Heidi Chronicles: The Kids are Still Here For the Holidays

Charleston, SC(Zone 9a)

This thread is part of the ongoing saga of Heidi and company, the raccoons who live in the forest behind my house and frequent my wildlife buffet.

Right now we are in something of a slow down for winter. The 07 kids are grown now. They and their mom still visit the buffet often, but with the hustle and bustle of the season and the shorter days, I don't always see them. So we are resting a bit in preparation for spring 08 when Heidi and the other 'ladies' will bring us more adorable babies to 'raise'. (Well, actually the moms do all of the real work. We just get to enjoy watching the little ones play and grow and learn about the world.)

The prior thread in the series: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/795656/

I usually use a raccoon photo for the cover shot, but in the spirit of the season I thought I'd decorate this thread with a view of the object the raccoons hung in the tree just over the fence. I found it hanging there this morning. I don't know what it is exactly but it has the colors of the season.

Thumbnail by DreamOfSpring
Putnam County, IN(Zone 5b)

ROFLOL!

We used to have huskies (5)and every now and again one One particular one would escape, but always come back home dragging something with him.

Your gardens look lovely and very inviting. We have had visitors the last couple of nights. The a raccoon & oppossumhave both come by to empty my feeders. I caught a raccoon at 5am this morning dumping one & then going down to eat it off the ground.

Highland Heights, KY(Zone 6a)

LOL, I can't make heads or tails out of that "present" they left you in the tree, but hey, it's the thought that counts, right? How funny! Nanny, that was a lot of nerve for the coon to dump your feeder, instead of eating out of it--his momma mustn't have taught him manners...

Charleston, SC(Zone 9a)

Hi nanny,

Sounds like the Huskie feels like after spending a few nights out 'on the town' he had better bring a gift back with him so you will let him back in. :)

Sorry to hear that the critters have been raiding your feeder. I get that, too, although in my case they were doing that long before I started feeding them, and, in fact, are hitting the feeder a lot less often now that I do feed them. As I see it there are only a couple of solutions: (1) take the feeder in at night and put it back out each morning - this is what I do. note that it doesn't prevent sneaky daytime raids. (2) put the feeder in a giant 'cage' built of the wire with holes the birds can get through but the raccoons can't (3) put the feeder on a pole with a raccoon-proof baffle. This is probably the best way to go, but be advised that raccoon-proof evokes something along the lines of Fort Knox. I've read that you can make a baffle from a length of PVC pipe (either 6" or 8" D, sorry can't recall which) and that raccoons will not be able to climb it. You may be able to find the instructions online somewhere. When I get the time I think I will try this one.

Thanks (re the garden).

Charleston, SC(Zone 9a)

Hi KyWoods,

Even when I zoomed in real close on the hi res version, I couldn't figure it out either. It looks a little 'chewed' and like maybe it's part of something larger. But, I must agree. It's the thought that counts, and it certainly is a cute gesture. Isn't it? And such timing! The 'present' showed up this morning. Just in time for the holidays. How thoughtful of the little fellas!

Putnam County, IN(Zone 5b)

I have a raccoon baffle on my pole system, but these are in one of our trees. I had been bringing them in or would put whatever was left in a ground dish for them but have been forgetting with it getting dark so early. That and the holiday rush, and we have been painting.

Leesburg, FL(Zone 9b)

Cheryl -- that is just too funny.


on the weather front.... it's the 22nd of december and 50° at 10:30pm !! and raining.
during the day it has slowly gotten warmer ... but COLD front on the way with tomorrow only in the mid-20s

Hendersonville, NC(Zone 7a)

The "Christmas gift" is too funny: and I can't figure out what it is, either. Oh well, we all get gifts like that every year, no?

Wow, the male bunting and cardinal together must have been spectacular. Cardinals are such frequent visitors that it's easy to become blase about them; then one day you see them again and realize how gorgeous they are. It's quite possible that the mockingbirds did eventually drive out the bluebirds: they take territoriality to a real extreme. I enjoy seeing them, but do worry about the other birds when they decide to move in.

