Look who’s back! Or perhaps it’s a different raccoon than the last of the trio of terrorists that killed two of my chickens at winter’s end. After months of not feeding birds as a result of the robbers, I wanted to get rid of the last of some shelled peanuts. Blue jays love shelled peanuts, and with a brood of jays in an oak tree at the edge of my deck, I thought I’d be nice and provide some food for the parents to ease their burden of caring for the nestlings. You can see how well that idea worked.
The peanuts were out just 24 hours before being found by a raccoon. With Baby Dog howling in rage in the background, I went to the door, waving my hands to shoo the raccoon. She did decamp, peanut in mouth, only to return moments later. This raccoon is a nursing female, no doubt thrilled to find such an easy meal.
In the meantime, my chickens are on lockdown again, and those girls are not in the least bit happy about that. It’s always something.
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A raccoon has figured out how to get to the tubular birdfeeders at work. The feeders are hanging high up on a double-arm metal pole, whichis protected with a squirrel (but obviously not a raccoon) baffle. In addition, the tube feeders themselves are enclosed in wire cages to keep squirrels (but obviously not raccoons) from getting at the tubes and the seed. Aargh! I couldn't believe it when I saw a brazen raccoon emptying the feeders mid-day.
They are really smart and adaptable.
I've read from researches that they have been able to open 11 of 13 complex locks in less than 10 tries, they can remember solutions to tasks for up to 3 years and can differentiatte symbols for the same amount of time.
So, looks like they know now the path to easy food : ) expect some recurrent visits.
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