Happy Raccoon! She Was Feasting On Acorns!

            This cute raccoon was foraging and eating acorns like it was her job.  I took this photo this afternoon.  I saw her from my office window, grabbed the camera and followed her a little bit.  She moved away from me, and went up a tree at one point, though she seemed more cautious than frightened, as I followed her slowly and wasn’t making any sudden moves.  It’s a good thing that she was keeping her distance.  Her eyes were bright, she moved with great agility, and her coat was very healthy.  

There are a number of misconceptions/myths about raccoons and rabies, one being that if you see a raccoon during the day, it is rabid.  While indeed a rabid raccoon would be more likely to be moving around during the day, it is a fallacy to think every raccoon you see during the day is rabid.  In fact, unless the raccoon is clearly ill, wobbling around, falling down, aggressive, or drooling, etc. it is highly unlikely the animal is rabid, or if it is, it has not reached the stage of being contagious.  If the animal looks healthy, it probably is, and even if it is limping, or its fur is not beautiful, it may just be injured or have mange.

More often a raccoon foraging during the day because food is scarce or is doing so because she has kits, and she needs to spend extra time nourishing her body.  This raccoon was picking up acorns, cracking them in her teeth and eating the nut meat.  I can imagine that a nursing raccoon could get a lot of nutrition out of this food source.  As I’ve mentioned a number of times now, we have SO many acorns this year, and they are big!  I think it will be a banner year for a number of species because of this abundant crop of little nuts.  Indeed an acorn has the potential to become a mighty oak, but it can also “become” a squirrel, a raccoon, or even a Sandhill Crane!  I noticed Cherry ate a couple of acorns the other day.  There are so many, people walk on them and they crack open enough, so birds that normally couldn’t make a meal of acorns are eating the nut meat. Another possibility I considered is that she is an adolescent orphan who has been surviving on her own, doing whatever she has had to in order to survive.  

Over-sharing nerd alert I know, but I think it will be really interesting to see how this year goes.  I hope it will be abundant, for all my animal friends and all of us. =o) 
Hugs and thanks for viewing! =o)

***All rights to my images are STRICTLY reserved.  Please contact me if you are interested in purchasing my images or if you are an educator or non-profit interested in use.  copyright KathleenJacksonPhotography 2011***

Taken on: February 18, 2011

Tags:

Nature

Animal

Wildlife

Foraging

Acorns

Florida

Myths About Rabies and Raccoons

Central Florida

Healthy Raccoon

Bright Eyes

FRIENDS « less

Sets appears in: • For All My Fabulous Co-Workers! • Animals - Mammals, wild or not mine

Camera: Canon EOS 40D, f/5.6, 1/160 sec, 250mm, ISO 500 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 40D
Aperture:	f/5.6
Exposure Time:	0.006 sec (1/160)
Focal Length:	250mm
ISO:	500
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows
Show full info

Stats: 2,248 views / 17 comments

Link to this photo view:
Link to this photo large view: