Raccoon!!!

[fenchurch]

rackham and I were upstairs watching the season premiere of Mythbusters tonight, when the light on the back deck flipped on (we have it on a motion sensor) and our cat Numfar started growling. I came at the sliding glass doors from the side, walking through the kitchen so I wouldn't startle whatever was there, and sure enough... it was one of our neighborhood raccoons, once again trying his luck with our birdfeeder (not that he could get anything, since our feeder has a springloaded cage around it, to close down if anything larger than a bird tries to get in).

I grabbed the camera and got a bit of video footage and tried snapping a few still shots (even with the porchlight, it was still pretty dark and I was also shooting through both glass and a screen door). Raccoons really know no fear. He came right up to the door and stood on his hind legs to get a better look at us... all while Numfar was absolutely beside herself trying to get through the glass, growling and digging at the door. I'm not sure what she thought she'd do if she got through... that raccoon was probably about three times her size and would have taken her apart.

Anyway, here are a couple of snapshots of the raccoon... they're essentially in black and white, because that was the only way I could get them to be visible at all (it really was quite dark out there).

Here he is approaching the door. If you squint and stare long enough, you can see a dark blob in the lower right corner that is Numfar having conniptions.


And here's where the raccoon got Mr. DeMille to go in for a close-up:


I love living right next to a wild park area.

Comments

[jawajames.livejournal.com]

yay for raccoons!

[gamiila.livejournal.com]

Cutest of the cute!

[meyerlemon.livejournal.com]

Mr. Raccoon! That's so great.

[kazzy-cee.livejournal.com]

Oh he's cute!! I've never seen a racoon - I understand they can be quite destructive (going through the trash etc)?

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah... it's why we're careful not to have anything out on the deck that they can actually get to and eat. Plus, our trashcans have lids that lock into place. Still, it's always kinda fun when they wander up onto the back deck. And they're MUCH cuter than the possums (those suckers look almost exactly like the Rodents of Unusual Size from the movie The Princess Bride, complete with the impossibly big mouths with lots of teeth).

[bubonicplague.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't know. Back when I lived in FL, we found a teeny little baby possum that had managed to fall into the garbage can. Oh, it was angry with us, hissing and spitting and baring its pointy teeth. But so cute!

It's true that raccoons fear nothing. We have a mother and her three babies who like to come up on our back porch to try to get into the garbage. One can yell at them or make loud noises, but they just sit there and look at you funny with a sort of "Okay, yeah, I see you there, can you open the garbage can, please?" expression.

[jawajames.livejournal.com]

sleeping possums are cute!

[queenofattolia.livejournal.com]

Aw, raccoons look so cute! Too bad they're actually such evil little buggers.

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

Oh, are they ever! We're really careful about not having anything edible out where they can reach it. I still kinda like it when they come up and watch us through the sliding glass doors, though... because they are pretty cute and very aware that they're safe from us as long as the door is closed.

[nmissi.livejournal.com]

Gah, that is so cute! Poor lil fella was probably hungry. How cold is it there?

Alex just wandered in here and wants you to keep it. ;)

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm guessing he's not all that hungry. He was a pretty hefty looking raccoon. It's getting down into the upper 30s at night right now, so not too bad.

As for keeping it... well, raccoons are actually pretty nasty buggers. Fun and cute to watch when they can't get near you, but they can be really mean and dangerous.

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's so cool! All we get are gophers, mallards, and the occasional garter snake. And sometimes we smell a skunk, but I wouldn't want it in my yard.

[valkyrie-kitten.livejournal.com]

Ah he's a nice sized one, and such a gentleman! Let me know if he gets troublesome, and I can give you some living with Wildlife tips.

[lilachigh.livejournal.com]

Wow! Great pix. Can i borrow him to chase the heron away?

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

We have a big blue heron that lives nearby in Juanita Creek... mostly we just see it out flying around, which is pretty impressive, but one day I surprised it out by the creek and the thing flew straight at my car. And with its wings spread, it's pretty much as BIG as my car! Yikes!

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

A number of years ago when the late Mr. Wurm still belonged to the shiftless neighbors and our back porch door to the outside had a pet door in it, we used to leave cat food on our back porch for Mr. Wurm. One night I happened to look out the door leading to the porch and saw a whole family of raccoons having dinner, it was a Mom and three little ones. They came by every night for about 10 days and then they moved on.

