thinking that both were likely too smart to venture out in an impending thunderstorm. I mused [to myself] that animals who live in trees should have little concern about the possibility of increasing their risk of lightening strike. About that time a blinding brightness lit up the back yard garden and I, thinking perhaps the raccoons were smarter than me, headed for the house.

Below is a close up of Juliet eating an egg. If you look close you can see the egg yolk.

Thank you, starlight! :-D

Fraidy is such a sweet little thing! She really is very cute. I was so happy to get these pics of her. I avoided taking photos of some of the other cute things she did - didn't want to freighten her away, but when she came around in front of me to eat the yogurt, I thought maybe it would be ok.

I cropped the photos to get in closer, but I left this shot almost "whole" when I noticed that my feet are in the photo! Shows how close she is. Note that this is not her place beside me. She is actually much closer their. Here she is in front of me. On the right edge are my feet; one the left edge is a tire from the tractor scoot used to make the baracade. A tiny bit of my left knee was also in the original photo but appears to have been lost to cropping.

I'm loading the videos on the web now. I'll have to come back a bit later and post the Thursday night info along with more pics and video links.

Here, however, is one more pic from last night. As I mentioned, I tossed a bunch of marshmallow into the pool for Juliet. She ate them so fast that I had a hard time tossing the fast enough to find a break for taking pics. Below is a quick photo I took of her repeating the action from a few nights ago in which she stands near the center of the pool facing me and apparently saying, "Hey! YoHoo! Out of 'fish' over here!". (Terese, it looks like you were right; it's not a coincidence.)

This message was edited Jul 28, 2007 6:34 PM

Last night, Juliet getting out of the pool. (Last night's photos were not the best quality. win some lose some.)

Forgot to mention that last night although the storm drove me back into the house early, I put a few handfuls of mini marshmallows in Fraidy's dish along with a few graham crackers and then tucked it under the edge of the tractor scoot to keep it dry during the storm. I put Heidi's dish under the chair for safe keeping. Then I left.

awesome images Sheryl.

Fraidy is just precious!! as are all the girls.

Great Shots! I bet that they are a laugh a minute! I can see the entire picture as Juliet gets out of the pool. ;D
One question...does it scare or alarm you when they "spat"? Actually the word worry comes to mind.
Just curious.

Joey

Thanks, Terese!

Thanks, Joey!

Joey, I'm not really sure if I understand the question. They never, ever, ever hiss or spit or growl at me or otherwise issue any kind of threat toward me. Never. Is that what you are asking? I don't know if you were reading from the beginning of the series, but in the beginning I was afraid of them. For a long time last summer I stayed some 20ft away from them. Slowly, as I got to know and understand them better I became more comfortable letting them get closer; at the same time they became more comfortable with me. We've tamed each other.

If they ever growled/hissed/spat etc around me I wouldn't hang around with them. I think people expect that if I scare them by say moving toward them or whatever, they will react aggressively, like a dog or cat that is scared; but they never do that. If I scare them, they move away, walk away, or run away depending on how scared they are. As long as they can get away they will.

They do sometimes growl and snarl and carry on with each other, but never with me.

If I misunderstood the question, please let me know.

Edited to fix my punctuation error and to add: In the beginning I used to be concerned when they bickered with each other that I might somehow end up in the fray. To some degree I've even lost my fear of that. When they argue with each other they always stay away from me. What I mean is it's not like they run right over me with the battle. They are always mindful to keep the fight a reasonable distance from me.


This message was edited Jul 28, 2007 11:51 PM

Now backing up a bit to cover the events of Thursday evening (skipped earlier):

Thursday evening I took out a mixture of dog and cat food along with some very sweet bing cherries [at their peak, I'd eaten about 1/2 the night before and they were excellent], and a fruit on the bottom yogurt with guava, papaya, and mango. I tossed most of the cherries into the pool and put a few handfuls into Fraidy's dish. I dumped the yogurt into a dish which I placed in front of me, along with the foil "top" and the plastic container - all of which Fraidy likes to lick.

