By Michael Howie
Squirrels and birds are on the fence and dead tree all day, every day. They seem so comfortable with it that there’s arguably a case to be made they evolved alongside urban fences (humour italicized, just in case).
Recently, I saw a family of raccoons make use of the fence as a hangout spot and butt itcher. The raccoons, like the squirrels and birds, are quite comfortable – to the point that they seem to nearly pose for safely-distanced photographs.
It left me asking: who else would visit on a weekend?
To the trail cam for answers!
The big group of raccoons, who seem to be a collection of kits giving their mother a hard time (as young ones of all species are wont to do), wasn’t a surprise. The next visitor in the video was surprising, mostly because I haven’t seen them climb up there before. I almost missed the third and final visitor: I zoomed in on the video to make their morphology more apparent.
While not everyone will be excited to see the other visitors, I certainly was: it shows diversity exists in this urban biome. It’s easy to assume there are very few animals, as we often don’t see more than the birds or squirrels during the day in an urban area. It’s a great reminder, now that we’re into the dog days of summer, to do an attractant check around the yard. And it’s an even better reminder that we’re never alone – even when we put up fences.
Do you have great trail cam footage from your urban or rural home? Send it in to us via info@TheFurBearers.com, or tag us on our social media channels when you post. Your video or photos may become a future Eye on Wildlife Post!
Michael Howie is the Director of Communications for The Fur-Bearers and host of the Defender Radio and The Switch podcasts. He lives in urban Hamilton, Ontario, on the traditional territories of the Erie, Neutral, Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee and Mississaugas.