Highland Heights, KY(Zone 6a)

The only blue birds we have out here are bluejays, and they're as plentiful, if not moreso, than cardinals. We have some really big and beautiful ones.

Fredericksburg, VA(Zone 7b)

We have them here. One of older neighbors (God rest his soul) was a major force in reintroducing the bluebird population to this area, by building the boxes and educating people on bluebird habitat. He gave us several houses, which were destroyed in a wind storm many years ago. But you got me thinking, somewhere I have the plans and we could either build some
or buy some. I think they are so pretty and so sassy....... We have several families of cardinals that come back every year. I don't do winter feed as it is not always financially possible for us to do it all winter and I don't want them to become dependent on us. We do however, plant shrubs and plants that are good sources of food for them. I do believe that we have a plileate (sp) woodpecker and his lady working over our elm tree. He's huge! Blue jays, cat birds (who make me laugh, they are so saucy and chatty) And we do have what appears to be a young bald eagle who drops by every once in awhile. He's sit on top a power pole across from the house. Too big to be a hawk, but his head has not yet turned white so he's got to be a young one. We do have one nesting pair at the water reservoir which is not far from the house, he could be from there. Virginia has a very active breeding/protection program going on at Caledon which is not far from Fred at least for an eagle. They are having great success and the rest of us are helping fight off the developers. Fortunately, who ever donated the Caledon area to the state was very forward thinking and the trust is set up to help protect the site from that kind of encroachment.

Hendersonville, NC(Zone 7a)

Wow, doccat, great news about the bald eagle. I remember when we used to live in Woodbridge, there were concerted efforts by the tri-state area to try to restore the bald eagle; glad to hear it's working well. It would be great if you could do some bluebird nest boxes again, if you're willing to evict any house sparrows that move in; they pretty much own the bird world in metropolitan areas, and are lethal to native species like bluebirds.

Charleston, SC(Zone 9a)

nanny_56,

I can totally relate. This is the time of year when my feeder is most likely to be 'hit' if not destroyed and for the same reason: it gets dark so early that I either forget to grab it in time or can't get home before dark. BTW, if you raccoon baffle works, can you tell me what type you have? Purchased or home made? I need one, and when I get time to put one up it would be good to start with one that I know has worked well for others.

Charleston, SC(Zone 9a)

Terese,

It was nice to hear that you had a warm day or two. Hope it's not too cold now, but, after all, you can't have a white Christmas at 50F. ;-)
It's pretty nice here, although it has been raining off an on since Friday - that's our version of snow. I worked in the garden for several hours Saturday in a tank top. I had more urgent things I needed to be doing at the time but felt I shouldn't waste such a perfect day for gardening, sunny and neither too hot nor too cold. You don't get those often enough.

Charleston, SC(Zone 9a)

LOL, Ruth!

Yes, I guess we do get those gifts from time to time. I have a few in the closet right now. Still haven't figured out exactly how I'm supposed to use them or for what purpose. ;-)

Seeing the Indigo bunting and male cardinal sitting close together was breathtaking. A very bad storm was brewing that afternoon. We were under a tornado watch - not a common occurrence here. One had been spotted not far from here and headed in this direction. It was ominously still when I stepped out to take in anything loose that might become a missile. That's when I saw the birds. I wondered if they were reacting to the strange weather, frightened and/or disoriented perhaps. Within minutes of my return to the house, nickle to quarter sized hail began to pummel the patio.

I was afraid the mockingbirds may have been the culprit. I was surprised the bluebirds stayed as long as they did. Don't know what I can do about that menace.

Charleston, SC(Zone 9a)

Keywords,

We have some of those huge - and beautiful - blue jays, too. I love to see them. At 1st they didn't seem to want to come up so close to the house but eventually they became comfortable enough to sit in the crepe myrtle in the garden photo. When they show up the other birds get the heck out of the way. My feeder doesn't accommodate the big ones very well. The perches are too small. At 1st the really big jays had to grab a seed while basically 'hovering' in the air for a few seconds, their wings fluttering desperately against the feeder to stay upright. Then they learned how to stand on the feeder by using 2 perches. The perches are staggered at different heights, of course, so the blue jays stand with their 2 feet stretched apart and one foot a few inches higher than the other but it works.

