Raccoon Orphan

This little orphan raccoon (Procyon lotor) has been watching me as I putter in the gardens the last couple days. He scared me both days as he just appeared at close proximity. Raccoons normally do not forage in daylight and are generally afraid of humans.

The weather has been brutal hot (100 F; 37.7 C. today at 1:00 pm) and dry. This little guy appears to be rummaging for roots and berries. I have not investigated to see what might have become of his family. I assume they too are suffering in the extreme weather somewhere in our woods.



BELOW: I had been working in this exact spot only minutes prior, trimming the underbrush. I went inside to cool off and looked out to see little raccoon cooling off in the pond. I snapped this photo through the sliding glass doors and through the screen (that is why it is so blurry).



BELOW: I snapped this shot from about 50' (15 meters) distant. He thought he was hidden from me behind those ferns.



North American raccoons are usually nocturnal and omnivorous. Their diet consists of 40% invertebrates, 33% plant foods, and 27% vertebrates. Normally raccoons are born in the spring with two to five "kits" (baby raccoons) born to a mother. The kits are subsequently raised by their mother until dispersion in late fall. It is therefore very odd to have this little guy wandering around mid-days without his siblings nor mother.