We woke up to this masked beast yesterday. Certainly not a rare thing, but the first time I've caught a little raton laveur (that's French for raccoon!) in birdseed-thieving action. Note how the bracket is bending. Fortunately, the raccoon was relatively small. But not so small that he/she hasn't been able to get into our garbage cans and recycling bins TWICE this week. They are now locked in the garage.
"Oops. I see you. Do you see me?"Later in the day, our resident turkey decided to have a rest. Isn't he beautiful? Wild turkeys have the most gorgeous feathers, more splendid than they look in this photo:
And we can't forget the bunny. I've seen at least two of them, which means soon there will be 40 of them, and they'll all be in my lettuce patch.
I am extremely fond of mourning doves. I really missed them when we were out west. They love our birdbath. They have the most beautiful, subtle colouration.
They also love niger seed! Who knew? And the goldfinch (you can only see its butt) doesn't seem to mind the large intruder.
And here's what should be in my feeders, instead of raccoons. A lovely pair of evening grosbeaks! If you want to learn more about them, visit Hinterland Who's Who
Yesterday I saw a raccoon, a skunk, a beaver (damming a stream), and a bunny. I am going to miss all this when we move to the farm.
This morning one of my suet feeders was on the lawn, completely empty. I can't imagine who (raccoon) would do (raccoon) such a thing (raccoon.)
A pair of mourning doves is nesting in a branch outside my office. Last week was tragic--I spent the entire morning watching a crow steal their eggs, one by one, and couldn't do anything about it. :-( Of course, I couldn't possibly work, either, with the drama going on outside.
ReplyDeleteWe have mourning doves here too! ...and lots of them. I love to hear their call. --nk
ReplyDeleteOh and I forgot to mention that the pictures are just excellent. I love the one of the raccoon looking from behind the tree! :) -nk
ReplyDeleteDephal, what a sad, sad story!! I know it's nature and all, but still. :(
ReplyDeleteIn the marshy area next to us, I keep seeing red-winged blackbirds attacking crows. The blackbirds are nesting in there and I know they are whalin' on the crows to keep them from stealing their eggs. I like crows and ravens a lot, but what they do to other birds is not always pretty.
Poor little mourning doves...
What's funny is that I keep seeing a hummingbird chasing that same crow away from the tree. How come the tiny little hummer can intimidate the crow, but the doves don't even try?
ReplyDeleteI actually like crows, too. And last week I got to witness a really spectacular mobbing by a zillion crows who must've spotted a hawk or something on top of the library.
Hummingbirds! Man, they are just the fiercest little birds!! I have four feeders up and still they keep beating each other off them. Very territorial. I am wildly impressed that they can drive away crows.
ReplyDeleteMourning doves, well, I don't think of them as the brightest lights of the bird world. More like the English Setters of the bird world (sorry Tara!)