I Do Not Like Mondays

A few evenings ago, very suddenly, there was a scratching or rubbing noise at the back of the house. It freaked my wife out a little, but I was unfazed, over in the bathroom shaving.

I got into the kitchen just in time to see, much to my amazement, our unexpected guest that had joined us. She came right up to the sliding glass door on the deck just as proud as she pleased, sitting with her back against the glass! (At least, we think it was a she, and if so she could very well be pregnant; certainly looked like it.)

She looked a lot like Rocket from the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies, only much chubbier.

I grabbed my camera and tried to snap a quick photo or two. The raccoon didn’t run and didn’t seem scared by us. One of our cats was right next to her, with only the glass separating them, as you can see in the photos above.

According to the Connecticut state government, raccoons are most active at dawn and dusk and are generally nocturnal, often adapting their eating patterns “especially in spring when rearing their young.” That doesn’t happen, however, until April or May when they actually have their young.

So in early March where we are now, females would particularly be foraging around for food on their own, since the males don’t remain with the females after breeding. Now we know what likely pulled down our suet bird feeder the other night…

Raccoons are said to be very “opportunistic” and look to scour humans’ locales for garbage, gardens, bird feeders, outdoor pet food and more. They are most often on their own. As I mentioned, the cat and raccoon were right next to each other, and didn’t seem to mind each other at all.

Something tells me this raccoon is a frequent flyer (i.e., a regular), and that she and the cats know each other from nightly visits. By the way, the scratching/ rubbing noise we’d heard was the raccoon literally pawing at the glass door, like she was actually trying to call the cats over to say hi.

Maybe they’re best buds — nighttime playmates!

Content © Aaron G. Marsh

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