Far from the madding raccoon

As noted from the title of this post, I wish I were far from that madding raccoon! 

I’ve been a bit preoccupied of late, dealing with a very annoying raccoon.  He has been my nemesis for two years now, and doesn’t show any signs of moving on. 

He tore up our trash until we used bungee cords to keep him out.  He has raided the bird feeders of their seeds nightly, and drank all the hummingbird nectar.  So we take the feeders in at dusk (sometimes he comes even earlier) but when we get home a little late…we’ve already had a visit and empty feeders.  And please don’t think me a wuss but I am honestly afraid to go out on my back deck at night fearing that I will run into the little devil.

The worse thing he has done is when he climbed a tree and reached in a birdhouse and (eek) ate the baby birds.

He ambles across my deck at dusk like he owns the place and isn’t afraid of anyone.  I can open the door and yell and he just stares and gives me the stink eye.  If I yell loud enough to look like a fool to anyone who is watching, he dives off the deck but is back in 2 minutes daring me to do it again.  One night I chased him no less than ten times before I gave up and just went to bed.  Why didn’t I just go out and take in those feeders?  See above. (Afraid to go on my back deck at night)

I’ve scoured the Internet to figure out ways to deter this very tenacious creature.  One site said that raccoons dislike mint.  So I set out pots of mint all over the deck.  He just knocked some over and basically ignored the stuff—epic fail.

It is illegal to relocate animals so that is not an option.  It is perfectly legal to trap and kill raccoons, but since I can’t even squash a bug, that is also not a viable option for me.

So as my last resort I heard about predator urine.  Yes, I did say urine.  I bet you didn’t know that they sell everything from coyote to mountain lion urine. Predator urine gives the illusion that there is a predator in the area. Supposedly the animal or animals you are trying to deter will move on if they fear a predator. 

I never thought I would buy water, but I did.  And I really never thought I would buy urine, but, I, did!  I didn’t buy the liquid but the pelleted version of coyote urine.  Actually instead of pellets it looks like the contents of litter box.  It’s a container of foul smelling dirt.  Resist the temptation to smell it or you will never be able to forget that odor.  I swear it burns the sinuses.

Anyway I sprinkled the stuff liberally all around the hummingbird feeder and left it out for the night.  Come morning (after lots of raccoon nightmares) I looked out and the feeder was empty of the nectar.  This raccoon stepped all in the predator urine soaked dirt without a care in the world. (Probably dancing in the moonlight) So what do I do from here?  Stop feeding the birds?  Never go out on my deck at night?  Take down birdhouses?  Or…I can still keep spreading the urine stuff all around and hope he takes a hint.  The bottle says sometimes it takes 2-3 weeks to take effect so I’ll keep it up for a couple weeks and we’ll see how it goes.  I’ll continue to update this post till I’m far from the madding raccoon or raise the white flag.  Has anyone used predator urine successfully? If you have any other suggestions, I’d love to hear your comments. 

Raccoon giving me the eye

Avian dinner date

Racoon go home!

Hummers not appearing 

You know I have been feeding birds for years.  I've never had a problem with raccoons before, squirrels yes but never raccoons until now that is.  My frustration is mounting while this furry raider comes no matter what I do and drains both the seed feeder and the hummingbird feeders every single night!

I can take the feeders in and put them in the garage every night for a week and leave it out one night and by morning he has put his germy mouth all over them and they are empty.  Hummingbirds that are usually are fighting for space on my deck are all but absent this year!

He's scattered my pots of mint all over the deck...so much for raccoons hating mint!  And I have even stood there by the sliding doors and chased him numerous times but the persistent thing just comes back minutes later.  It's like a war, and who is going to give up first.  It's stating to look like it will be me!

Last night we had a thunderstorm and I figured that I would just leave the feeders out.  Sure enough they were empty in the morning.  It's starting to make me very sad because I am truly thinking of giving up, raising the white flag, retiring the feeders, and put aside my enjoyable pastime of watching the birds.

But wait...maybe I can figure out a way to make some sort of baffle.  Will it baffle me or the coon...time will tell.

Where is Daniel Boone when I need him?

Ok, so I have a problem.  I have a very tenacious raccoon that visits my bird feeders nightly.  I have a squirrel proof feeder but as yet I haven't seen a raccoon proof one. Easy pickings for a raccoon with his nimble hands.  Every night he goes to the bird feeder and empties out the seed, then he moseys on over to the hummingbird feeder and drinks the nectar.  He's got a regular cafe on my deck!

I'm at wits end.  I can take the feeders in for an entire week and put them in the garage at night and thinking he has gone on to greener pastures I foolishly leave them out one night and he drains them.  Taking them in each night works, but the only problem is I am not always home right when it gets dark and if I get there too late he's already been there and gone!

That tenacious raccoon is brazen too.  I've chased him away, only to have him return in just a few minutes.  One night I stood at the sliding door leading to my deck and chased him off yelling like a banshee while he just gave me the stink eye, left, and returned moments later.  This happened multiple times till I gave up and went to bed.  

So recently I heard that raccoons hate mint.  So out I went and bought a bunch of pots and potted mint all over the deck. He would have to rub on it and get up close and personal to that particular herb.  So what did he do?  Well, this morning I had a ton of spilled and broken posts and muddy dirt spilled all over my deck, the ground, everywhere.  

I wish he could be made into a coon skin cap, so where is Daniel Boone when you need him?

Seriously I couldn't hurt a fly, in fact I don't even kill bugs, but I need a solution or the birds will have to just exist without me.  Makes me sad, since my husband calls me the bird lady.

