Acrobatic Mama
August 3, 2023
Our home is surrounded by wooded land occupied by, among other things, raccoons. Occasionally one or two come into the bird feeder area of our back yard to dine on any sunflower seeds that have fallen from the feeders to the ground. On this particular day, while her adolescent offspring investigated the backyard pond, a mother raccoon decided to climb up to one of the bird feeders and convert it to a racoon feeder.
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When she transferred from the pole to the feeder, her momentum caused her and the feeder to rotate back and forth.
At certain points in the rotation, she was staring directly at the camera.
Here, she was probably distracted by her kids below.
Occasionally she was able to get to a position that allowed her to scoop a few seeds into her mouth.
She seemed disturbed when all three of her offspring got together on the edge of the pond.
Mama finally jumped down to join the rest of the family. Hulls of some of the sunflower seeds she ate are clearly seen in her chest and belly fur.
