Today’s “Fun Friday” post comes from my rural Missouri front yard. As I was driving up the gravel driveway the other afternoon, I found this juvenile Common Raccoon (Procyon lotor) hanging upside-down from a tree branch that drooped over the driveway. After parking the car, I grabbed my camera and got a quick couple of shots of this little guy, then left him to himself:
Cropping the image in Lightroom, here is a close-up of the youngster:
Raccoons are common around my home, but I’ve not found one just “hangin’ around” before! Actually, I believe this little guy has been residing around the house for a while. A few evenings ago, one of my rural neighbor’s dogs were barking up a storm in my front yard. With the help of a flashlight, I looked out to see the 3 dogs surrounding this same tree. As I moved the flashlight around, I could see a pair of glowing eyes in the tree. I walked out near the tree, scared the dogs off and noticed a juvenile raccoon cuddled up among the branches of the tree. So I’ve got a sneaky feeling that this little guy is the same one the dogs were after just a few nights ago. Probably a juvenile that mom recently kicked out and he’s busy feeling his way around on his own!
Photographic Equipment Used:
- Canon 7D Mark II body
- Canon EF 100-400mm, f/4.5-f/5.6 IS lens
- Handheld, with IS “On”
- ISO 800
- Aperture f/5.6
- Shutter 1/2,000 sec.