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More wildlife...
Jul. 6th, 2011 11:07 amOkay, so I'm hideously behind on updating. Therefore, expect to get some picspam posts for several days in a row. We have owls! Raccoons! Also the USS Constitution. (... One of these things is not like the others.)
First: raccoons!
As anyone with firsthand experience of them will tell you, raccoons are humongous, and frighteningly clever. At the Wildlife Care place I volunteer at, we are often wistfully remarking that it would be so cool if we had some raccoons for display or programs... but it's just not worth the gamble. Our building where all the display animals are housed has big signs on both doors that say, "DO NOT BRING RACCOONS INTO THIS BUILDING". It doesn't matter if the enclosures inside are sturdy and locked, raccoons are just that scary.
As it happens, there is a big tree about 15 yards in back of the main wildlife care building, which has a classic, big hole in it, and there is a raccoon family that lives there. The WLC boss was telling us on Saturday that she surprised one of the adults just brazenly ambling up the road back to the tree in the morning, to go to sleep. (There was also an adventure involving two raccoon families that had moved into the produce storage barn over on the farm, where they were emerging and methodically stealing the farm interns' lunches, before being evicted.)
So when I was out there Sat. morning, cleaning out the ducks' and geese pens, I looked up towards that tree to see if anything was visible. And yes... yes, it was.
( Close-ups under the cut... )
So, that was fun. I wish we could get a look at the babies. They are doubtless inside that hole.
First: raccoons!
As anyone with firsthand experience of them will tell you, raccoons are humongous, and frighteningly clever. At the Wildlife Care place I volunteer at, we are often wistfully remarking that it would be so cool if we had some raccoons for display or programs... but it's just not worth the gamble. Our building where all the display animals are housed has big signs on both doors that say, "DO NOT BRING RACCOONS INTO THIS BUILDING". It doesn't matter if the enclosures inside are sturdy and locked, raccoons are just that scary.
As it happens, there is a big tree about 15 yards in back of the main wildlife care building, which has a classic, big hole in it, and there is a raccoon family that lives there. The WLC boss was telling us on Saturday that she surprised one of the adults just brazenly ambling up the road back to the tree in the morning, to go to sleep. (There was also an adventure involving two raccoon families that had moved into the produce storage barn over on the farm, where they were emerging and methodically stealing the farm interns' lunches, before being evicted.)
So when I was out there Sat. morning, cleaning out the ducks' and geese pens, I looked up towards that tree to see if anything was visible. And yes... yes, it was.
( Close-ups under the cut... )
So, that was fun. I wish we could get a look at the babies. They are doubtless inside that hole.
