I’ve been missing the birds this summer. I had to take down my bird feeders for the past month, because a dastardly [though totally adorable] raccoon was coming by every night and chowing down on my expensive seed. He is big enough that defeating the squirrel proof feature was no problem at all – he copped himself a leisurely squat on top of the feeder and just reached down to grab handfuls of the seed to munch on. The only thing missing was a Mets game on a big screen TV. If I went outside to try and chase him off, he barely turned his head to look in my direction. Gah.
So – I emptied the feeders for awhile. Rocky Raccoon is finding other stuff to eat and will forget about my feeder, and in another week or so, I’ll put in fresh seed and enjoy the birds again. In the meantime though, I have my birdbaths, which in the dry weather we have had, are seeing quite a bit of traffic. This little sparrow comes by every evening for a cooling dip before going off to roost for the night. He’s a welcome sight in my bird-bereft shade garden.
There was a young raccoon in Terry’s front yard this morning when we picked her up on the vanpool. It was so cute! She’s wondering if that’s who’s been knocking over her bird feeder (and broke it.) I have a little bird bath by the front porch that I really enjoy seeing the birds use too!
Bird seed is what attracted raccoons to my deck. It took 3 years for them to move on. I had to have a tree on the side of my house cut down so they wouldn’t dance on my roof every night at 2 AM. Sounded like a herd of elephants.
BTW…funny story…the reason I found out it was raccoons on the deck. I was sitting in my TV room in the wee early morning hours, heard this horrible banging coming from the deck. I was sitting there watching TV in the dark and being that I live alone, all I could think of was someone was trying to get up on the deck and maybe break-in. So I sat very still, called 911, and when the police got there, they investigated, rang my front door bell and told me that a pair of raccoons were, ummm, having some “fun” on the deck. They were mating. Doing the deed, the nasty. The officers had a heck of a time telling me with a straight face. I was so freaking embarrassed.
Anyway, they are hard critters to get rid of.
Why does he have to be named Rocky?..I want to know….It’s not right I tell ya.
Anna-Funny story. I laughed.
Ellyn – you know where your Rocky’s name comes from, right?
Anna – you gave the cops a story to tell for years & probably cheered up their shift! Waiting awhile and then filling the feeders again has always worked in the past – they really do find other stuff to eat in abundance out here and leave the feeders be. I hope that is the case this year too, but if not, the birds also have a lot to eat this time of year and I’ll just wait till fall to put them back up.