Got a wakeup call at the local nature preserve last Tuesday

I was at the Cranberry Creek preserve watching a pair of blue jays when this older guy walked up and pointed at my feeder setup. He said I was basically running a bird buffet for the local raccoons and that I needed to take my feeders down at night or every single seed would be gone by morning. I laughed it off until I came back the next day and found my hopper feeder cracked on the ground with the lid pried open. Now I bring everything inside after dusk and I'm wondering if anyone else has had a similar run-in with nocturnal raiders.

2 comments

2 Comments

henrys745d ago

Yeah the "bird buffet for raccoons" thing hits home. I read somewhere that raccoons can remember feeder locations for weeks, like they literally map out their nightly routes. I had a similar issue at my place where a family of them figured out how to climb the pole I had my suet on. Ended up switching to a weight-sensitive feeder that closes when something heavier than a squirrel hops on. Still had to take the whole thing down for a couple weeks until they got bored and moved on to easier pickings.

harris.uma5d ago

@henrys74 I used to think raccoons were too dumb for that, but your story about them mapping routes changed my mind completely.