Human or animal?

[Lily left the valley]

We'd been eagerly awaiting our second small crop of blueberries this year. Sean even tried to pick one early even though I told him there was no way it was ready yet, and when he tasted it he sighed and we waited. A few days ago, in the course of one day between yard work, when Sean went to check Shoobie (our blueberry bush), it had been stripped bare of all but half a dozen green berries. Anything that had been remotely blue was gone. When he saw this and told me, I went over to take a look.

What upset me is I found at the base of the plant a small amount of berries that were imperfect. It looked as if someone walked into our backyard, picked anything blue, then dropped whatever wasn't good looking on the ground after they picked it.

Now it could be that the small amount of imperfects fell naturally down to the ground and I hadn't been paying attention to keep track of how many.

I also have heard of birds descending on a bush and cleaning it out, yet we'd had seen no more birds than normal, and wouldn't they have also eaten the imperfects on the ground? The day before this happened, there were definitely imperfect berries on the bush that we'd left for the birds specifically knowing they'll still eat them.

I know he definitely feels like one of our new neighbors did this. There's no real fence at that point separating our yards, just a plastic chain between two posts that is easily stepped over, or you can even go around the one pole but be brushed by greenery like their pine trees.

I originally thought maybe their young girl did so, but then realized if she was picking and eating, she would have stopped as soon as she realized they still weren't sweet. Instead it looks like someone took a bowel over, picked whatever was blue, but inspected them before putting them in the bowl, dropping them if they didn't meet muster. The child also would have had a slightly hard time reaching some of them, she's that young.

Neither of us wants to be right, but to have all of them cleaned out within 24 hours... What kills us is most of the fruit picked was still too young and wouldn't be sweet. So our crop got taken for nothing if by humans because most of it didn't even have a chance to mature.

What do folks think? Was it birds? Or do we need to build our new compost pit right up against the property line there with our new old fencing we got for free? We don't have deer here, nor bears, nor even raccoons. I have finally seen a bunny within a few blocks, but how could it reach the top branches? Sean thinks squirrels and birds would have also knocked off leaves in the process, but I'm not convinced of that. We saw chipmunks last year, but haven't seen a one this year. One feral/outdoor often cat in particular is a regular hunter in our yard. Last year he ate anything he could get his paws on. This year I've mostly seem him chasing or carrying birds and squirrels in his mouth--no chipmunks.

I bring it up now because we just did our yard rounds, and he's mad all over again. He feel like he has to keep an eye on the few berries that haven't turned blue yet or we'll lose them too. He's also starting to make noise about the blackberry bushes since most of them are on that side, though father back on the property.

I don't know what to do if it was them. I had offered some flowers to the grandmother which she never took me up on. Why would anyone think it's ok to clean us out like that? It doesn't make sense. It's also starting to make me wonder about our red raspberries, because we barely saw any return on those this year, though we had less canes that berried. I had been blaming that one type of bug, but now I don't know.

FWIW, the bulk of our black raspberries are on the other side of the property, the few on that side are pretty deep in the yard. All of our boysenberries are the farthest they could be away from them.

Your would be appreciated.

[1918ColonialRevival]

Are you sure you don't have deer? Deer are most active either late in the evening or very early in the morning, so there's a good chance they're around even if you don't see them, especially since they are way overpopulated up and down the entire East Coast. There are deer that roam through Baltimore at night, that's how overpopulated they are.

A deer will destroy a blueberry bush in a few minutes - I've seen it happen. The best solution is to build a structure around each bush and surround it with chicken wire.

Of course, another solution is to set up a camera with night vision so you can see what's happening. But the way you describe it, I'd bet a deer is to blame.

[Lily left the valley]

Are you sure you don't have deer? Deer are most active either late in the evening or very early in the morning, so there's a good chance they're around even if you don't see them, especially since they are way overpopulated up and down the entire East Coast. There are deer that roam through Baltimore at night, that's how overpopulated they are.

