The raccoon (Procyon lotor) is a medium-sized mammal recognized by its distinctive black facial mask and ringed tail. This species has achieved widespread success across North America due to its intelligence and physical adaptability. Raccoons are known for their exceptional dexterity, utilizing their forepaws, which resemble slender hands, to manipulate objects. This resourcefulness allows them to inhabit diverse environments, from natural woodlands to dense urban and suburban settings.
Raccoons as Opportunistic Omnivores
Raccoons are classified as opportunistic omnivores, meaning their diet is broad and heavily influenced by the immediate availability of food sources. This flexibility allows them to consume both plant and animal matter, ensuring survival across various habitats and seasons. In the wild, their diet shifts, often favoring animal protein like insects, crustaceans, and small vertebrates in the spring and early summer.
The plant-based portion of their diet includes fruits, berries, and nuts as they ripen. This generalist approach means a raccoon will readily eat almost anything it can find, making them highly successful in areas with unpredictable food supplies.
Seed Consumption in the Raccoon Diet
Raccoons consume seeds, which are often part of a larger food item or an easily accessible concentrated source. In natural environments, they regularly consume high-calorie nuts, such as acorns and beechnuts, especially in the late summer and autumn. This seasonal consumption helps build the fat reserves necessary to sustain them through winter periods of inactivity.
The primary way raccoons consume small seeds in human-populated areas is by raiding bird feeders. Birdseed, particularly high-fat sunflower seeds and dried corn kernels, serves as a dense, easily obtained food source. They also eat wild grains and grass seeds when other foods are scarce or when foraging in agricultural fields, and consume seeds opportunistically when eating fruits or vegetables like pumpkins or squash.
Accessing Seeds and Other Small Grains
The raccoon’s physical characteristics make accessing protected seed sources easy. Their forepaws have a developed sense of touch, allowing them to effectively “see” with their hands in darkness or murky water. This tactile sense aids in problem-solving tasks like unfastening lids or latches.
These dexterous paws enable them to climb poles, scale trees, and manipulate complex mechanisms on bird feeders. Once a raccoon locates a concentration of food, they use their climbing ability to bypass obstacles. Urban raccoons have been observed to exhibit learned behaviors, becoming adept at defeating human attempts to secure food.
Preventing Raccoon Access to Seed Sources
A highly effective method for preventing raccoons from accessing birdseed is to remove the food source entirely at night. Since raccoons are nocturnal foragers, taking feeders down after dusk and storing them in a secure location eliminates the nighttime buffet. For feeders that remain outdoors, several preventative measures should be taken:
- Use a wide pole baffle positioned at least four feet off the ground.
- Place feeders a minimum of eight feet away from any potential jumping-off point, such as trees, fences, or deck railings.
- Incorporate capsaicin-treated birdseed, as the compound deters mammals but does not affect birds.
- Clean up any spilled seed on the ground regularly.
- Store birdseed in galvanized metal containers with lids secured by a tight-fitting clamp or bungee cord.