Thanks to all who made suggestions. We tried the live trap "solution", and as the count rose from 1-2-3-4-5 it began to seem we were destined to catch the entire raccoon population of my county. A local friend said he had trapped and eliminated over 30 coons during three straight years, until he decided it wasn't worth it, and moved his bird feeders away from the house. )
Then we reluctantly faced the "food" issue, and moved all feeding of birds from the rear patio to a point about 50 ft into the back yard, and hosed down the rear patio with disinfectant and fungicide.
The first night post-food removal, we had a solitary coon trot around the patio but quickly left. One time only. The second night he came back for a second exploratory walk, in more detail, but left. One time only. The 3rd and 4th nights.....no more coons.
So the Coon-meister who said, "Remove the food and the coons will go away" hit the nail on the head. Now the bird-lover in the family ( wife) was very reluctant to lose close up sight of her birds ( especially the cardinals, red-headed woodpeckers, and a few of her song birds. ) But to eliminate the mess caused by hoards of exploring coons finally decided it was worth it.
PS This morning at breakfast ( where we sit looking out at the patio and yard) I noticed the pair of binoculars I gave her for Christmas were out of their box and sitting on the table. ( she's now putting them to good use bringing the now more distant feeder/customers into close view. )
Then we reluctantly faced the "food" issue, and moved all feeding of birds from the rear patio to a point about 50 ft into the back yard, and hosed down the rear patio with disinfectant and fungicide.
The first night post-food removal, we had a solitary coon trot around the patio but quickly left. One time only. The second night he came back for a second exploratory walk, in more detail, but left. One time only. The 3rd and 4th nights.....no more coons.
So the Coon-meister who said, "Remove the food and the coons will go away" hit the nail on the head. Now the bird-lover in the family ( wife) was very reluctant to lose close up sight of her birds ( especially the cardinals, red-headed woodpeckers, and a few of her song birds. ) But to eliminate the mess caused by hoards of exploring coons finally decided it was worth it.
PS This morning at breakfast ( where we sit looking out at the patio and yard) I noticed the pair of binoculars I gave her for Christmas were out of their box and sitting on the table. ( she's now putting them to good use bringing the now more distant feeder/customers into close view. )
