Another unusual raccoon sighting

Geeky Swedes Ballard

My Ballard reader Caitlan and her husband were on a walk when they spotted this unusual sight on the roof of a home at 28th and 68th.

“We watched him for a while and he just laid there minding his own business and could have cared less that we were there,” she wrote. ” It was the craziest thing.”

You may remember a week or so ago, we spotted a raccoon that had decided to camp out in a crow’s nest in the middle of a tree.

Update: Here’s another photo of a raccoon on a roof on 24th and 60th St. “Guess all Seattleites love the sun,” writes Lisa, who sent us the photo.

Geeky Swedes

The founders of My Ballard

38 thoughts to “Another unusual raccoon sighting”

  1. I think it's disgraceful we have homeless raccoons in Ballard. I move to Ballard because I thought everyone was compassionate?

    End Homeless Raccoons Now!

  4. I have always found it strange as to how few raccoons live in Ballard. I see them, but with all the trash bins and the number of people, I'd think there was more of a problem.

    I used to live in central Ohio. The raccoons there could get into anything, and were big, fat, and brazen. You could scare them, but it took some effort. By way of comparison earlier this year, I came across 5 or 6 of them making their way trough the wooded section of the Ballard Locks on the North West boundary of the park. These guys were all small light and easy to spook. Granted I was with the dog, but at 50 or 75 yards they froze and did not move.

    I wonder if their fear is a sign of healthy ecosystem in that they are afraid of predators. The ones I saw had to be small enough that a large predator bird could have taken one of the smaller ones no problem. Also confusing was their small size, with all the natural food, and trash bins around, I’d expect some massively fat raccoons. Were I a member of the Ballard raccoon population, I’d be at the lockspot’s trash bins every night eating fish heads, and licking up greasy paper.

    Who knows maybe it’s a mid-west/Northwest thing. Kind of like when flying from SeaTac and connecting in Chicago. I mean you board and everyone is reasonably thin, and you get off to connect and suddenly find yourself in a world with a two a*s minimum.

  6. That sight actually worries me. It's not normal for a raccoon to be out in broad daylight. I wonder if Animal Control has been called? This raccoon might be sick or diseased.

  7. Just because the Raccoon is out during the day does not mean it`s sick or diseased in any way. Mothers go out during the day to look for food for there young while there babys are sleeping

  8. a few weeks ago i was walking to Golden Gardens down that trail off 85th. I came across a couple raccoons on the trail who didn't feel like moving, so I stood there unsure of what to do. I asked them politely to shoo, but they didn't care to have a conversation. So then I waved my arms around all crazy-like and they eventually walked away. Actually one of them climbed up a tree right next to me. I was afraid it was going to jump on my head.

    It was quite the stand-off!

  10. I regularily see a posse of 6 raccons in my Ballard hood. I'm pretty sure they are stalking my neighbors chickens.

    Signed,
    Skinny gal with Chicago roots.

  11. Would those be the hens located out front near 56 street and 34th ave?

    Cause that would put that posse of 6 or 8 I saw running just a little bit south of the area. I saw them in the trees of the western most border at the locks. They were making their way up from the steep slope and fence nearest the water, to cross the wooded area, to go over the other fence opposite the 7/11 so they could head down into the parking lot. Their marching was nearly in line with a coop I've seen in that section of 56th. However, this did not occur to me at the time, which was several months ago.

  12. Last year there were three raccoons that would frequently climb up a tree and then run around on my roof in the early morning. One day I opened the back door to see what all the noise was and all three of them were hanging their heads over the edge of the roof staring down at me, apparently thinking I had food for them (no way!). Cute, but I prefer they stay away and not poop on my roof and raccopulate up there. (They are really noisy sometimes, especially since the pair didn't seem to want the third one hanging around with them.)

  13. Raccoons carry round worm, and it is not safe to let your young kids play where raccoons have been living. Shoot them on sight.

  14. Growing up in a house on Phinney with a pool in the back yard, we would wake up at night to hear splashing. When we would go out to see what it was, it was usually a family raccoons, about 3 or 4 playing on the steps of the pool. It was always a fun sight!

    And no, we never got sick, our 4 cats never got hurt and garbage was never broken into.

  15. Statistics have shown that racoon crime has been down since 1991. You should have seen all the garbage cans back then! This is nothing. This fear of raccons has gotten out of control.

  16. Ha! A squirrel was doing just that on a shed below my apartment window this morning. It was laying flat on its stomach against the black shingles at the peak of the roof, facing down. –Are there more urban animals thawing out today on rooftops?

  18. we have a little one that comes and visits us at one of our ground level windows! he just sits and startes at us- and we stare back at him- – then he'll paw at the window. he'll stick around for 20 minutes or so until he realizes we aren't going to feed him- then he wanders away.

    regarding animal control- i called them about a racoon that was out during the middle of the day about 5 years ago- they said it is common to see them out in daylight in the city as their nests are frequently disturbed by construction.

  20. I wouldn't worry too much about them being out in daylight. I've seen them out from 5am-10am for years now and I think they're just so used to the people and pets that they're just bold and brazen, not sick. They were also clever enough to pry open a locking pet door and come into the house and snarf all the dry kibble but I solved that with a raccoon-proof pet door. Surprisingly they have never gotten into my garbage can but sometimes they sit on the tree outside the window and stare at me and my cat inside. I've noticed that every time I go outside to shoo them away or throw a small pebble to scare them they think I'm tossing food and come closer so apparently some people are feeding them and this just encourages them to hang around our houses cuz they think they're getting a treat. They are attracted to the fruit on the trees in Summer too so maybe that's why they like my backyard since they get free apples and cherries. Rascally things! As long as they don't do anything too destructive I'm fine with them.

