Critters in the Night

Have you ever wondered about all of the creatures that may be visiting your yard during the nighttime hours? We have! We finally gave up again this winter season with feeding the wild birds. The feeder was getting knocked down every night. Sometimes it was dragged off dozens of yards away. Empty, of course. We put out a deer block every couple of weeks, and even it has been dragged off into the woods.

Enough was enough. Curiosity got the best of Mr. Jim! He ordered one of those infrared wildlife cameras (on sale, of course) and strapped it onto a tree. And we got photos! These are the worst photos you’ll ever see on my blog. And you’ll also have to enlarge them to see the details. But they sure do tell the tale of what goes “bump in the night” while we sleep!

Guess what critter was discovered to be the most frequent diner at the deer block? Mr. Raccoon, you are so busted!

A plump, masked bandit visits every couple of hours during a typical night. Dining etiquette includes dancing on top of the deer block too!

The photo evidence shows that there is a pair of them that shove the block off of the brick platform and roll it further into the woods. So the mystery is finally solved. (Sorry, but the images for that activity are clear enough for presentation.) Raccoons were probably eating all of the bird seed too.  Here’s another vantage point of the midnight snacking.

One of the neighborhood foxes comes through about once a night.

As can be expected, we have a few deer show up, either alone or in a pair.

And even a buck has made an appearance, though we have never seen one during the daylight hours! The round object he’s investigating is an outlet cover for our roof drainage.

The jury is still out on the identification of this critter. But I suspect that it is a dog.

But the star of the nighttime critter parade is undoubtedly the raccoon!

What a scoundrel…