I heard the bumps last night and thought the raccoons were under the deck. Heard the bumps some more and finally got up from my book, turned on the deck and porch lights, but could see nothing. I just didn't look in the right place.
This morning at breakfast I glanced out at the feeders to see how much seed was left in there and no feeders and in one case no hanging hook either.
Here's one of the empty hooks.
The feeder (squirrel-proof but not raccoon-proof) was down the hill into the glen.
The second hook was laying underneath the tree where it hangs. How did they unhook it?
The feeder was 10 feet away along the edge of the glen in the brush.
That's not all the mischief. I was blaming the squirrels for digging up the astillbes and flowering fern root but I think the blame lies with the raccoons. Below is the hole from which they took the flowering fern root. They didn't eat it just had to see what was under there.
Here's one of the three astillbes. At least the others weren't disturbed from their holes. I wonder how this one will survive? It didn't come looking very good from Dutch Gardens.
This afternoon I will put chicken wire over the astillbe plantings in hopes that will keep the raccoons away. I wonder though because if they can unhook a heavy birdfeeder, they surely will be able to lift up chicken wire. But maybe not?