  21. I think I know these guys! I had a group of three little guys that liked to raid my apple tree at night. They'd run up the branches and onto the roof above my bedroom, where they'd spend a good hour skittering and sliding around, having a blast. The first time I heard them,my flashlight and I went to investigate, and saw three cute little heads peering curiously back at me. Apparently they worked up an appetite on your roof and then came to visit mine for their post-raccopulation snacks.

  23. I had been leaving a small bowl of cat food and water on the back porch for my cat, and some friends of his, and was always having to wash the bowls, I just thought it was messy cats. Until I caught the bandit in action, dutifully washing his hands as he shoved cat food into his mouth. He took a few glances at me, but wasn't the least bit concerned, a final wash, and off he went. I've changed my processes since then.

  24. There is a rather large raccoon that sleeps on our fence and he thinks nobody sees him, even in the winter when there are no leaves on the bushes. I can always tell it's the same raccoon because he doesn't have much of a tail…more like a “Bob”. He doesn't seem to give a rip about us, he's more interested in trying to get into our trash can every night and eating from our fruit trees in the fall.

    Also the funniest thing about him and his raccoon “pals” are that they come out at dusk, especially in the summer and will rip anything apart that even looks like a toy if we leave it in the yard. We learned this the hard way last summer when several raccoons including “Bob” were swimming in our kids pool. They had a great time ripping holes in the pool and watching the waterfall action they were creating, like a bunch of teenagers creating havoc and loving it. Then they ate our Nerf baseball bat, 2 beach balls, one soccer ball and a couple of swim toys. My wife and I saw some of it happen and were too late to stop them. You should have seen the looks on their faces when they found out they were being watched…priceless! We also tried to record it for laughs but when I can back with the camera the “hooligans” had high tailed it (pun intended) out of there. Anyway we learned our lesson and have can't leave anything out anymore unless it can't be chewed on/with. I think there could be a kids book about “Bob” the Ballard Raccoon!

  26. ZOMG! Those first two pics were almost too much cute for me… but then you went and put up the third!

    SO FREAKING CUTE! I'm having difficulty containing myself. :)

  28. Even though they're small raccoons kind of freak me out because they seem so unafraid of people – like with your experience of the trail. Still, they are incredibly cute when they're not standing in front of you glaring at you. Whenever anyone says it's silly to be wary of raccoons when I run into them, I point out that they are related to bears. :) Also – being in broad daylight and sleeping is not the same as running around in a crazed manner during broad daylight so I think this guy in the photo doesn't pose a threat. Raccoon rabids is not very common in our area and a nocturnal animal sleeping during the day is normal – even if it is sleeping out in the sun.

  33. A pellet gun helps, but they sometimes they even ignore that. I don't mind the crows, they just make noise. The racoons crap on the roof. That's where I draw the line (or rather, that's when the pellet gun comes out). But some of the bigger ones just give you a dirty look when you shoot at them. They'll only get off the roof if you hit 'em in the head. It takes some practice.

  34. Hi~ I'm a wildlife rehabber who specializes in raccoons. Don't worry, he is not ill, he is just out basking in some rays. Raccoons are very able to adapt to living in our neighborhoods and near people, even in the midst of urban environments. Just because he is out does not mean that he is ill or a threat. Enjoy him!

  37. Well I thought I was the only one with the problem of raccoons fascinated by the pool!!! It was more perplexing to me since there are 2 huge retention ponds down the road, one just a few hundred feet away, full of raccoon snacks.

    I couldn't figure out why my pool steps were so muddy all the time and then I realized hey those are raccoon paws. So I managed to catch about 3 of them sitting on the pool steps. I figured they were just cleaning their paws.

    This didn't happen often but 2 summers ago it was happening daily. And then I thought what if they are swimming in the pool, what if they tear the liner. So I started covering up the steps with a very large piece of plywood. Now I am reading about pooping in pools so yikes, glad I started this.

    The first night I did this, the gang was very vocal about their displeasure but they still seem to keep coming for nightly visits beause things are knocked over, small animals torn apart, and I have a path now worn into the grass where they drag their tails. They enter in the exact same spot. You put anything anywhere on this path, they move it. Bwah.

    I keep the solar cover on the pool every night as well to discourage the gang but once I did see one of the raccoons dip his head into the pool in the small area not covered by the solar cover.

    I don't keep garbage or food of any kind outside and with the pool steps covered I don't know why they keep visiting. At least they haven't hit the roof or attic as best I can tell.

    Cleaning up the garden last week, found their occasional latrine. Lovely. Cleaned it up, sprinked the area with Critter Ridder. Few days later my raccoon friends left an even bigger fresh pile, laughing at me, you wasted your money on that stuff lady. So I think I will try just cayenne pepper but just buy it from the bulk store.

    They can't seem to climb my fence anymore since I replaced a wood fence with a PVC fence but they come in at one precise spot under the fence where they have worn that path. I have put heavy cement blocks in front of it and they have moved them. Chicken wire might be the next move.

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