by Roland D. Hallee

On our way home to Waterville driving along Rte. 201 recently, during the recent unseasonable warm spell, my wife and I observed a raccoon walking along the roadside in Winslow. My first thought: “A raccoon out during the day is not normal, and could mean it is rabid.”

While it is true that a rabid raccoon will exhibit a variety of unusual behaviors, activity during daytime is most definitely not a guaranteed indicator of rabies. You see, although raccoons are primarily noctural, they do often get some stuff done during the day. It’s not that unusual for a raccoon to be active in the middle of the day. We just don’t see it often. They often go off in search of food or drink, especially a nursing female raccoon who has babies to take care of, and who has extra nutritional requirements.

Raccoons can be cute…

Raccoons, along with foxes, skunks and bats are considered a primary carrier of the rabies virus in the United States. While any warm-blooded animal can carry rabies, these are the ones that are called “rabies vector species.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), only one human has ever died from the raccoon strain of rabies. That is because a rabid raccoon is usually dead within 1-3 days of becoming infected, and even if you’re bitten by a rabid raccoon, effective post-exposure treatment is available and recommended.

How can you tell if a raccoon has rabies? Rabid raccoons are very sick, mostly they are lethargic. Their walk may be erratic, or their legs paralyzed. They may be walking in circles or falling over, discharging from the eyes or mouth, or lurching in an unnatural fashion. In short, they just plain look sick. If you see a raccoon outside when it’s light out, and it looks agile, alert, is running or foraging in a smooth and coordinated manner, then you can be almost certain that it doesn’t have rabies. This doesn’t mean you should approach it and offer it a lick of your ice cream cone, but you most likely have nothing to worry about.

But the best advice is that should you see a raccoon, no matter what time of day, leave it alone. Never try to feed it or approach it. A raccoon out during the day may be foraging for food. For example, especially in urban locations, if you always put your trash out at 1 p.m. in the afternoon, raccoons will learn that. So, if you see one that is lingering in your yard, seems overly friendly, is acting unstable, etc., leave it alone, and contact your police or animal control officer.

• A couple of myths about raccoons is that if a raccoon is seen during the daylight hours, it is rabid. Well, we’ve already discussed that, and the answer is “no.”
• Raccoons hibernate during the winter: No, they go through a period of decreased activity in the winter.
• All raccoons are carriers of rabies: No, the majority of them do not have rabies but those that do, will die within days of being infected.
• Raccoons eat cats: No, they don’t – usually. Raccoons are quite capable of killing cats but normally don’t attack cats unless they are threatened or rabid.
• Raccoons always wash their food: No, it is more akin to their “feeling” their food.
• Raccoons make good pets: No, raccoons do not make good pets. Even though it is legal to keep wild animals in Maine including raccoons – with a permit – it’s not advisable to have a raccoon as a pet. Over time, as it grows older, it could become too wild to handle.

…but they can also be vicious.

Raccoons in general can be a nuisance, but caution should always be used around them. I once had one living under my garage. I set a Hav-a-Hart trap baited with cat food, and captured it within an hour and a half. But the tricky part was moving it to another location in the country. Frightened, it was very aggressive while in the cage, and I had to use a stick, with gloves on, in order to load it in the back of my SUV. Its claws were as sharp as razors and could have done some major damage to my hands when I tried to grab the handle. The release was successful, and the raccoon hurriedly waddled away. I don’t recommend this to just anyone.

As a matter of fact, my sister-in-law once tried using a broom to fend off a raccoon that had attacked her dog. The raccoon retaliated and bit her. The ‘coon ran off and was never found. So, because of the uncertainty of whether or not the raccoon was rabid, she had to undergo a series of painful shots. Although that incident is probably an isolated one, you never know how a raccoon will react. In this case, she probably didn’t have much choice because the raccoon had attacked her small dog. But it serves as an illustration of what can happen.

A very safe rule of thumb, quite simply, is if you see a raccoon, leave it alone, or contact a professional if you suspect that it is rabid.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

The New England Patriots have appeared in the most Super Bowls with nine (5-4). Which two teams are second with eight?

Answer here.

Sharp-shinned hawk, left, and Cooper’s hawk, right. Note the square tail of the Sharp-shinned hawk, compared to the rounded tail of the Cooper’s hawk.

SCORES & OUTDOORS

by Roland D. Hallee

I have seen some interesting acts of Mother Nature during my travels, but what happened last week probably tops most of them.

The first was somewhat insignificant because I had seen it one time before. Arriving home from work late last Wednesday, I noticed a dead crow in my backyard. Not knowing quite what to do, I called the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and was told it was OK for me to dispose of the bird. I feared that because they were vulnerable to West Nile disease, I should report it. I wasn’t sure I should touch it.

But what I saw on Saturday, topped that without a contest. After picking up my granddaughter at a basketball game to take her home (they live in a condo village in Waterville), I turned around in my daughter’s driveway. In front of her garage, I noticed a rather large bird obviously plucking the feathers of the prey it had taken down. Upon closer inspection, I saw that the unfortunate fowl was a male mallard duck.

The hunter was a rather smallish hawk that sat there almost motionless once it spotted me. It began to look uncomfortable with my presence, and flew into a nearby tree. I made a mental picture of the raptor and would try to identify it. Immediately, I ruled out broad winged hawk and redtail hawk, both of which I am familiar.

My research indicated to me that it was either a Sharp-shinned hawk, or a Cooper’s hawk. They had similarities that I couldn’t quiet determine which was which.

Sharp-shinned hawks are small, long-tailed (this one had a long tail) hawks with short rounded wings. Again, a match. Adults are slaty blue-gray above, with narrow, horizontal red-orange bars on the breast. Again, that was what it had. However, Sharp-shinned hawks breed in deep forests. This was in the center of Waterville.

The Sharp-shinned hawk is a woodland raptor, skilled at capturing birds on the wing. Its short, rounded wings permit it to snake through brushy areas. Its long, narrow tail serves as a rudder. They will surprise their prey with their speed, and prefer the ease of taking down birds weakened by disease or injury.

Now, the Cooper’s hawk resembles the Sharp-shinned hawk so much that even experts are often fooled. That didn’t leave me with a warm, fuzzy feeling about identifying the right culprit.

The Cooper’s hawk, however, has one real distinction: it is larger, more powerful, and able to kill larger prey. This particular hawk had taken down a mallard duck. Not quite the size of a chickadee which the Sharp-shinned hawk would prefer.

For decades during the 19th century, Cooper’s hawks were referred to as “chicken hawks” for their preference to taking chickens from backyards. So, for many years, they were hunted and slaughtered by the thousands. Fortunately, people came to understand the role that predators play in nature, and hawks are now protected by federal law. But, the Cooper’s hawk is its own worse enemy. They are woodland birds, so when they see a window, they see whatever the glass reflects, be it sky or trees. They think they can just fly through it. Sadly, they sometimes even succeed, but the price of success is still a broken neck.

Cooper’s hawks tend to be more common in suburban areas, where Sharp-shinned hawks nest in conifers and heavily wooded areas. The Cooper’s hawk has a rounded tail, that when folded, the outer feathers are shorter than the inner ones. The Sharp-shinned hawk’s tail is square, and both species have broad dark bands across their long tails. The hawk I saw had those bars.

So, what did I see. I’m going to have to say it was a Cooper’s hawk only because of the tail. The bird I saw had a tail that had shorter tail feathers on the outside and longer ones inside. That was probably the only thing I noticed that was significant. It was definitely the tail of the Cooper’s hawk. So, I guess I’m going to have to go with that.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

Name the four NFL teams that have never made a Super Bowl appearance.

Answer here.