Skunks, Bats and Raccoons Between Rosehill Cemetery and the North Branch

Pickle farms, a cemetery and a suburb on the rail line

English and German American settlers were farming here by the 1840s. In 1857 the brothers Lyman and Joseph Budlong started a pickling operation near today's Lincoln Avenue and Berwyn, then added greenhouses and flower fields that supplied the new Rosehill Cemetery, laid out in the late 1850s and now the largest cemetery in the city. In 1868 a group of speculators bought farmland along the Chicago and North Western line, today's Metra Union Pacific North, and platted Ravenswood, a commuter suburb whose original 1869 subdivision ran from Montrose to Lawrence between Damen and Clark.

The land east of Western Avenue belonged to Lake View Township and joined Chicago with it in 1889. The Ravenswood elevated line, now the Brown Line, arrived in 1907, and the next two decades filled the grid with brick bungalows and two-flats. The City Council named the district around Lincoln, Western and Lawrence Lincoln Square in 1925, and the Lincoln statue followed in 1956. What that history left behind matters for pests: Victorian frame houses with deep attics, thousands of bungalows with hollow concrete stoops, and an unusual amount of open, tree-filled ground for animals to live in.

Skunks under the stoop, the area's leading wildlife call

Striped skunks thrive here because the community area hands them everything they need. Rosehill's lawns and the yards around it are full of grubs and insects, and the blocks are lined with dark, dry spaces: the hollow cavity under a bungalow's concrete front stoop, the gap beneath a rear deck, the crawlspace under a cottage addition, the floor of an old shed. Bungalow stoops are the favorite. Skunks dig under the edge, hollow out a chamber and use it year after year, with a new family moving in once the last one leaves.

Most owners learn about it in late spring. Skunks breed in late winter, females pick den sites in early spring and give birth in May or June, and the first sign is often a sprayed dog or an odor seeping into the basement through the foundation. Small cone-shaped holes in the lawn are another giveaway, left by skunks digging for grubs at night. Skunk odor inside a basement usually means the den is directly against the foundation.

The standard approach is exclusion, not trapping. A licensed specialist confirms the den is active, installs a one-way door so the animal can leave but not return, and closes the opening with an L-shaped mesh barrier buried a foot or more below grade so the skunk cannot dig under it. If kits are present, the work is delayed or handled so the family leaves together. Skunks can carry rabies, so one wandering in daylight or acting strangely should be reported rather than approached.

Big brown bats in Ravenswood's Victorian attics

Bats are a more common call in Ravenswood than in most of Chicago, and the housing explains it. The surviving frame Victorians on Hermitage, Paulina and Wolcott have large warm attics, towers with hollow framing and more than a century of paint and repair that leave gaps along trim, fascia and siding. Big brown bats, the species most often found in Chicago buildings, need an opening about the width of a thumb. Signs include crumbly droppings full of shiny insect fragments piled below a gap, brown rub stains around openings, squeaking at dusk and bats leaving the roofline at sunset. Many owners notice nothing until a roofer finds guano between the joists.

Bats are protected in Illinois, and the right method is exclusion. A specialist seals secondary gaps, fits one-way devices at the main exits and closes those once the colony is out, then cleans guano with protective equipment. Exclusion is avoided from late spring to mid-August, when flightless pups are in the attic. Bats are the most common rabies carrier in Illinois, so a bat found in a room where someone was sleeping, or with a child or pet, should be safely contained for testing rather than released, and a doctor or the health department contacted.

Raccoons, opossums and squirrels from Rosehill, Winnemac and the river

Raccoons den in Rosehill's hollow trees and along the wooded North Branch banks, then cross Western and Ravenswood avenues at night. They climb downspouts and garage walls to reach roofs, tear into soffits, roof vents and chimney flues, and raise litters in attics. Detached garages on the alleys are frequent targets, and carts with loose lids are an easy meal. Virginia opossums settle under decks, porches and sheds and occasionally wander into garages through open doors. They rarely carry rabies and eat large numbers of ticks and insects, and they usually move on once a shelter spot is closed after they leave.

Squirrels are everywhere the canopy is thick: in the cemetery, Welles Park, Winnemac Park and along the parkways. Gray and fox squirrels raise litters in early spring and late summer and often enlarge the same gaps bats use, so a good inspection checks for both. Coyotes are seen in the cemetery and along the river from time to time; they seldom cause structural problems but are a reason to supervise small pets at night. The goal is a property animals pass by, not an empty neighborhood, since more would arrive from the cemetery.

