Meet Yolanda, our backyard raccoon. She lives in a strip of woods behind our house that is owned by the county, so her actual home tree is not in our backyard, but we like to think she is ours, partly because of her many foraging trips to our yard. Her tree is a larger tree of indeterminate species, with a Y shape about 2/3 of the way up the trunk. The Y is her outdoor hangout, where she drapes herself over the bark and soaks up the summer rays.

She enjoys entering our yard at dusk, making her rounds from the compost pile to the western side bird feeders, across the back of the house, sometimes stopping to see if I’ve thrown out any bread, and off to the eastern side bird feeders.

Yolanda, our backyard raccoon

Here she is on the eastern bird feeder. I wish the picture was a bit sharper so you could see her expression. She seemed rather put out that I was photographing her.

Yolanda on Bird Feeder

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Last year she had four babies, which she brought along on her evening path through our yard. One night I heard snarfing noises outside the dining room window. I got a flashlight and peered out. There she was with her babies, all of them gobbling up a pile of stale crackers we’d tossed out for the birds. Two of her babies, almost her own size, were flanking her as she ate. The one on the right pushed his nose into her pile of food. She raised her paw and pushed him back. Then the one on her left pushed his way in. She raised her left paw and pushed him back. I guess she was done sharing her dinners!