Charleston, SC(Zone 9a)

doccat,

How wonderful to have a young bald eagle in or near your yard!

I know that their is also at least one nesting pair very near here. The nest halted development of another subdivision in my area this past summer. They had to stop all work in that area until after the female had raised her young.

I see predator birds circling over my area looking for small birds at the feeder - and maybe rabbits and small dogs. (Don't worry the feeder area is surrounded by all manner of shrubs and small trees as well as an arbor covered in a menacing rose thicket in which the small birds feel most safe - and Widget stays inside most of the time.) From that height I can't tell what kind the predator birds are. One did swoop down and through the garden in pursuit of a bird one day when I was outside. That was incredible to see but happened so fast that I still have no clue what kind of bird it was. (Maybe I need to get out the binoculars.)

Charleston, SC(Zone 9a)

Ruth,

BTW, I've been looking for those house sparrows and for brown headed cow birds (or something like that, the one's that lay eggs in the cardinal nests) but have yet to see one in my yard. I even try my best to get a photo of every new variety of bird that shows up. Failing that, I try to memorize the smallest details to get an ID. I figure I should have those 'nasty' house sparrows but haven't been able to ID one yet - thankfully.

Also, in winter I get a lot of 'out of town' guests that are just passing through along with migratory visitors in spring and fall. Apparently, many birds who don't otherwise live here follow the coast when migrating. Seems like they spot the feeder and/or various favorite plants in the garden and stop off to refuel. Some stay for a day, others for a week or two, but it's nice to have them visit even for such a short time.

Charleston, SC(Zone 9a)

I'd like to take this moment, before I go out to serve Christmas Eve dinner to the raccoons, to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas! Even if you don't observe Christmas, I'd still like to wish you a very, very happy day, and if you observe some other holiday - and I won't try to name them all because I would surely leave someone out by mistake - I'd like to wish you a very happy [fill in the blank with holiday of your choice]!

May you all have a wonderful holiday!

Seale, AL(Zone 8b)

A Merry Christmas to you to Carol and to your special racoon family. Thank you for the smiles , laughs and chuckles this year and your friendship. I hope you have a day filled with warmth and love .

Charleston, SC(Zone 9a)

Thank you, very much, starlight!

I've enjoyed sharing those moments with all of you this year and enjoyed counting all of you among my friends.

Charleston, SC(Zone 9a)

Just came back from putting out food for my furry friends. It was pretty chilly out there BTW. Well, to be honest I went out wearing my night gown a pair of bright red garden clogs with a thin fleece ruana wrapped around me - if you can imagine that combo. (Thank goodness for the cover of darkness.) Anyhow, as I sat waiting for the raccoons to show up, I ended up wrapping that ruana around my head and face - to keep my nose from freezing and falling off my face. Later, as my feet began to turn blue in the damp, night air, I decided to call it an evening.

The raccoons had still not shown up. Maybe the kids wanted to get to bed early so as not to 'frighten' Santa away.

Leesburg, FL(Zone 9b)

>>Terese,

It was nice to hear that you had a warm day or two. Hope it's not too cold now, but, after all, you can't have a white Christmas at 50F. ;-)

Oh Cheryl... that evening when i posted it was 50° when i went to bed.... i awoke to howling winds and 15°!!
it was sooooo cold. 30mph winds with 40-50mph gusts... just horrendous... but its winter. Spent the day at my dad's for our holiday dinner.


Seems like your yard stays quite busy all year round. It must be so nice seeing all the varieties of birds and the sort all year long.

Happy holiday to everyone !!

Putnam County, IN(Zone 5b)

Cheryl, want to wish you and all the Heidi gang , along with all the other posters here a Merry Christmas!

I put out some grapes, and sunflower seeds and peanuts for any late night visitors we may have as a special treat for Christmas!

Charleston, SC(Zone 9a)

Terese,

Ouch, 15F with high winds sounds SO cold. Hope your weather will be better tomorrow.

Well, after reading your post I checked to see what the actual temp is here (after I had to come in early due to the cold). It's 45F. I am such a wimp. Tomorrow will be in the 60's which is pretty nice.

