Peekaboo!

February 20^th, 2013. We were driving along a rural road bordering the Oconee National Forest in the late afternoon when we encountered a raccoon crossing the road. Rather than scamper across the road ahead of us, it doubled back to the edge of the woods. Next thing we knew, it…

peeked around a tree to see if it was safe to come out again.

A closer view

We sat for a while to see what it would do. After a few minutes, it set off along the tree line and came out to the road a little further down the road. Instead of crossing the road, it set of at a trot down the middle of the road. We followed it, hoping for another photo op, but it didn’t oblige and finally crossed to the other side of the road and set off through the woods until it was out of sight.

Raccoons are nocturnal so it was unusual to see a one in daylight hours. It seemed healthy but sighting one in daylight may be indicative of an animal infected with rabies and its best to stay at a safe distance from them.

Click on an image to view a larger image

Identification Resources:

University of Georgia Museum of Natural History: Raccoon (Procyon lotor)