If you follow my posts you will know I feed a lot of wildlife in my backyard.
Besides the Blue Jays, Dove, Chipmunk, Squirrel there are also other wildlife, such as, raccoons, foxes or skunks visiting at night.
Raccoon that comes by nightly.
I have been told not to encourage the clever raccoons to come around as they have been known to get into out buildings and even in attics. This advice did not discourage me from leaving food out for them at night.
The raccoon has a keen sense of hearing and will hear a grub or earthworm under the soil. They are part of their diet and also they will eat wasps and hornets. How they manage to eat them without being stung numerous times is beyond my understanding.
The raccoon has little paws with claws that he uses to hold his food and also to dig into the ground to retrieve grubs.
I didn’t know until I saw this, one morning by the back deck, the raccoon could hear the wasps/hornets buzzing in their underground hive and decided to make a meal of them.
This is the hole the raccoon dig by the cement step to reach the hornet’s nest.
The Yellow Jacket hornet’s nest by the front deck has been a worry as Hubby and I could see the hornets going in and out of this opening in the mulch. It was right where one passes to come into the house and some folks freak out to be near a hornet, especially a whole nest of them.
I didn’t want to use pesticide on them or build a fire to smoke them out. Hornets, like bees, pollinate our flowers and food crops. They weren’t bothering anyone but it would be nice if the nest was somewhere else.
I was thankful the raccoon took care of our hornet problem. He dug the nest out one night and must have eaten the occupants. All I saw was the empty hexagonal comb shaped cells from the nest scattered on the ground.
Wasps like the Yellow Jackets tend to build their nest in the ground. The raccoon, with his keen hearing, must have heard them moving around and decided to get his protein for the day.
About the Raccoon
They are a medium sized animal with a ringed light and dark bushy tail.
Raccoons are often referred to as the masked bandit because of the area of black fur around the eyes that gives the impression of a mask.
Some people believe the raccoon to have natural spiritual powers with this mask resembling the black and white used in native rituals to connect with the spirit world.
This Wikipedia website gives more information on the clever little critters.
Source
Thanks to the raccoon the hornet’s nest is gone and the residents moved on~ if any left. I hope they can build a new nest somewhere else before winter sets in.
Hubby filled the hole in and the raccoon hasn’t bothered digging it up again. He was a wonderful helper in getting the hornets to move on. I think he deserves extra food left out tonight.
Location: Prince Edward Island, Canada