I hope tomorrow will be a great day for you and the weather will cut you a break.

Charleston, SC(Zone 9a)

Thank you, nanny!

That sounds like a wonderful Christmas treat for your wild friends. (The non-human ones. lol) I left a pumpkin pie yogurt, peach cottage cheese, some biscuits and rolls, and a handful of candy corn.

Lyndonville, NY

Cheryl, I wanted to wish you a very Merry Christmas. Thank you for the time you have put into this thread, and the smiles you have given all of us. I have truly enjoyed the Heidi Chronicles.

I hope you have an enjoyable day tomorrow and get to see 'the gang" sometime to celebrate with them also. I am sure Heidi has them all tucked away for Santa Claws! LOL

Merry Christmas,
Debbie

Bartlesville, OK(Zone 6a)

ditto

I really enjoy this thread.

Susan
=^..^=

Highland Heights, KY(Zone 6a)

LOL, I like that, Debbie--Santa "Claws". Yes, everyone have a wonderul Christmas! Sounds like a lot of critters are having a great Christmas dinner, too. I will put ours out tomorrow night.

Hendersonville, NC(Zone 7a)

Wow, Cheryl, you are so lucky to be free of the house sparrows. I haven't seen them here yet, either, though five miles away in town they are everywhere. I don't get too agitated about the mockingbirds and cowbirds, though they can mess up another bird's clutch; after all, they are native birds as well and nature gives no free rides. It's the introduced species like the starlings and house sparrows that really wreak havoc with native bird populations: their sheer numbers are overwhelming and, in the case of house sparrows, they are quite willing and able to kill native birds, both adult and baby. When we lived up in VA (suburban Washington, DC) it was sadly rare to see native birds. The starlings would descend in a cloud and turn the yard into a seething black mass, and the house sparrows dominated the feeders and killed the bluebirds who used to nest in our yard. Very very depressing.

It might still be worth trying for you to do a bluebird house, in spite of the mockingbirds; usually the bluebirds can raise one clutch a year before the mockingbirds are at their prime nesting season and become most territorial. For a species like the bluebird who is fighting hard to make a comeback, every clutch is a major success. You would need a predator guard on the pole, however, since we all know how much raccoons love eggs!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night...

Leesburg, FL(Zone 9b)

I had a visitor this morning.... it was really quick and i actually had the camera in the kitchen, but by the time i snapped, he/she took off.

It was a hawk ... i haven't researched it yet .... but the back was black and there was a hint of orange -- cuz in the flash that i saw it, i thought of a giant Robin.

This is all i got ... massively tweaked in Photoshop.


Merry Christmas every one. The sun is shining brightly and it's not too cold.... looks like it will be low 40's today and tomorrow.

Thumbnail by tcs1366
Charleston, SC(Zone 9a)

Hi Debbie!

Thanks! I enjoyed every minute of it!

Merry Christmas to you and your family! I hope things are going well.

'Santa Claws' LOL, that's a good one!

Charleston, SC(Zone 9a)

Thanks, Susan!

The whole 'Heidi' experience wouldn't have been the same without all of you!

Charleston, SC(Zone 9a)

Hi Ruth,

No, thank goodness, I've not seen any of that (house sparrow disruptive behavior) in my garden. The back of the house, both kitchen and great room is and endless array of windows separated by french doors. (I'd love to get one of those cedar 'sheds' for garden tools, the kind that go up against the back of the house, but there is no place to put it w/o blocking windows. lol) So I get a wonderful view of the garden and all of the bird antics out there, and other than the brief period during which the mockingbirds were chasing the bluebirds, I don't see any discord out there.

Hey, that's a good idea RE putting up the bird house anyhow. I would SO love to have them back in the garden again, and you are right, that one year when they were here, they did get to raise a family before the mockingbirds started acting up. I know this because 1st I saw the lovely male. Then I started seeing him and his lady on the perch. After a while the babies showed up looking like small bluebirds in tattered suits.

