URBAN WILDLIFE VISITORS!
A family of raccoons, a LARGE family, was spotted about a month ago across the street as they meandered on our neighbor's driveway. FIVE babies followed diligently behind the momma. The babies were about the size of a melon, very cute, and eager to eat, I'm sure. It was dusk.
I was relaxing in the yard today when my dogs got interested in noises coming from the trees. Squirrels? We have our assortment of squirrels and they love to tantalize the dogs. No, it was the family of raccoons. The babies are nearly the size of the momma now. FOUR babies remain. That's a successful momma indeed. We have coyotes here and neighborhood cats disappear regularly.
The cherry tree just beyond our fence in the wooded canyon makes for a convenient afternoon snack. They were in the tree the day before around the same time of day. Today, I put my dogs in the house and grabbed my camera.
The following photos were taken in a 30 min period of watching them climb the tree, amble over each other, hang upside down, push each other aside to get the best limbs for cherry picking, and grab tree limbs with their hands, pulling the dangling cherries to them. The momma kept her eyes on me but was obviously undaunted. I kept my distance and used my zoom to avoid disturbing them.
At one point the momma climbed down the tree and ambled down the canyon hill to the stream at the bottom. She was gone about 5 minutes. Within a few short minutes of her return her family made their way down the trunk of the large tree and followed her toward the park behind the canyon.
I watched that process yesterday. Momma waited at the bottom and all five raccoons were lined up at the bottom of the tree looking at me. It was indeed a kodak moment and I had no kodak to capture it.
How nice of them to pose for me!
This is momma!
"Aw, geez. How am I gonna get that cherry??"
Youngsters climbing over each other.
Notice the dark cherries, the coveted afternoon snack.
I'm pretty sure this is momma on the left.
Count 'em. There's 3 in this photo.
Lookin' right at me! Smile!
Momma again. That's all!
