Monday, July 7, 2014

Hummingbird Feeder Thief

On the nights we forget to take in our Hummingbird feeder, someone comes along, unscrews the base and drinks the nectar.

I was fairly sure it wasn't a bear because it would pull the feeder off the hanger and onto the ground. A racoon on the other hand, has enough dexterity to unscrew a base and leave the feeder hanging.

Yet when I see a bear on our property, I also notice that the feeder has been tampered with so I hadn't completely written off the bear as the Hummingbird feeder thief. I also have noted over the years that the racoons follow bears around. Bears find tasty garbage and when they've had their fill, racoons take over.

So last night we left the feeder out and set up the Stealth Cam.

This is the first photo the camera took. The base is already missing but clearly, it's a racoon at the feeder.

The date is off by a day (or maybe the month is off) but the time is fairly accurate.


Here's the midnight diner trying to get every last drop of the sugar water.


Then 10 minutes later the racoon is back, double checking the feeder.


An hour goes by and it's back again.


I don't know why the camera didn't catch the racoon arriving on the Gazebo ledge and then unscrewing the base.
We'll leave the feeder out again and reset the camera to see if we can catch him removing the base.

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