With all the rain we’ve been getting, I haven’t been able to go kayaking for the last week … starting to get cabin fever! I decided I’d go back through my images from last year; I still have some keywording and adding images to my collections to do in Lightroom. As I was going through the images, I ran upon a series of a Raccoon (Procyon lotor) that I think make an interesting blog post. So, here we are!
Last fall while kayaking, I discovered a dead tree that stretches out over the water, and soon found it is a favorite resting place for raccoons. I first noticed it when I was drifting about in the water. As I approached it, I watched a raccoon amble along the water’s edge, just to slip away into heavy foliage. A short while later, he reappeared, climbing this dead tree:
As I clicked away, he turned to see what I was doing. But he wasn’t too concerned about me … he then continued climbing upward, until he reached a hole in the dead tree:
When he arrived at the cavity, he dove head first into it … Bottom’s up!:
The next thing I saw, was a single foot being held high in the air and waving around … reminded me of the tv commercial “Help, I’ve fallen and can’t get up!”:
But he soon pulled his foot and tail deep into the cavity and disappeared from my sight. A short time later, I paddled a bit past the tree. Looking back, I could see him watching me from the other side of the tree (the cavity is a huge split in the main trunk that goes all the way through the trunk):
This location is one of the first places I kayaked to this year. To my disappointment, this dead tree fell down over the winter, probably in one of the strong storms that hit the area. So far, I’ve not located any other nesting cavities in the area, but I continue to look for another Raccoon Bedroom!
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