Sherlock Holmes I ain’t
I mentioned my bird food thief the other day.
Things didn’t go quite as planned. I put out the bird food all right and hung it on a tree. The next day it was fucking gone again. As to the identity of the thief: I am still mystified. I shall illustrate.
Time. 13:11
This was me carrying the string out to the tree. It’s long and quite heavy.
Time. 13:44
The camera is realigned and the food is now securely wired about a foot below a branch on the tree. I used coat-hanger wire so it is really secure. Unfortunately the camera doesn’t have a view-finder when mounted so the wire is out of shot.
Time. 21:31
We’re into infra-red mode. Penny can be seen having a piss to the left of the sundial [which hasn’t seen sun in years because of the trees].
Time. 22:15
Things start to get interesting. Something has appeared bottom left of the screen. Could be a cat? If so, it’s a very large animal .
Time. 22:16
Whatever the fuck it is, it’s interested.
Time. 22:17
The little [big] shit starts to haul the string of food upwards. It must have very long limbs to reach down that far.
Time. 23:14
So the food is now gone out of the bottom pocket and the other string has disappeared.
The animal is on the ground. It’s big!
Time. 00:05
Penny goes out for her nighttime piss.
Time. 00:53
Whatever it is is hauling up the bird food again, while simultaneously appearing at the bottom of the image. Very clever?!
Time. 01:14
I don’t know what triggered the camera but the bird food is now gone, netting and all. The only thing left is the wire.
Before anyone suggests it, our Cat was in the house all this time.
I am none the wiser.
Fucking little thief!
If the missus and I are ever in Ireland and we find ourselves hungry, it's good to know where to go to get free food in the dead of night. Thank you.
Some people will do anything to get in front of a camera.
?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raccoon
We don't have them in Ireland. Or maybe one escaped from a zoo and headed up the mountains….
The Landlady’s ghost?
Sure? 😉
https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/raccon-sightings-ireland-co-clare-13306284
A fox? (The snout looks foxy)
A fox is a logical answer as we have quite a few around here. I would have thought that a fox would be more inclined to pull it down from below rather than haul it up from above?
Many creatures are smarter than we give them credit for. I recall a YT video of two Crows (Rooks, maybe?) working as a team to lift the plastic liner out of a McDonalds waste bin in order to get at the leftovers inside. Standing on the edge, one used his beak to pull up as much as he could then held it, then the second one pulled some more and held. They repeated the process several times before the bottom of the liner was high enough for them to reach the food…
I have seen crows in action. One time I watched a flock on a suburban road. Two experienced birds took the lead ripping open rubbish bags [left out for the bin collection] while the rest followed to scavenge on the spilled contents. The rooks around here are rarely out after dark [though you should see them at dusk!].
Climbing the tree makes me think it could be a cat of some sort GD. Domestic cats that have gone feral for a couple of generations can be pretty big. One for the X-files.
I'm inclined to plump for a cat all right. There are quite a few around [including our own]. I hope he got severe stomach cramps.
If you have foxes around your place and your bird feed balls were held together with suet then that may be your culprit. Foxes can climb trees just fine. Still, the top of the head and the ears suggest a cat but would a cat, even a big one, be able to haul up the bird food netting and all?
It's a mystery. Get more cameras?
Grandad,
That is 100% a large fox, down here in OZ we have bloody millions of them living quite nicely in suburbia and of course in the bush (thanks to some pommy toffs in the 1800's who wanted to do a spot of fox hunting just like in the old country). I have two nice fox furs adorning the top of our 2 seater lounges (compliments of a farmer friend from way out west of me).
Dear Grandad
The face is definitely a fox.
No evidence of anything climbing the tree or in it – spooky. Perhaps it has enlisted the help of aliens. This seems to be the answer to all mysteries.
Now you know the <i>modus operandi</i>, you can angle the camera to catch the culprit in action.
Happy hunting.
DP