Tag: opossum

Standoff

On By CarynIn Cats, Uncategorized, Wildlife

It has been while since I checked trail cams. Mostly the SD cards were full of cats, raccoons, and opossums, but there was a series of photos where an opossum was investigating the cat food when a cat came along.

Photo description: night vision view of a back step off the coop with a young opossum, back to the camera, and a black short haired cat, facing the camera

The result was a no-contest. The cat went straight to the bowl of the food on the cat box, away from the opossum, and when the cat settled in to eat and not attack, the opossum left. I’m pretty sure the cat is the one we call Greebo, who has scars from fighting and his fur is thinned with some kind of mange. He actually looks healthier since he joined the neighborhood colony. The last couple years he and Fang show up in the Fall and then head out again in Spring or Summer.

Oh possible ID

On By CarynIn Wildlife

I think I’m seeing three different opossums on the trail cam closest to the coop.

Photo description: opossum #1, smaller, darker, head narrower
Photo description: opossum #2 thicker, lighter in color, larger through the jowl and neck
Photo description: opossum #3, oh dude, you look like you’ve been through the wringer and seen some stuff, could this be a geriatric opossum?

I had to look up the lifespan of a wild opossum: 2 years. So a three-year-old opossum would be elderly. Now I’ll be watching for another glimpse of them.

I am pleased that my new trail cams give me enough resolution to identify individuals.

Trail cameras

On By CarynIn Wildlife

Ooo! My folks gave me two trail cams! My old camera died after seven years of use, and I haven’t had a peek into the wildlife in the back woods for a while. I set one camera up by the back of the coop, and the other where I was getting deer pictures before, a little ways into the woods. I set the cameras on the trail setting, which I love. Mostly what I am getting is pictures of the meadow cats, the semi-feral outdoor cats that hang out between my neighbors’ house and mine, but I did get an interesting time line of a couple of opossums.

Then sequence of photos shows a larger, lighter opossum approaching a smaller, darker opossum. The first thing my eldest noticed on seeing the photos was that the opossum on the left doesn’t have eye shine on its left eye, a possible injury indicating blindness in that eye, maybe? I’ve seen both these critters on the new trail cam individually. Opossums are reported to be solitary, only coming together to mate in late winter early spring, so it is unlikely these two are buddies. I am interested to see if I get any more glimpses of the two together.

Possum

On By CarynIn Wildlife

Is it me, or does this look like an old opossum? Maybe it is because it is in the middle of a good ear scratch, but the scene gives me cantankerous old dude vibes.

Photo description: night vision trail cam photo of an opossum scratching its ear with a hind leg