Gary Bogue: Of raccoons, parrots and a happy humming bird

Nature knows no indecencies; man invents them.

Have enjoyed your raccoon stories; here’s my favorite:

I kept finding apricot pits in my pool’s spa and found out why late one evening. A mother raccoon walked to the top of my very steep backyard and climbed my apricot tree. Once there, she picked the fruit, rolled it the 30-plus feet down the hill to her waiting brood of five little fuzz-balls. They gathered them up, took them over to my in-pool spa where they washed them, ate them, dropping the pits when finished.

I also saw the same mother dragging off one of my6-foot-long chaise lounge pads.

Sounds like they needed a soft place to take a nap after enjoying your apricots.

Now there’s a mom who really takes care of her kids!

This morning, while walking in my neighborhood in Mountain View, I saw dozens of parrots flying from tree to tree and making lots of noise. I never observed this before.

I know of little flocks of black conures

and other exotic parrots squawking around Orinda, Lafayette, Livermore and, of course, the famous parrots of San Francisco.

They escaped from aviaries and gradually became established over the years. I suspect they owe their survival to people who maintain backyard feeding stations for them, plus our relatively moderate winters.

I’m not familiar with the flock of parrots you saw. Does anyone out there in never-never-land know anything about them?

Thanks for the information on the humming birds still needing food (Dec. 19 column) in winter.

I had taken my feeders down during a move. After reading your column I put a feeder out again. I went into the house to check the location of the feeder through my living room window … and on my feeder was a hummingbird!

What a beautiful sight! It must have been nearby and hungry. Thanks for the timely information. It was an Anna’s hummingbird, of course!

What else would you expect? My backyard is filled with Gary’s hummingbirds.

Contact Gary Bogue at ; or write Gary, P.O. Box 8099, Walnut Creek, CA 94596.

<a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/gary-bogue/ci_19641672tag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.mercurynews.com/gary-bogue/ci_19641672Fri, 30 Dec 2011 08:01:29 GMT”>Gary Bogue: Of raccoons, parrots and a happy humming bird


Related Blogs

    Other Interesting Stories

    No related posts.

    Tagged with: •

    Filed under: Replacement Wicker Cushions

    Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!