Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Caught in the Act

It seems I'm feeding a lot more than birds these days. Fortunately, the feeder hangs high enough that El Bandito here can't reach it, and I don't really mind him cleaning up the spills on the front porch.

I'm told that raccoons are often rabid though, which does give me pause, as he comes right up to the windows like this and we do keep them open in the summer.


Still ... look at that face. Is he cute or what?

12 comments:

Caron said...

OH, he is cute. So are squirrels, the dumb things! They look so harmless, and yet...

Johnny Nutcase said...

Man, raccoons are really quite adorable, including your little guy here. We saw one last night by our apartment. A friend of mine rescued one once and it was a tiny little baby- she purred when i pet her, it was THE CUTEST thing!

Rambling Woods said...

Oh I know...It must be the season as I found one in our yard. It does give me pause. But I make a loud noise and if they run, I figure they are OK..what what sweet faces they have the poor animals....Michelle

Anonymous said...

He looks very innocent indeed, but underneath that he`s tuff!

EG CameraGirl said...

He does have a sweet face. Hope he keeps himself out of trouble, though.

Chrissykat said...

Soooo cute! We've had them in our yard a few times eating the dropped figs. I actually wish they'd come around more during the summer...we can use all the help we can get with these darned fig trees!!!

Anonymous said...

Did you see the add on tv about gasses where the lady calls her cat in the but a raccoon walks in I think she says there you are well maybe this raccoon is hoping
you need gasses so it can get in
you have a good one Bye Bye Ed

Anonymous said...

Sorry that was glasses not gases Bye Bye Ed

Sallyacious said...

I once had an encounter with a raccoon that I am happy to say ended surprisingly well.

Our house in Portland was in a wooded area where a family of raccoons would tumble across the back porch on a regular basis. They were so much fun to watch.

One lovely day, I had all of the windows open, along with the sliding glass door to the porch (it had a screen door). I was doing something in the kitchen when I noticed that something had changed in the quality of the stillness.

I peeked around the corner and saw our calico cat about six inches from a curious raccoon, the two separated only by the flimsy screen door. She is HIGHLY territorial, and raccoons EAT cats, so I had a bad feeling about the potential outcome of this interaction.

Projecting an air of "No, really, this is no big deal, I'm just going to wander over here and stand for a minute, but no one needs to worry because I'm not a threat to anything," I slowly crossed to them and casually slid the glass door closed. Neither started or even moved much as I did it, they just acknowledged me while continuing to study each other.

I felt MUCH BETTER about everything once that door was secured.

lifeshighway said...

Oh, I love his little face.

MyMaracas said...

News, I agree - squirrels are cute too, but man can they bite.

Johnny, I had a boyfriend once who kept a baby one as a pet. As it got older, it got mean and had to be released. He named it after me. Turned out to be appropriate. LOL

Michelle, ours will leave if we make noise too, but if we just stand still they come right up to us.

Tina, you're right about that! They're like small bears, really.

EG, so far, he's only made raids on the bird feeder. I can live with that.

Chrissy, this one's cleaning up spilled birdseed, so he's really kind of helpful.

Sally, I love that image, of the family "tumbling" across the porch! That must have been one scary moment though, to see your beloved cat so close to a killer coon. Glad that ended well.

Life, I'm a sucker for a cute face too.

MyMaracas said...

Ed, I thought of that same commercial just last night. A raccoon - maybe the same one - came right up to my patio door and stood there a foot away from me, just looking in. I'm sure if I had opened that door it would have walked right in. Glad I DO have glasses that let me see what it was! LOL