Thanksgiving Raccoon
It's Throwback Thursday, and this was the 1st Eastern Raccoon picture I managed to get. If memory serves, I was walking along a trail at Washington Valley Park on Thanksgiving Day in 2015 when I saw a raccoon on the trail ahead of me. I fumbled to get my point-and-click camera out (it took better pictures than my smartphone) but the raccoon scampered off the trail. I eventually managed to find it and get a slightly obstructed picture. Although I've occasionally gotten pictures of raccoons deep in the woods ( once at Duke Farms and once at Sourland Mountain Preserve), I've generally seen them closer to civilization; they didn't get the nickname of "trash pandas" by accident. This particular raccoon was a bit of a tweener; it was seen in the woods, though there were some homes in the area too. I wouldn't be surprised if this raccoon was supplementing its forest foraging with a few visits to the houses in the area. There are 3 species of raccoon, with our C...