As I was wandering about in the woods early yesterday morning at Huntley Meadows Park, I inadvertently spooked a raccoon (Procyon lotor) that was stretched out high above me on a tree limb. The raccoon quickly climbed inside the tree, but it seems like it was overcome by curiosity and poked its head out to get a better look at me.
A sharp-eyed viewer of my posting of this image in Facebook noted that the raccoon seems to have a problem with ticks, with several of them visible in one of its ears. I know that raccoons are notorious for carrying rabies, so I kept a close eye on the raccoon and was ready to move away if it had made a move to climb down from the tree.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Very lovely… Nice pic thanks for sharing
Thanks.It was a cool moment that I was happy to be able to capture.
Adorable. I’ve only seen a raccoon twice.
Hello! I wanted to contact you to get permission to use one of your beaver photos as a reference for a painting I’m doing, but I’m not seeing an e-mail address to use to contact you. Hope it’s OK to contact you just via a comment! I’m interested in using one of your sleepy beaver photos from back in 2013. I’m attempting to illustrate beaver natal dispersal. The tentative look of your beaver, with the image from above, is very similar to a pose I saw of a beaver climbing out of one of our local open spaces late last spring. Thanks!
Nora Sherwood
norasherwood.com
Nora, You are welcome to use the photos you referenced. I would love to be able to provide a higher resolution image of those shots, but, alas, I think the originals were lost when I had a hard drive crash several years ago. I would love to see a photo of your finished painting.
Mike Powell
Thanks so much! I will share the results with you!
Warmly,
Nora
Raccoons are fascinating creatures–very smart, very fastidious in their hygiene, very protective of their territory and their young, and very aggressive when they feel cornered and/or threatened. I’ve seen many hunters’ dogs who disregarded caution and went in too close, and they almost all came away the worse for the encounter. Your caution was a wise move. As for rabies, the ones that are affected usually show aberrant behavior in the later stages, but one never knows. The other two to be wary of, in this regard, are foxes and skunks. Apart from all that, this is another great shot, Mike.
Thanks, Gary. I always keep my distance from skunks, but must admit that I am always excited to see a fox. By the way, I was thinking of you this past month as I had cataract surgery on both eyes (one at a time). It is really cool to be able to use my camera now without glasses, though I do occasionally use reading glasses when reviewing images on the back of the camera.
That’s the hardest part for me. Before the surgery I could focus most sharply and comfortably at a distance of about 9 inches from my eyes. Now I need glasses for anything closer than arm’s length. But unaided distance vision is a real joy–for the first time since second grade!
Great pose. I had to chuckle when I first read your last sentence. I thought you were climbing the tree!