"Camprobbers" which are some variant of Blue Jays will land on your deck. I've had these birds land on my boots while taking a break in Nordic skiing, and I've seen them fly into an office, land on the desk and eat out of your hand while I was at Universtiy of Oregon. But Randal Washburne talks about the racoons getting into a tug-of-war with him over his camp gear. . . trying to pull it away from his grasp in the middle of the night. I've had squirrels run across my sleeping bag all night long, break into my knapsack and eat my chocolate bars. . . I think I can get a duck to nest on my bow. . . Geo. ************************************************************************** * "Camp robbers" is one name for gray jays, formerly known as Canada jays. Another name is "whisky jack." They are indeed bold opportunists. Like you, I've had them eat gorp from my hand, and I've seen them steal food from a picnic table. Red squirrels and chipmunks can also be great thieves. I once left a bag of gorp out while camping in the Boundary Waters, and in the morning found that something had licked the chocolate out of the M&Ms and left the shells behind. A friend has had a couple of tug-o-wars with river otters over his fresh-caught fish. Then there is the notorious black bear. Cliff Jacobson placates him by leaving gifts of food lying around the forest. ;-) Chuck Holst *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:32:46 PDT