As you may remember, I became a bird-watcher (of sorts) during the pandemic. Staying at home so much of the time, I needed a creative way to occupy my mind. It's one of the good habits I picked up.
It's fun. I like to see if I can learn and remember the different types of birds that come visit. To that end, I set out a variety of feeders and a watering hole. I also set up my camera in the kitchen to get pictures through the window.
Taking pictures is another creative way to relax and keep my mind active.
An Oriole pair eating grape jelly...
Well, we also have a variety of predators and scavengers and critters which come out after dark... the mice and rabbits and squirrels eat the dropped bird food. The cats and owls eat the mice... the raccoon eat the bird food and the opossum eat the ticks brought in on the backs of other critters... quite the menagerie.
Nighttime visitor caught with my phone camera and porch light... One (or several) of the nighttime critters decided the dropped seeds and spilled bird food were not enough to sate the appetite. They have managed to get the food *out* of the feeders.
Sometimes in the morning, one or more feeder is on the ground. Sometimes they are still hanging, yet are empty.
While I don't necessarily begrudge these rascals a meal, I am curious as to which critters are doing what to my feeders.
So I got out the trail-cam. I've set it up these couple nights past, and am still working on getting the angle right... slightly different skill set than my regular camera or phone.
Anyway, in the mornings, I check the pictures and see what critters have been out and about. Pete asks what I learned...
I have lots of pictures of cats, a few raccoons, and a couple of opossums... but I seem to miss the who is eating from the feeder.
Raccoon caught pillaging with the trail cam... This morning Pete asked what happened overnight. I answered, "The weatherman predicted rain this morning and I didn't want to get wet messing with the camera, so I brought the feeders in last night." To which my smart-aleck husband then asked, "So, you were being proactively lazy?"
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