Check out my tutorial for the Sculpey sitting duck figurine.  My husband who is definitely a man's man and doesn't really say much about decor or crafts, walked in and looked at the clay mallard sitting on the shelf and just smiled.  He told me,  "that's your best design yet".  And coming from him, that was a real compliment!

Happy Spring everyone!  It's almost 70 degrees and finally sunny!

Sitting duck tutorial on Make it easy crafts

In like a lion

Well, it's the beginning of March and true to it's word In came in like a lion. Unbelievable as it seems yesterday was in the 60's and today its barely 20 degrees and snowing.  To think I went out yesterday with just a thin cotton shirt on!

And I don't need to mention that the supermarkets looked liked they had been looted again.  Now I'm just wondering when it's all over, how I will get down the hill by my house that they never, ever plow!

Not complaining though...I still love snow.  Enjoy these photos and take a snow day...

Thank goodness Crystal thinks about feeding us in all this snowy weather!

But when?  Little geranium asks, Is it going to be my turn?

Snow, colds, flus and blues

I know I have been a bit MIA of late but I hope you all can cut me some slack.  First of all I know Virginia is known for flip flopping weather patterns.  What Virginian doesn’t know the old adage…”If you don’t like the weather in Virginia, stick around for 24 hours?”  This year however, it’s been flip-flopping all over the place.  One day its almost 70 degrees and the next day its barely past zero and snowing!

This kind of weather tends to help the nasty cold and flu viruses get a good hold on the body.  So first it was my husband, then my daughter.  Guess you could say I was running a soup kitchen for a while—chicken soup kitchen that is.

And then the snow came.  In Virginia when it snows even a few flakes everything shuts down.  And when it snows 9 or 10 inches, well, you get the picture.  The grocery stores look like they’ve been looted, mail and newspaper delivery ceases. I won’t even go into the issues a little Jack Russell terrier has simply doing her morning business. And since I live on a hill, I suffer from another sort of malady…cabin fever.

Valentine's Day red

And to top it all off my husband had to work extra hours on Valentine’s Day from 4 a.m. to 11. P.M! Before you think I’m whiny let me explain.  We got engaged on Valentine’s Day, so it’s special.  So I spent the first Valentine’s Day since we’ve been married alone.  Need I say I was suffering from cabin fever and the blues?  It did help that I woke up to see the sweetest card and a cute stuffed bear holding a big red heart. 

So things are slowly getting back to normal.  The snow is starting to recede, the schools reopen on a formerly slated holiday (Presidents day) and all is right with the world.

Mystery solved!

Some of you may remember that this summer I was visited by a thief, a hummingbird nectar thief to be exact.  This went on all summer.  I either had to take it in every night, or just make more nectar every day--every single day or disappoint the hummers.  If I got home a bit late or had something going on and I didn't get it in--it was drained dry.  Some weeks I remembered to take it in every day for a week and I'd think that maybe if I left it out he wouldn't come, but I was always wrong.  What could it be, I wondered, bats, possums, raccoons?  After I found one feeder on the ground with it's top unscrewed I pretty much figured it had to be a raccoon.

I haven't seen a hummingbird for 5 days now so I think they have embarked on their journey to warmer climes.  Still I have put the feeder out every day just in case a lonely hummingbird passing through may stop to refuel.

Tonight I was bound and determined to catch the thief in the act if only to see exactly how he does it.  So I got a couple pillows, cracked  a space in the vertical blinds overlooking my deck and waited.  I pretty much had figured out that the culprit visited around 7:30 every night.

7:32 on the dot, he came.  Yup, raccoon alright and he was a pretty gutsy little dude too.  He reached up and tilted the feeder.  Our eyes met and I swear he gave me the stink eye, since I was  ruining his party. I opened the sliding glass door and he ran, but only after he gave me one last very dirty look.

Sorry I have no photos since my camera is not that high tech and all I got was a very blurry furry!

Mystery solved and since Hummingbird season is over, he will have to get his kool-aid somewhere else.

Anyone else have raccoon raiders?  

Goodbye little hummingbird

Goodbye, Aurevoir, Hasta la Vista, Adios, Ciao, Auf Wiedersehen, Doei, Farvel, Zenaj, Sayonara, Namaste, Yasou, Slan, Hwyl fawr, in just a few languages—all of them goodbyes.

So long to the little hummingbirds that visit my feeders every day.  I haven’t seen them for a few days and although experts say to keep the feeders up until you haven’t seen any for 2 weeks, I am thinking that they have started their long southward trek.  Soon I won’t have to bring in that nectar feeder at night to stop Rocky raccoon and he will have to get his kool aid from elsewhere.  Goodbye to the hummingbirds and happy travels.  

Abcdefghijkl…L is for leucism

Leucistic Grackle

What the heck is leucism?  Leucism is the term used for identifying defects in pigmentation in the skin, hair, or feathers.  It is not to be confused with albinism.  Albinos typically have red eyes while leucistic animals have normal eyes.

If you’ve ever spied an animal that appears normal in all respects, but has white patches where white shouldn’t be and you just can’t seem to identify it, well, you have seen a leucistic animal. 

While it is an exciting thing to see a leucistic bird, one must realize that he will probably face dangers that other birds will not.  The fact that he has lost his natural protective camouflage makes him vulnerable to predators. 

In all my years of feeding and watching birds I have only seen two leucistic ones.  On one occasion I was lucky to have a camera available to take photos. 

In my natural ABC book L is for leucism