A deer will destroy a blueberry bush in a few minutes - I've seen it happen. The best solution is to build a structure around each bush and surround it with chicken wire.

Of course, another solution is to set up a camera with night vision so you can see what's happening. But the way you describe it, I'd bet a deer is to blame.

I am not 100% sure. We have never seen any even close by--not even those struck by cars as was frequent in other places we've lived. Our neighborhood was established during the boom times at the turn of last century, but still has tiny patches of woodsy niches, and the wood line that buffers the train tracks nearby. It's because of the woodsy bits that I expected more wildlife and can't completely discount deer (or even bears).

I hear complaints about the coyotes on the north side of town, but that's all new development (1980+ built) which is bordered by both protected and still undeveloped land, but never a word about deer or bears pro or against. Same with possums and raccoons. I thought we'd have those for sure, but only Sean has seen some possums outside of town when he's worked at other POs. Smaller animals like squirrels, skunks, snakes, and foxes, though, I've either seen or heard (I did also find fox scat recently), plus two bunnies one near and one not. I was happy to find some burrows in the back woodsy corner that look chipmunk sized. I was worried that one cat got them all as unlike last year, I'd not seen any this year.

edit: I just did some reading, and if it was deer, they were really odd. They didn't eat any of the leaves or the woodsy bits(the wood, though, they tend to only eat if they are starving), and they would have eaten the not yet blue ones as well as the ones we found on the ground. They also didn't touch the nearby mushrooms or acorns (young oak nearby has some developing) or any of the other berry types nearby which I thought the thorns might deter them, but apparently not. They also didn't chomp on the nearby grapes we hadn't yet moved (volunteers with no fruit and might both be male, but I read they love the leaves and vine too). Our holly and maybe the twinberries are the only safe ones from deer. Holly is a definite no, can't yet find a reference either way for the twins.

Also from my other reading, if it was foxes, they do only eat the berries, but in order to reach the ones at the top, the bush should have shown more signs of disturbance with broken smaller twigs and such. Same for squirrels and chipmunks. Birds are the only thing I have left on my list of possibles, and even they wouldn't have left the green ones. All of our neighbors have feeders of various sorts that they stock even in summer. With all the other available berries and other birdie delights we have on the property, we expect to lose some to critters in general, but one bush being wiped out as it was it not the norm.

I'd much prefer it to be critters. I don't like feeling suspicious of neighbors. A night vision camera is not something we can afford, sadly. I'd love to have one so we could watch the wildlife at night.

I really appreciate the input. Thank you.

[1918ColonialRevival]

...A night vision camera is not something we can afford, sadly. I'd love to have one so we could watch the wildlife at night.

Prices have come down considerably in the last few years. You can get a simple arrangement with a couple of cameras for under $100 now. Just one example - there are plenty more out there:

https://www.amazon.com/Zmodo-Wireless-Security-Outdoor-Cameras/dp/B01IT8LO1I/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1533425596&sr=8-4&keywords=outdoor+surveillance+camera+wireless

Even though the textbooks say deer behave a certain way - throw that out the window. I've seen them feasting on my neighbor's blueberry bushes when I leave for work before dawn and I've seen what they leave behind. The ones around here seem to go after just the berries, ripe or not. The neighbor beside him has a sizeable vegetable garden in his backyard and they have their way with just about everything he grows.

The second most destructive varmint we have around here are raccoons. They are another animal that are overpopulated and eat just about anything. A few years ago we were so overrun with raccoons, I had to start trapping them.

I highly doubt it's a human, unless you have some roving hobos traveling through at night.

[Lily left the valley]

Prices have come down considerably in the last few years. You can get a simple arrangement with a couple of cameras for under $100 now.

Still house poor. Leaky hot water coil, new leak under the kitchen sink, and still haven't finished insulating the attic. We'll get there some day.

I highly doubt it's a human, unless you have some roving hobos traveling through at night.

I really, really hope you are right. Some of our neighbors...well...hobos is not the word, but capable of such? That phrase fits.