The Case of the Hummingbird Feeder

Every morning, while the coffee is brewing, I stand at the kitchen window to stretch while observing the sky and our backyard. A birdseed box and a hummingbird feeder stand a few feet from our window. Usually two or three mourning doves or a pair of cardinals, or a blue jay will be in the seed box.
This morning something else drew my attention. The hummingbird feeder was on the ground with the false flower perch pulled from the bottle of nectar. We get deer in the yard, and they will go for a lap of nectar, but any number of other animals also enjoy sweets. So, we were unsure what pulled down the bottom of the feeder or unscrewed it from its bottle.

Three nights in a row, even with less nectar in the feeder, the critter came in to feed on our hummingbirds’ food. One morning I looked out the window at 4:00 a.m., and the feeder was still intact. My wife came out a half-hour later and it was down once again. Daybreak seemed to be the time for the culprit to feed. Once again, deer came to mind, since dawn is a favorite time for them to be on the move.

Curiosity and guessing can only last so long, then these twin mind games must eventually give way to knowledge. To satisfy our inquisitiveness, we bought a wildlife camera, or as the trade calls them: a trail camera. We hoped to catch the creature in the act.

The first night, being inexperienced, I used the camera’s default settings, continuous shooting night and day for still images. I placed the camera at about twenty feet away on shepherd poles holding hanging baskets of purple flowers. The following morning, I eagerly viewed the images caught by the wildlife camera. The daytime photos showed bird after bird coming to the seedbox, but the distance was too far and the angle too low for any significant captures. The night images showed two purple frames--nothing. Now, I was uncertain. Was the flash on? If so, did the default use regular flash or infrared? I needed to set the camera myself.

The next night, I moved the camera to fifteen feet and adjusted the angle for a more direct shot of the hummingbird feeder. I set the camera for still images with regular flash for night shots and used the default setting of two minute delay. Next morning, the images I viewed were clear and numerous throughout day and night, but showed nothing other than our house and the feeders. Something was triggering the camera, but it was gone by the time the camera snapped a shot. More adjustments were required.

I reset the camera for night only using video with infrared light and adjusted the delay time to thirty seconds. If this didn’t work, I didn’t know what I would do. At dusk I walked in front of the camera to make sure it was triggered and that the infrared light came on. It did. I anxiously awaited the next morning.

Patience prevailed. The masked bandit was revealed. Through-out the night, the robber of hummingbird nectar made ten appearances on the wildlife video.

 

At first he merely tipped the feeder to pour nectar on the ground that he could slurp up. As the evening wore on, more effort was needed, until at the end, he pulled the bottom off the feeder, climbed the shepherd pole and started licking the bottle like a babe in arms.

 

Once finished, the masked bandit walked off without as much as a tip or a thank you. He was already looking for his next source of desert, but it’s not going to be in our backyard.

Well, the masked bandit turned out to be a fat, healthy looking raccoon. I have imbedded a couple of the videos captured by our backyard wildlife camera. Hope you enjoy watching the raccoon go leisurely about his feeding, with only an occasion stop to listen for a perceived hint of trouble.