JuneOntario said:Ginger has four kits (and one of them is a blonde)!

Oh my what a cute family that makes.

Aw, June, those are so cute! Ginger must be getting more comfortable around you, if she's bringing her babies around.

No sighting of kits yesterday or today. I suspect that when the early morning is wet or chilly, the kits don't want to get out of bed.

The number of adults at the breakfast buffet is creeping up again. Yesterday I thought I was seeing double, but there were two almost identical gray raccoons. The only difference I could detect was that one had a broader facial stripe than the other. There might have been two all along, and I didn't notice because they were never here together before. A couple of normal-colored raccoons, in addition to Number 3, joined the group this morning, and a lot of posturing, pleading, grunting, snarling, and growling ensued before the newbies realized they would not be allowed onto the bird tables until the regulars had finished eating.

A much larger version of Ginger foraged here briefly yesterday, after all the others had gone. Could Big Ginger be a male?

Your very observant to be able to tell the difference between all those raccoons.

It must be fun to watch them and their antics.

Rita, I am not really observant - I miss a lot! I do like to watch animals and birds, though, and try to figure them out. And yes, raccoons are fun to watch. The move they make to get down from the large bird table involves going over the edge head first, gripping the edge of the table with their back feet, letting their body swing forward and out, and then dropping to the ground. It reminds me of a trapeze artist dismounting at the end of their act.

I love these stories!
Reminds me of the many stories in The Heidi Chronicles from Dave's Garden, back in the day...

I remember those

@BirdieBlue , I used to love the Heidi thread too. I hope that when DreamOfSpring returns to the 'Rants, raves and..." thread in the Sandbox we'll hear more wildlife stories from her (she's having some physical challenges at the moment, and we're waiting to hear how she is doing).

This morning there was pandemonium on the deck. Ginger and all four kits were there. When I emerged from the house with food they all made for the steps, but another adult raccoon (one of the gray sisters) emerged from under the deck and blocked their exit. The kits panicked and ran in all directions. Poor Ginger was torn between rounding up her offspring or chasing off the other adult, while keeping me away from the kits. The kits eventually went into a protective huddle and I was able to get past them without triggering any attack from their mom.

When Ginger was feeding on the largest bird table all the kits tried to climb up to join her, but only one made it. The rest scampered back into the bushes. I think one of them is just visible in the pic, looking out from the undergrowth in the lower left.

Poor Ginger and the Kits - they had a rough morning! I see two of the kits in the lower left, and the one in the feeder is so precious Didn't see the blonde one though. Thank you for sharing your pictures and stories!

Oh I see the little one peeking out from the bushes. Baby raccoons are just too cute!! Guess they will all be learning to climb up to the feeding table.

Yesterday one of the regular-colored raccoons brought four kits (all dark brown) to scavenge underneath the hanging bird feeder, and I took loads of photos from the kitchen window. Then a raccoon with a very broad, pale facial stripe peered into the living room window and I just had time to take a quick portrait from the other side of the glass. I thought I'd done really well. Then I downloaded the pics to the computer and realized I'd had the camera settings wrong. Every single pic was out of focus, completely blurred, and unusable. This morning, I made sure I had the camera adjusted and ready. No kits. No faces at the window. I'll keep trying!

At least you got to see the cuties.

JuneOntario said: Every single pic was out of focus, completely blurred, and unusable. T

I have been there and done that I feel your frustration .

Yesterday evening I had an unexpected close encounter with the mother raccoon that has four dark kits. I needed to fill the bird feeder that hangs on the laundry line, and I came out of the side door of the garage with the container of sunflower seeds in hand, not realizing that mum and kits had just arrived beneath the feeder for an evening scavenge. As soon as I saw them in front of me, I stopped dead. Raccoons can be very expressive with their body language, and I swear that the mother right then was saying, "Oh sh!t". She took off across the lawn and disappeared into my overgrown flowerbed. One kit ran in the opposite direction, around the corner of the garage. One kit hesitated, while the other two decided that the safest place was underneath the deck. Since I was standing between them and the deck, this meant that they were running directly towards me. I had a startled moment in which to hope that they did not mistake me for a tree and try to climb my legs, and then they brushed past me and both tried to get through the gap between the deck steps and the house wall at the same time - and the gap is only large enough for one kit. When I turned back to look for the last kit, he had launched himself towards the deck also, but then he saw me move, realized his error, and changed his trajectory. He ran straight into the side of the A/C unit. Thump! Poor little guy. He picked himself up and went around the A/C unit and under the deck. I filled the bird feeder and retreated into the house. About 10 minutes later, mother came out of the flowerbed, rounded up the kit that had gone around the corner, and joined the rest of the kits under the deck. I had the kitchen window open and I could hear a pretty loud "conversation" going on as they reunited.

So traumatic for the little guy but at least all ends well.

I regularly hear and see raccoons squabbling amongst themselves for ownership of food on the bird tables, but I never see them act aggressively towards birds. For example, this morning a crow landed on the large bird table while one of the gray sisters was eating. She took no action at all as the crow walked around the table to take corn from quite close to her. The crow was extremely cautious, ready to fly at any moment, but was simply ignored by the raccoon. Do I have singularly laid-back raccoons, or has anyone else noticed a lack of aggression towards other species?

Great shots!!

Raccoons here only come around at night so I don't know.

Yesterday was another failed photography day. I had kits all over the deck and none of the pics I took were any good. This morning, I did not use "landscape" setting with "zoom", but instead used "auto" setting with the flash turned off. Ginger was on the deck at dawn, gazing hopefully at the door that the food comes out of, and I took a couple of shots of her through the window. I think the focus range on "auto" leaves a bit to be desired, but it's better than nothing. No kits today, though. The temperature dropped to 6C (43F) overnight, so probably the kits did not want to get out of their warm bed.

She is so pretty