I have seen many nocturnal mammals, "in the fur", at dusk and at night in my lifetime. I've seen red foxes when I was a boy, perched in trees. I've spotted groups of white-tailed deer emerging from gray woodlands at twilight and entering snow-covered fields to feed on alfalfa and corn kernels. I have noticed raccoon families along creeks at night and skunks and opossums on my lawn at dusk. And I have spotted all these mammals in vehicle headlights along dark country roads. But in the past few months I have enjoyed seeing nocturnal mammals going about their daily activities uninterrupted at three different ground feeders during the night through live cameras, some kind of nighttime lighting and our home computer screen. Those feeders are in a lawn in South Carolina, a yard in Akron, Ohio and a woodland in southeastern Iowa. And these nighttime mammals are always entertaining and educational when seen without them knowing they are being watched.
I have seen raccoons, opossums and deer mice at all three feeders, and white-tailed deer at two of them. That shows how adaptable, widespread and common those mammal species are in the United States.
I've seen up to eleven raccoons, four opossums and a few white-tailed deer at once at the feeders in South Carolina. I never saw so many 'coons or 'possums in one place at one time before. Two red foxes have been there together, but not regularly. And I once saw an armadillo and a deer mouse there as well. All the different mammal species seem to get along well for the most part, though their might be a brief, mild confrontation of mammals of the same kind.
Sometimes there are no mammals to be seen at those feeders at night. Then one sees one or more, then more, moving and bobbing "lights" back in the dark woods. This is eye shine, being reflected from the eyes of nocturnal mammals approaching the illuminated feeders, mostly one or two at a time.
I have also enjoyed seeing a few each of raccoons and opossums, a striped skunk and a cottontail rabbit at ground feeders at Akron, Ohio. Strangely, although there is a successional woodland bordering the lawn, I've never seen deer coming to those feeders. And, though they are common in the eastern United States, the skunk at Akron was the only one I saw at all three feeders, at least so far. I can always identify the rabbit back in the woods by its eye shine alone, because it bounces along dramatically as that critter hops about.
The deer feeders in Iowa, however, are the most exciting to me. Those feeders are filled with field corn and are positioned in a deciduous woods. Up to twelve deer at a time converge at that feeder at once. One can spot bucks, does and fawns of the year by obvious features, including some big racks on some bucks. But deer often seem quarrelsome to each other, which is a surprise because they seem so timid and docile.
Up to eight raccoons, four opossums and several deer mice also come regularly to this feeder. I first noticed the mice by their tiny eye shine low to the ground as they each sneaked in to grab a corn kernel. The raccoons chase the mice, if the 'coons spot them. But I never saw any mice being caught.
There was one incident when several deer leaped and dashed across a woodland, soil road and through the woods, followed a few seconds later by two or three coyotes! What a thrill!
And there was sighting of a lone bobcat slipping by the deer feeder. Bob cats could be more common over a greater part of North America than many people realize.
Other, interesting kinds of mammals can be spotted at feeders at night in the United States. One just has to want to experience them.
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