Yesterday I fixed a place outside under the out building deck where I could put the cage for the guineas. It would be dry and high enough off the ground where predators shouldn't be able to reach them.
I couldn't get the guineas in the cage. They were more scary than before all the attacks but they were still relatively unafraid of me. I just can't put my hands on them. Not anymore, they were too fast. I could still herd them but they refused to go into the cage. After several attempts I gave up trying.
About dark they flew up in their usual tree to roost. I need to explain about this tree. It is not really a tree. It is some kind of shrub that resembles a tree. My nephew the gardener said years ago it was the largest of its type he had ever seen. It has grown considerably since then. Anyway it is probably 18 to 20 feet tall but as you can imagine being a shrub, the trunk and limbs are small in diameter. You can shake it easily and I wondered why the guineas liked roosting there because the limbs they roost on are unsteady at best. At worse they sway wildly when it's windy. I have an oak tree near it. Its first branch reaches out to the top of the shrub.
Around 2:00 AM this morning I was nearly asleep. I heard a slight sound like a small limb brushing against a window. I figured it must be Leo wanting in but it didn't really sound like him and he wasn't at the door. I went outside and looked up into the shrub. At least two raccoons! It seemed impossible that they could be walking on the limbs they were on; the limbs were so small. Before I thought I grabbed hold of one of the shrub trunks and began shaking as hard as I could. Then I remembered the story of how dangerous raccoons can be and backed off. I had left a shovel on the deck and I grabbed it.
How I wished I had a gun!
I heard one of the guineas fly but couldn't tell where. The raccoons did not fall out of the tree. Instead they just climbed higher and over onto the oak tree branch. They wouldn't come down out of that tree. I finally gave up and came inside.
One thing I realized. Maybe why the guineas preferred that shrub was how flimsy the limbs are. Its shaking could warn them of danger? Maybe it was an evolution thing. How they survived?
This morning I went out to see if any of the guineas had lived through the night. Incredibly all five were alive and well!