Mice in the fall, rats along the alleys and the embankment

House mice move indoors in large numbers from September through November. Century-old bungalow and two-flat foundations have plenty of small gaps, and in Ravenswood's balloon-framed Victorians the wall cavities run unbroken from the basement to the attic, so mice can travel the full height of the house unseen. Sealing foundation openings with mortar, copper mesh or flashing, along with trapping or baiting by a pro, is what holds. Adding fire-blocking at each floor during a rehab closes those internal highways.

Norway rats concentrate along the alleys, near the river and beside the raised Metra embankment along Ravenswood Avenue, a long strip of gravel and brush that gives them cover next to garages and gardens. Backyard vegetable beds and compost, both common here, feed them when bins are not enclosed. Rats seen in daylight or burrows along a shared fence suggest a larger population than it seems. Tamper-resistant stations, burrow treatment and sealed garage doors, coordinated with neighbors and 311 alley baiting, are the usual plan.

Stoop bungalows, balloon-framed Victorians, two-flats and postwar brick

The brick bungalows west of Lincoln Avenue and in Budlong Woods share three weak points: the cavity under the front stoop, the gaps around basement window wells and the half-story attic vents under the eaves. Skunks take the first, mice the second and raccoons or squirrels the third. Two-flats add wood rear porches and detached garages facing the alley, giving raccoons and rats easy routes, and shared plumbing that can carry German cockroaches between units.

Ravenswood's Victorians need attention at the roofline first. Towers and turrets hide gaps at the base of the roof, decorative brackets and fish-scale shingles loosen along the eaves, and the joint where a wraparound porch roof meets the house tends to open over time. Under the porch floor, skunks, opossums and rats find shelter. Frame cottages in Bowmanville and Ravenswood Gardens sit low over crawlspaces on narrow lots, so an animal pushed out of one often moves next door, and carpenter ants follow damp sills. Postwar brick homes are tighter but often have unsealed air conditioning and dryer vent openings.

A calendar set by births: kits, pups and litters

January through March is mating season for skunks and raccoons, and den searching starts late in that stretch. March and early April are the best weeks for bat exclusion before pups are born. April and May bring raccoon and skunk births and the first squirrel litters in attics, so every exclusion has to be timed with care. June and July are when young skunks begin following their mothers out of dens, and odor complaints peak. Bat maternity colonies are in place, so attic work waits, and paper wasps build under porch ceilings.

From mid-August through October, bat exclusion resumes, a second round of squirrel litters appears, skunks dig lawns for grubs, and young bats occasionally blunder into living space. Mice begin probing foundations by September. November and December are quiet, the right time for chimney caps, buried mesh and vent screens before the next breeding season. Tracks in fresh snow reveal which stoops, decks and garages animals are using, so photographing them before they melt gives a specialist a head start.

Checklist for yards near Rosehill, the river and the tracks

These steps target the wildlife and rodent pressures that come with the cemetery, the parks, the river and the rail embankment. They matter most on blocks closest to those spaces, but animals range well beyond them. None is expensive alone, and together they remove most of the food and shelter that bring skunks, raccoons and rodents onto a lot. Fall and early spring are the two best times to work through them.

• Install buried L-shaped mesh barriers around stoops, decks and sheds once any animal has left
• Cap chimneys and screen attic, gable and roof vents with heavy-gauge mesh
• Plan bat exclusion for March or after mid-August, never during the summer maternity season
• Keep carts closed and replace cracked lids through 311
• Feed pets indoors and bring bowls in at night
• Use enclosed compost bins and pick up fallen fruit and garden waste
• Trim branches back from rooflines, porch roofs and garage roofs
• Seal foundation gaps and utility openings before September

Dusk watches, one-way doors and the second trip

Most wildlife jobs here start with a look at the yard, stoop, deck, garage and roofline, and often the attic. The specialist identifies the animal from tracks, droppings, hair or the shape of the entry hole and judges whether young are likely present. For bats, expect a dusk watch to see exactly where the colony exits; on a three-story Victorian that can mean a long ladder, a lift or binoculars. The written plan should list entry points, the exclusion method, the timing and any cleanup or repairs.

Plan on at least two visits: one to install exclusion and one to confirm the animal has gone and finish sealing. Repairs on historic houses may call for matching wood trim, and some owners hire a carpenter for that while the wildlife specialist handles exclusion. Exterior work on a two-flat or condo generally needs the owner's or board's sign-off. Same-day service is often available for urgent cases, such as a bat in a bedroom or a skunk trapped in a window well, depending on the provider's schedule. Odor removal after a skunk is a separate step.

Rodent and insect jobs run differently. A mouse or rat visit maps entry points from the basement to the garage, sets traps or tamper-resistant stations and returns to check them and finish sealing. In two-flats and courtyard buildings near the square, roach treatment works only when every unit on the stack is included, so the owner or association usually coordinates access. Ask for a written list of what was found, which helps when sharing work with a neighbor on a shared fence line.