Late the other night, I was sitting in my living room, reading a mystery novel (one of the titles in Mary Daheim's "Bed and Breakfast" series). The window was open, since the weather was relatively warm; and as I read, I enjoyed the background noise of the frogs chirping and geese honking and the myriad other sounds one hears in the country after midnight.
The action in my book had me fully engaged, so at first I didn't pay attention to the specific goings-on outside my house, until I noticed the cats had all raced to the window with their ears perked up. It was a new noise ... a repetitive noise that sounded kind of like raindrops spattering on the deck, except that it wasn't raining.
My curiosity finally got the better of me, so I lifted the window shade and took a peek. This is what had my felines in such a tizzy:
Yep, a furry and obviously well-fed masked bandit was raiding the birdfeeder. For about twenty minutes it stood there, perched on its hind legs on the deck railing, pawing through the seeds in search of its favorite goodies (probably the peanuts and berries), and raking what it didn't want out of the feeder and down onto the deck; hence the "falling raindrops" noise.
They, along with the squirrels, always seem to find a way to the birdfeeders! Your raccoon looks like quite an agile one there, an interesting show for you and your cats.
Posted by: Joanne | Sunday, June 07, 2009 at 07:34 AM
It's funny that we saw more raccoons when we lived in the city than we do now that we live in the woods. We don't have bird feeders or maybe we would have those night-time bandits here, too.
Posted by: Sharon | Monday, June 08, 2009 at 04:57 PM
This is actually the first raccoon I've seen here, after two years of living here. I guess I didn't have the proper "lure" before.
Posted by: Kitty | Tuesday, June 09, 2009 at 06:47 PM