Last summer, two raccoons -- a mama and her baby -- started showing up around my bird feeders. The young one is now around 9-10 months old and comes by itself. The mama still comes by as well.
Last week she came by earlier than usual and climbed into a hanging platform feeder.
Adult raccoon. February 18, 2023 [Photo: Cathie Bird]
Not long after she settled into the basket, a titmouse came along. This little titmouse, not much bigger than mama raccoon's hind foot, hopped and flew all around the raccoon until she finally left and the titmouse could get a seed.
Tufted titmouse eyes an adult raccoon from below. February 18, 2023. [Photo: Cathie Bird]
A couple of days later, the young raccoon came by for some nuts. This one doesn't stress the feeder hanger so much. In the photo you can see some colored wire cable key rings that I had to install after the heavier adult broke it several times. They are holding up really well so far. I'm sure the feeder engineers did not anticipate that larger creatures would be using their invention.
The younger raccoon that visits. February 18, 2023 [Photo: Cathie Bird]
OTHER SIGHTINGS IN THE HOLLER THIS WEEK:
Two carpenter bees, four eastern gray squirrels, and couple of eastern chipmunks. Farther down the holler today, I founded the first cut-leaf toothwort and a whole bunch of trout lilies popping up through the decaying leaf litter.
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