Juliet was the 1st to arrive. Although I got some video of her in the pool eating cherries, she seemed a bit by less than pleased with them. I don't think she like the hard pits - which she kept spitting out. The others appeared to swallow the pits or eat around them, but Juliet would pop the whole thing into her mouth and then spit it back out when she couldn't bit into the pit.

Later, I missed a great shot of Heidi enjoying the cherries in the pool, pointing her nose up into the air as she savored the cool, sweet fruit. By the time I got the camera ready, I fight broke out in the forest and Heidi jumped out of the pool and ran to the fence. I was able to call her back, but she did not get back into the pool. The mood was broken.

Fraidy was the start of Thursday night. When she arrived, she sat at the top of the fence looking at Heidi. I could see that she was worried about Heidi. I called to her (Fraidy). She looked over at me, cast a last glance back at Heidi, and then sneaked around through the veggie patch to emerge beside me.

Little Fraidy walked up to her dish and started to take a bite of the dog food. Then you could actually see the moment when she noticed the cherries. She grabbed one with ferver, then sat back on her haunches to eat it. (These were large cherries, almost the size of a quarter.) She held it between her front paws and took a few bites, holding the cherry in her "hands" as she worked around the pit. She was standing in her signature "kangaroo" stance. She really seemed to enjoy the cherries, and I enjoyed watching her. I considered taking a photo, but she was so close beside me, and I feared the red ir light followed by the succession of 3 or 4 blinding flashes at such close proximity in the darkness might cause her to run away.

After she had eaten all of the cherries, Fraidy ate a small amount of dog food and then walked around the baracade to the yogurt in front of me. I took a number of photos as she ate the yogurt and licked the container clean. At one point she looked up at me with a dollup of yogurt on her adorable little nose. Unfortunately, that was during the [broken] camera's "reset" phase, so I missed that shot.

Fraidy eating yogurt:

Juliet. She stood up to check out a noise. I tried to get that shot, but actually caught her just as she came back down.

Juliet's ears. Ok, she was looking up when I snapped the button, but the camera takes too long to execute so I ended up with this - but they are cute ears, no?

Juliet again. She looks angry or like she's snarling, but that's just a side-effect caused by the fact that she chews with her mouth open and the camera froze the action at an instant that happened to show teeth.

Fraidy eating the yogurt

up close

almost finished

now for the container

close up - look at those nails

yummy!

Heidi in her new favorite spot - under the chair (early radiation protection)

Heidi under chair

Heidi still under chair - don't even try to figure all the parts out

Here is a video of Heidi (on right under chair) and Juliet (left) eating mix of cat and dog food. Near the end of the video the 2 square off briefly by the pool before Heidi moves in to steal Juliet's dish and Juliet retreats to Heidi's old dish.

I'm providing links to both YouTube and Webshots. If you watch it on YouTube, try full screen because this video really shows some good detail of Heidi's "hands". After viewing this one I better understand their dexterity.

webshots: http://outdoors.webshots.com/video/3022621020015894510daSdrT

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goBl8hdx8gM

Note: Around 1.45min in you get a good look at Heidi's hand with the long fingers that make it possible for her to do so many incredible things. Around 3.45min you can see her holding a piece of kibble in one hand for a moment while she chews the prior one. Later Juliet goes over to the pool to drink water, and Heidi takes advantage of the opportunity to run over and steal Juliet's dish (because when you leave your food it's up for grabs - it's a rule). Heidi eats a cherry from the ground. They have a brief standoff but it's difficult to see because you can't see Juliet at that moment.

Saturday night was interesting. Apparently, the real party doesn't get started until later in the evening. 1st it was the usual, Juliet and Heidi. They've pretty much run everybody else off, except Fraidy who shows up with the 1st shift sometimes. Tonight I stayed later. As soon as Heidi left, Panda showed up, then HRH. Soon the party was hopping. Raccoons were everywhere. It was very dark by then so I had difficulty identifying everybody.

