I was abruptly awakened in the middle of the night by a thumping sound coming from the garden. Throwing on a bathrobe and reaching for the flashlight, I ventured out into the dark to see what was making that noise at the ungodly hour of 2 o’clock. Ungodly, because I get up before the chickens these days while I’m trying to finish my new book. And those roosters start crowing around 5:30 a.m.
I quickly directed the beam around my backyard to see if anything moved, but the farmette was as quiet as it should be at that hour. Turning the corner of our little house and heading for my herb garden, I spotted them. Two bandit-like faces peered back from behind the blooming cosmos. Raccoons!
They look cute, but these little guys can be aggressive. Photo courtesy of Ingrid Taylar
Raccoon caught in the beam of a flashlight. Photo courtesy of Steve Ryan
A late night snack
Naturally shy, raccoons prefer to creep around like sneaky little bandits after the sun has gone down. The raccoon’s night vision is astonishing, and he possesses a heightened sense of hearing.
These little critters love nuts, berries, eggs, insects, squirrels, snakes, and the contents of garbage cans. They adore figs, their favorite food, a wildlife animal expert told me, and so most likely they were visiting that 50-year-old tree next door for a little wee-hours-of-the-morning snack. The tree sits next to my garden, just over the fence.
Because they can jump down safely from heights of more than 30 feet, raccoons can get over fences and down from trees with ease. The sound that awoke me was from the 1-2-3 action of out of the tree, onto the fence, down to the ground. These guys are as agile as cats. Roofs are no deterrent. They can actually climb downward headfirst.
Raccoons are also omnivorous, so I’m thinking how glad I am that my chickens are in their coop for the night.
Habitat
Characteristically raccoons will live near water and are great swimmers. They like caves, hollow trees, rocky ledges, and sewer pipes. We don’t have any of those around the farmette, but the empty acre behind us has lots of old trees and probably some great raccoon hiding places.
Even though pictures of these animals seem cute and cuddly, they can be very aggressive. They might view your cat or dog as hostile and attack, so under no circumstances do you ever approach or try to feed these wild creatures.