You got some great shots of Mr./Ms. Raccoon!

[rosiewook.livejournal.com]

That is one HUGE raccoon!

If only they were as nice as they are cute. :)

[jedihealer.livejournal.com]

They are cute, but can be pretty nasty. For all their adaptation to suburbia, they are still wild animals after all. AND, they can carry rabies.

Sorry to be such a downer, 'cause he is cute.

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

Man, that's so cool. That's one thing about living in the real, ancient middle of the freakin' city, no chance for any wildlife (other than the occasional raven or hawk). There aren't even any squirrels in this part of town.

(I still giggle whenever I see you named your kitty Numfar!)

[tomte.livejournal.com]

Numfar! Do the Dance of Raccoon Freakout! :)

[maiasaura.livejournal.com]

At an old house we rented, we had a racoon so large he looked like a small bear. He loved our garbage, and was so motivated he broke into our garage (jimmied a window) and then into the basement (climbed down the unused chimney and broke through an AC window unit) to get at left over Xmas cookies. They are ever so clever. And OH SO destructive.

[silmaril.livejournal.com]

You know, I have no idea whether that is in truth a friendly critter, a vicious beast, environmentally helpful or a disease vector, but s/he looks so cool in the first shot and so cute in the second. Thanks for catching and sharing these shots!

[desoto-hia873.livejournal.com]

Raccoons are trouble-makers, but they're also cute. :-)

[mlyn.livejournal.com]

Cool!!

[shakatany.livejournal.com]

I still recall many years ago when I was at a motel near Idlewild once and a lunar eclipse was happening. The best spot to watch it was near the garbage cans. I was standing there moon-gazing when I realized that I had interrupted this humongous raccoon in his search for a meal. With thoughts of rabies dancing in my head I simply told the raccoon that I was looking at the moon (it was big and red - sort of Marslike and gorgeous). He concluded I was harmless and returned to his search and I went back to watching the eclipse.

Shakatany

Aw!

[cyndisuesue.livejournal.com]

I've always loved raccoons! No matter what the mess they'd make.

[jemaba.livejournal.com]

Cute! I used to live in an apartment that backed up to a wooded area. At one time a whole family of raccoons hung out around my balcony. So cute!

[julietvalcouer.livejournal.com]

I hesitate to say what often happens to raccoons that hit the birdfeeder or the barn. But where my parents live it's legal to fire a .22 off the porch. Okay, so I've only done it once and couldn't do it again. But the next time it's a possum, it's target-practice time.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

What a handsome raccoon. I envy people who have proper mammalian wildlife - we don't have anything bigger than a polecat - and we usually only see them flat.

[evilawyer.livejournal.com]

You have very sleek raccoons in your neighborhood. The ones around my house tend to have bigger butts.

[jerusha]

Hee! So cute! I love raccoons, even though I know they can be pests. They're just so adorable.

[http://users.livejournal.com/opalescence_/]

They're so cute, although pesky. We had one two summers ago nesting in a hollow in the tree right behind our kitchen. Watching the baby raccoons was really amazing, as they started to venture out. Then, one day they were just gone. And they didn't come back. Now squirrels are in the hollow --- about three or four of them. I miss the raccoons, though. So pretty.

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

Hee. I love raccoons, but Numfar's very lucky to have been indoors.

[jedihealer.livejournal.com]

Is your avatar a red panda?

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

It is. A friend made it from a picture I took at the Bronx Zoo.

[ellbogen.livejournal.com]

Raccoons are so cute!!!

[zotel.livejournal.com]

We got our own coons that visit us from time to time =)

No photos of ours yet tho

[dcfiregirl.livejournal.com]

yay for wildlife!

How're you liking Supernatural?

[marsterslady.livejournal.com]

I think raccoons are adorable, but my parents don't. They had a family that lived in their backyard. One night, the cats hadn't come in yet, so Mom left the garage open as a place for them to go when they were ready to come in. The next morning, Dad found the entire family of raccoons, and they were digging through their pantry, happy as can be. He couldn't scare them out. Their cat hopped on the back of the momma and it ran around the backyard with a cat for a decoration on her back. :) The others stayed in the garage and ate from the bag of chocolate chips they'd ripped open with their teeny little hands.