When we moved here as young early twenty somethings...
after the Vietnam war... I had never been exposed to critters.

Neither of us.... LOL

We learned the raccoon screams during Feb. Mating season, the trilling and chirping of the babies in spring.
We had a huge possum that walked around in the dark along our screened in porch...we couldn't see him, but he sure did WHEEZE. So we called him Weezer. Our cats learned quickly about the 'coons. One summer night we saw two on our back porch( the screened in one with the cat door), with all 3 cats sitting on chairs, watching the coons look for crumbs. Neither bothered the other. It was amazing.

One year we had little possum babies on a bush branch over the path, and all were hanging there by their tails. As we walked under we heard hissing...looked up and there they were. Just like in a Disney movie. I wish I had my digital camera then...which takes pictures in the dark, of all things.

Possums do hiss, and their faces are pretty ugly! But their little "feets" are very cute! I think they have massive survival skills to live in our area, as they do in the winter. It can't be easy with those paws. If the snow is shallow enough their little hands melt outlines of them, and are fascinating to look at.