Daytime Scavenger

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a brief sign of movement in some bushes on the other side of the water. I had been concentrating on some tree swallows nearby, trying to capture them in flight as they left their nesting box.

At first it was a glimpse of brown amongst the green vegetation followed by leaves rustling. Then nothing for a while. I waited, laser focused, thinking I'd missed whatever it was.

To my amazement, it returned and moved my way, slowly getting more and more visible, and I was able to identify it as a racoon. Eventually, I managed a couple of relatively clear shots, one looking straight at me (extra), before it slinked off into the reeds along the far shore.

I had rarely seen a racoon before, except fuzzy images at night on the trail cam.