I had taken out a pan of pork bbq ribs and about 1/2 order of chicken egg foo yung - with lots of sizeable chunks of chicken breast. As always, I took out the mix of cat/dog food. For Fraidy I took the last 1/3 jar of blackberry jam. In her dish I put one piece of egg foo yung, cat/dog food, and a rib. On one end I dumped the jam. In front of me on one side I put the jam jar, on the other side the pan of ribs and egg foo yung.

HRH sneaked around through the veggie patch like Fraidy usually does and came to her dish beside me. He was a little unsure about being so close to me. He would look up at me "questioningly" like "I'm a little uncomfortable about this. Is it ok" Are you going to try to hurt me?" The camera seemed to compound his concerns - even though I wasn't even using it at the time. He kept looking at it, stretching his nose forward a bit, then moving backward, away. I guess to him the camera could have looked like a weapon of some kind, something i might hit him with or throw at him. I had to talk to him a lot at 1st to convince him to trust me, but after a while he was eating beside me like we were old friends.

Looking down at HRH up close like that I could really see the muscle definition in his back and shoulders, ripples that the girls don't have. He's really built like one of those wrestlers on steroids. Once he settled down, I was able to take a number of photos of him, but they didn't turn out that great because he was too close.

There is more, but have to take a break...

Below is HRH:

Great pics! I really enjoy seeing all your raccoon friends. I'm on dial-up, so the videos don't work too well for me, alas.

You mention the "kangaroo position" and I've noticed the similarity too. This morning, Mother-of-Six was eating sunflower seeds that I had scattered on the ground, and I saw how her posture resembled a browsing kangaroo. She was on her back feet, tail held out behind her for balance, bent forward, with her hands playing gently over the ground before her, feeling for the seeds hidden in the grass. (I swear she wasn't even looking at the ground, but finding the seeds purely by feel.)

Cheryl, The last paragraph explained it.

"Edited to fix my punctuation error and to add: In the beginning I used to be concerned when they bickered with each other that I might somehow end up in the fray. To some degree I've even lost my fear of that. When they argue with each other they always stay away from me. What I mean is it's not like they run right over me with the battle. They are always mindful to keep the fight a reasonable distance from me"

I suppose when I used the word "spat" ~ it's what you would call "bicker".

Now that that is cleared up... More Great Shots! :D Thanx for the videos! :D

Joey

>>They are always mindful to keep the fight a reasonable distance from me"

Joey -- Cheryl also touched on this in the last thread (July 15th post #3738543) http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/742551/

then more on the 16th spartacusaby Post #3741121


sculter wrote more


they all do seem quite intelligent... with the 'personal space' thing.

sorry to quote so much... it took a while to find and that thread is quite long....

Hi, June

Aren't they just mesmerizing to watch when eating that way? I know what you mean about how they are often picking the items up from the ground while looking elsewhere. This is an excellent characterization:

There is another, similiar (and, to me, comical) thing they do when they are very close to me and feeling mildly uncomfortable but still wanting the food. (An ironic downside of having all of them become so comfy around me is that I rarely get to see this cute move anymore.) Anyhow, while crouching on their hind feet to distribute their weight, they lean forward and with their heads looking up at me for any sign of threat reach as far as possible, both forearms almost parallel the ground, and sweep the ground lightly starting with hands wide apart then bringing them together as they gather whatever is before them (still staring at me) and pull it to them. Depending on the amount and kind of food on the ground, they may repeat this several times. It is while executing this move that they remind of little poker players reaching out across the table, arms wide to sweep the contents toward them all the while keeping a careful eye on the other players.

