{"id":33159,"date":"2019-04-23T18:23:13","date_gmt":"2019-04-24T02:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sparselysageandtimely.com\/blog\/?p=33159"},"modified":"2023-12-20T21:05:58","modified_gmt":"2023-12-21T05:05:58","slug":"more-sniffs-of-the-raccoon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/?p=33159","title":{"rendered":"More sniffs of the raccoon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Caveat lectorem:<\/b>\u00c2\u00a0When readers submit comments, they are asked if they want to receive an email alert with a link to new postings on this blog. A number of people have said they do. Thank you. The link is created the moment a posting goes online. Readers who find their way here through that link can see an updated version by simply clicking on the headline above the posting.<\/em><\/p>\n

As has been noted here before: raccoons are like dogs<\/strong> in that they identify each other by sniffing rear ends, and strangely enough, they do the same with skunks, at least around Mitchell cabin.<\/p>\n

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In this instance, three raccoons were eating a few handfuls of kibble off the deck when the skunk, as it had before, showed up to eat with them. I spotted one raccoon repeatedly sniffing the skunk’s backend but never getting sprayed. By now I’ve seen this unexpected phenomenon several more times.<\/p>\n

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At first, they often shouldered each other around, but they no longer seem to have a problem eating nose to nose.<\/em><\/p>\n

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But that is not to say the skunk never sprays<\/strong>. Over the weekend Lynn and I heard unusual screaming outside one night, and when we opened our door to find out what was going on, the stench of skunk was everywhere. Using a flashlight, we were able to spot one skunk attempting to mate with a second a few yards away in the grass, but the lady wasn’t interested and fended off the attempt by repeatedly spraying the aggressor. It proved to be an effective form of self-defense.<\/p>\n

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As of a couple of weeks ago, this grey fox began showing up occasionally to also snack with the raccoons.<\/em><\/p>\n

After the fox showed up one day last week<\/strong>, I watched while a raccoon walked behind it and sniffed the fox’s rear end. The fox barely noticed. Perhaps cops in trying to identify fugitives should also use this technique. It’s obviously not invasive.<\/p>\n

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Photos of bobcats are fairly common on this blog. A few days ago, Lynn snapped this fairly colorful image of one at the edge of our garden.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Asters came into full bloom this morning in the field outside our kitchen. Lynn photographed these wildflowers right away, wanting a visual record, especially after reading that jackrabbits just might come along and eat them.<\/em><\/p>\n

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And wasn’t today a scorcher?<\/strong> It was so hot the deer took part of the afternoon off.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Caveat lectorem:\u00c2\u00a0When readers submit comments, they are asked if they want to receive an email alert with a link to new postings on this blog. A number of people have said they do. Thank you. The link is created the moment a posting goes online. Readers who find their way here through that link can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":623,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,10,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-photography","category-west-marin-nature","category-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/623"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33159"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40582,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33159\/revisions\/40582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sparselysageandtimely.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}