Highland Heights, KY(Zone 6a)

Wow, I didn't know that about sparrows! And they look like such sweet, innocent li'l creatures!
I saw a nice big hawk of some kind yesterday as I was coming up the driveway--it was right in the middle of the driveway, and took off when it saw me. What big talons! Didn't have a camera with me, unfortunately.

Charleston, SC(Zone 9a)

Terese,

He's beautiful - a little blurry, lol - but it's a nice wing. ;-)

Try this:

-go to www.whatbird.com
-at the top right just above the 'search' box, choose 'Visual Search'
-now you should see a blue and white are with a list of bird names. The bar above the area will say 'Matches'. At the bottom of that block, under the names, look for the words 'Text' and 'Icon' with select circles beside them. If your connect speed will support it, choose 'Icon' to see pics of the birds.
-Now drop down to the block labeled 'Attributes'.
-Choose 'Location' and select your state. Illinois, Right?
-Choose 'Size' and select 'med', 'large', and 'extra large'
(Note: I find it best to be a little over inclusive with selections to avoid ruling out the one bird you are looking for by mistake.)
-Choose 'Color' and try 'brown' and 'Rufus'. For the 1st try, check the box for 'AND' not 'OR', otherwise you will have to wade through all of the birds with brown on them.

The 'Matches' box will contain a list of birds that match this criteria. If you click on one you will see a map of its territory, both normal and migrating along with other info. The only thing I don't like a lot on this sight are the pictures. If a bird looks like a maybe, I will bring up a Google image search in another browser window and use that to see photos of the bird. This tool has always worked for me, including my toughest mystery bird, the goldfinch in winter plumage.

If the 1st attempt doesn't reveal the identity of the bird, try changing the color and/or size, etc. Try being a little more inclusive, try 'or' instead of 'and' or try 'orange' or 'red' instead of 'Rufus', etc. If my 1st attempt fails it's usually because I got the color wrong, like choosing 'yellow' when it really was 'green' or 'buff' or something like that.

Those are the attributes that work for me most of the time. Of course, you might try some of the other attributes as well. Good luck. Hope that works for you.

Glad you are having a nice day there. It's warm here, but very cloudy. (But with the drought in the surrounding area, I'm not complaining.)

Charleston, SC(Zone 9a)

Hi KyWoods!

Hope you are having a wonder Christmas, too!

Maybe try whatbird (above) to see if you can find your bird. They are awesome (and scary) creatures, aren't they?

Oakland, OR(Zone 8a)

Thank you for a wonderful year of Heidi and friends. I look for this thread first then worry about the others I am following. Merry Christmas to you and your fur and feather family. (Who can forget your "attack" bird?) Dotti

Leesburg, FL(Zone 9b)

Cheryl -- thanks for that link. I'll see if i can find it ... i've had no luck in the search i did earlier in "hawks of Illinois", etc.
and the Santa Claws.... some of us ... Mostly Debbie and a bunch of others, have a thread for our dogs and talk silly like that, IE: Tree Day and Sandy Claws ... it's a hoot.

Charleston, SC(Zone 9a)

Thank You, Dotti!

(ps. You never know when T and his bunch will start up again!)

Charleston, SC(Zone 9a)

Terese,

'Whatbird.com' considers not only the birds that 'live' in the selected area but also those known to migrate through or even visit the area. For instance, goldfinch neither live here nor migrate through here, but 'Whatbird.com' knew that some groups of goldfinch from neighboring states are known to come here in late winter when the foot supply gets scarce in their normal habitat.

I have always found that the bird I am searching for is among the group the show as matches - IF I chose the attributes carefully. If I can't seem to find a match I reconsider my attributes. Like in your case I might try again with 'Rufus', 'red', 'orange', and 'brown' selected with the 'OR' (any of these). That yields a longer list to look through but is more inclusive and more likely to contain the bird you are seeking. Whenever I get a photo of the bird, sure enough he is always there in the 'Match' group.

Good luck with it.

Edited to add: Thanks for letting us know about the fun thread in Pets. I'll have to check that out as soon as I get some time. Tomorrow (Wed) it's back to work and the chaotic deadline. Maybe I'll get some time tomorrow night. Sounds fun.

This message was edited Dec 26, 2007 2:57 AM

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