A Quick Test: Lover or Hater?

Does this photo makes you go “awww…” or reach for your bb gun? Or does it do a little of both?

I’m a little bit of an amateur city zoologist as you may have gleaned from my previous posts. I’m genuinely a little thrilled when we see rats or possums, odd as it may seem.

I have a bird feeder on the window sill in the chicken and I’ve observed some interesting birds, including:

Starlings (yuck!)
Pigeons (blargh!)
Doves (aww…)
Red Finches (AWWWWW..)
Sparrows (aww…)

And once I swear I saw a tiny falcon nestling up against the window for warmth. It was very small and had a round little face with a wicked curved beak. I’ve heard some of the skyscrapers have them to hunt pigeons. Maybe this little guy wasn't so far from his nest.

Our alley is home to raccoons, feral cats, possums, squirrels (one of whom threw a bagel at Knut’s head. Really.) and the occasional rat. We even saw a woodpecker just a few streets away!

These little guys are not from my neighborhood, however. They are, in fact, the third floor tenants in a two story house occupied by Lauren and Eli. Apparently, when the light is just perfect you can make out their silhouettes through the ceiling.

Lauren always thought they had squirrels, but a few weeks ago she heard crying on their back porch. It was a baby raccoon who was soon whisked away by its mother. She showed a photo of it around and generally thought it was the cutest thing ever.

Then they saw several on the roof and through the ceiling. They thought it was a mother and her two babies, but at this point three raccoons have been trapped and taken away and these little guys were still staring at us from the roof on the night of Eli's birthday party. I imagine they wanted some cake and taquitos.

The question is thus: are there 40 raccoons living in their ceiling? Or are they catching everyone else’s raccoons?

We had raccoons in my parents’ attic. One summer night, we were cooking outside and three little masks faces peered down at us from the roof. Their expressions clearly said “Why, yes, I would like a bratwurst.”

I asked my dad how he had gotten rid of them and he said that when it got really hot they left and then he patched the hole. It does strike me as possible we’ve got something walled up in there.

For the record, raccoons were native only to North America, although their Manifest Destiny attitude has allowed them to populate parts of Germany (from a bombed fur farm in WWII), however, you can find them in zoos in places like Hong Kong.

It’s so odd to go see a zoo animal that’s a pest at home. But, if they aren’t living in your personal attic, their antics and cleverness are really quite charming.