Last week I got some great pictures of a possum aka opossum in my backyard. If you feed birds you also feed all kinds of other wildlife, including possums.
My son made a fruit salad for school and I thought the woodland creatures might enjoy the excess. Needless to say, the possum was happy with the haul.
We also have raccoons. I was surprised to see how close the possum and raccoon got to each other. You can see the possum’s head, and eyes, on the lower right of this picture.
Below the possum comes into the picture as the racoon leaves. These pictures remind me of when I feed my dog and the cats hover nearby. While I do hear occasional loud shrieking noises in the middle of the night I’m glad to see for the most part everybody gets along.
Have a look at this article if you want more information about the New England Opossum. The article states that possums ‘wander widely’ during warmer months in search of food. If unable to find a food source this is true; however, a possum will visit a bird feeder or compost pile nightly if it’s regularly filled.
Another interesting fact about possums is that they are marsupials, or animals with pouches. Marsupials use thier pouches to raise their young.
In the photo below you can see the curly-cue tails of momma possum’s babies poking out. It looks like there are more possums on the way!
Comments
3 responses to “Woodland Creatures – New England Possum”
Great pictures! Have never seen a opossum in North Dakota, but when I grew produce the racoons would always show up in August just as the corn was getting ripe, then up would go the electric fence! and that would keep the coon at bay.
I see opossums occasionally around here. They are certainly tough animals. I bought some wildlife seed mix with a lot of corn in it. The squirrels seem to love it and the racoons opened the garbage can I store it in for a late-night snack. I bet racoons could do some serious damage to a corn crop in a hurry.
Without an electric fence, if you live outside the city limits, you can’t grow corn without one, unless you have a big dog that guards you property.