Although they can and do switch positions, I have found that each has his or her preferences. When feeling most threatened, they will stand upright, square on all fours, probably because they can most easily run from this position. As they become more comfortable they crouch and slouch more, the ultimate being that couch potato look sitting far back on their hip with tummy exposed while eating kibble from between their outstretched back legs. I must get a photo of that one!

Heidi usually sits in a position similiar to the kangaroo thing, yet for some reason she never looks kangaroo-like to me perhaps because of the slightly longer coat. Sometimes, however, she will sit straight upright while eating in what I call her groundhog position. That one is very cute. I think it requires a medium level of calm.

When slouching, Juliet likes to crouch low on all fours such that her tummy is on the ground. It's a position I've seen a lot from cats. Juliet is the only one of the raccoons to eat this way. Panda always stands square on all fours - the bulldog stance. HRH does this a lot, too.

I was sure I had gotten a pic of Fraidy in the kangaroo position, but now I can't seem to find it. Below is Diva (I believe) in something of a modified kangaroo pose.

Joey,

Oh, THAT spat. LOL at my "duh" moment! (Do you think maybe when the humidity here approaches 100% the oxygen content may be especially low? ;-)

They rarely have arguments that are sustained beyond a slap or a fake bite, but when they do they take it over to the other side of the veggie patch - so far away that I can't even see them - and if it lasts more than a few seconds Heidi always goes over there and [whether intentionally or not] breaks it up. Even in those brief scurmishes blood is never drawn and I have only heard a cry of pain once, maybe twice, and on each such occasion it was due to Heidi straightening one of them out.

Recently Juliet was chasing the little ones. Every time she ran after them they would run toward me. In the past that would have freaked me out, but I've learned that even when fleeing an attacker they stay away from me. They may run past me on one side or the other - a foot or so away - but never run in to me. Oh, and the attacker - in this case Juliet - never follows the little ones when they come over near me. (Don't start a fight over by the bear) Anyhow, I just sat still and ignored them.

You are very welcome - for the videos. Glad that I was able to get them. Unlike photos the videos require that the raccoons come out in daylight. I'm having serious issues with the camera jiggle. It's not easy to keep that thing still for any length of time, esp when I'm distracted by harpooning insects or when I forget what I'm doing and look up to see another raccoon coming into the yard or my hand starts to hurt from the weight of the camera etc, etc. etc. I need something to rest the camera against. I tried resting it on my chest - but then there's that whole breathing thing. When i try to zoom in for detail the effect of the jiggle gets worse. I'll keep experimenting.

Below is another kangaroo like pose. Problem is I believe this is Ms Diva. Now when I zoomed in close and cropped, oops! LOOK what I found! Folks, I believe we have yet another set of "imaginary" babies out there somewhere!

Terese,

ROTFLOL! I'm afraid that's my signature style. ;-)


Below is a pic of Panda in her bull dog pose.

Check this out. Ms Diva at the pool.

Isn't she wearing stilettos?

Fraidy went around to get fresh rain water from this little bird bath - only about a foot or so high.

zoom

2nd water break

and zoom in

Diva playing in a dish of water

The following are a couple of poor quality photos taken quickly and at some distance in the dark. I was trying to capture a raccoon descending the fence. Usually a cat will back down a tree or post, but the raccoon always go down head 1st which just amazes the heck out of me every time I see it. If you think about the way claws are curved it seems to make more sense that you could hang from the claws in a upright position but not so much in a head down position (as shown in the photo below of HRH). Still raccoons walk down the vertical post so easily it looks like they must have velcro foot pads or something.

PS - In case you are wondering, I'm trying not to clean the house again. I'm doing a pretty good job of it, too, as you can see. ; D

Now here is a slightly closer view - can't get too close as it gets too grainy to make sense. Here I outlined his back and front feet. It looks like he's hanging from his back toes.

Not sure who this is, maybe Heidi. Again going down fence face 1st.

I read somewhere that raccoons can turn their feet almost backwards to angle their claws for climbing downwards.