Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
raccoon population of even a small city or suburb suddenly becomes staggering when viewed in this
light.
Raccoons are excellent climbers and, aided by those facile front paws, their depredation on many
birds has become a serious matter. One biologist told me that he has to be very careful about checking
bluebird and other nesting boxes: raccoons have learned that following human tracks will often lead
them to nesting boxes, which they can then rob. Unless some sort of barrier is placed around a tree or
pole that holds a nesting box, a coon will climb to the box, reach in through the entry hole, and extract
eggs and baby birds.
Further evidence comes from a study performed in an experimental forest in New Hampshire some
years ago. Biologists located nests of various species of songbirds and then set up cameras with trip-
wires and flashes to catch nighttime nest robbers in the act. To no one's great surprise, the photos
showed that by far the most destructive nest robber was the raccoon.
Raccoons are extremely vocal animals when they wish to be, and exhibit a wide variety of calls.
These include a sound variously described as twittering or chirring, although it strikes me as more of a
rattling; snarls and growls; and shrill, angry squalling that greatly resembles a fight between two tom-
cats.
Then there is another raccoon sound that few seem to have heard, but it's one I can verify from per-
sonal experience. One summer night a number of years ago, with the bedroom windows open, my wife
and I were awakened by an eerie sound that seemed to come from some indeterminate place and dis-
tance. It's nearly impossible to describe the sound in writing, but it seemed like something from a movie
about outer space—an
oinnnnggg, oinnnnggg, oinnnnggg, oinnnnggg, oinnnnggg,
with each
oinnnnggg
in a series pitched a little lower than the preceding one. Another way of describing the sound might be
that it resembled the plucking of a string with a lengthy reverberation, or perhaps something produced
by a synthesizer.
So weird was the sound, which simultaneously seemed both far away and near at hand, that the hairs
on my neck rose, and I was covered with goose bumps. I don't mind admitting that I was frightened
and began to wonder if there might indeed be some truth in tales of space aliens and flying saucers!
Finally, summoning what little courage I still retained, I took a flashlight and went out onto the lawn.
A sweep of the flashlight at first revealed nothing, but then the sound suddenly seemed to come from a
big maple tree by the corner of the house. When the beam of light scanned the maple, the culprits were
revealed. Everywhere I shone the light, there seemed to be a pair of glowing eyes, and it was soon ap-
parent that a mother raccoon and her large brood of little ones were in the tree and had been making that
uncanny sound. I have no idea whether it was the mother, the young, or both making such an unearthly
noise, but it clearly was the product of a raccoon's vocal apparatus.
Several years later I wrote a short item about this experience for the newsletter of a conservation
organization. In response, I received a letter from a gentleman who told me that he had encountered the
same strange noise and had been able to identify raccoons as the source. Evidently this is not a com-
