As I’ve mentioned before, healthy Florida Raccoons are regularly out and about in the daytime, unlike their northern counterparts. The curious fellow above was romping in the flowers alongside the trail at Orlando Wetlands.
A few weeks ago, I had a different sort of Raccoon experience on the Corkscrew Swamp Boardwalk – see the sequence of short iPhone videos below:
I came face-to-face with a mama Raccoon and her two kits on the otherwise empty boardwalk. They were trotting happily along, coming in my direction . . . . until they spotted me! It became apparent that the three Raccoons REALLY didn’t want to encounter me and kept turning around – probably hoping I’d just go somewhere else. Mama kept looking over the edges of the boardwalk – only to see that the water was too high to jump, a couple of feet deep on both sides. No escape there. Hmmm… what to do??
I decided to turn back and walk back to a spot where the boardwalk branched off on a shortcut, thinking I could stand out of the way and they’d just continue straight ahead. But presumably the adult Raccoon knew where they could safely hop off onto dry land, and decided to turn right where I was standing. After some hesitation, mama decided to lead the way, turning onto the shortcut, and scooting quickly past me. The first kit bravely followed – but not the second kit. . . !!
He tried to gather up his courage, and looked in vain for a way to avoid me. Then he suddenly jumped through the railing and I thought surely he’d landed in the swamp! But the tricky little guy outsmarted me, climbed up the other side, then clambered to the top of the railing, and dashed off to catch up with the rest of the family!
We have Raccoons out and about in the daytime at times. Living in an area popular with tourists who don’t know not to leave food and scraps out they take the opportunity to scavenge during the day when the bears and coyotes are lying low.
The nature center where I work had to install new trash containers to keep the raccoons out. Reminded me of the bear-proof dumpsters we saw when camping up in the northeast.
There’s a few homeowners with bear resistant garbage cans around here. Many are attached to concrete slabs so the bears can’t flip them over or roll them into the bush.
Better look over their shoulders for a Florida Panther. 🙂 Cute critters. I have to rescue a couple a summer out of our dumpster at work. The lids have bars to keep them from being opened but folks don’t always use them.
awesome! i read that raccoons are *omnivores*, and they can eat nuts, seeds, fruits, eggs, insects, frogs, and crayfish!
On Sun, Nov 14, 2021 at 3:03 PM Birder’s Journey wrote:
> Birder’s Journey posted: ” As I’ve mentioned before, healthy Florida > Raccoons are regularly out and about in the daytime, unlike their northern > counterparts. The curious fellow above was romping in the flowers alongside > the trail at Orlando Wetlands. A few weeks ago, I” >
Lovely footage of thee cute little guys BJ. This is a creature quite foreign to us down here. The little straggler was somewhat timid, and showed that these animals similar to us, have individual personalities.
Many years ago, I had a midnight encounter with a racoon family when I let my dogs out before going to bed. As with you, one of the little ones got separated (unknown to me), and mama wasn’t going to leave the yard with out it. Once I figured it out, I hauled the dogs away by their collars, and the little guy could rejoin the family.
I’m glad your encounter ended well, too!
Birder's Journey 
They so beautiful and funny . Thank you for sharing little adventure.
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They were really entertaining to watch, Lukasz!
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Great and cute encounter!
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Real characters 😅
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We have Raccoons out and about in the daytime at times. Living in an area popular with tourists who don’t know not to leave food and scraps out they take the opportunity to scavenge during the day when the bears and coyotes are lying low.
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The nature center where I work had to install new trash containers to keep the raccoons out. Reminded me of the bear-proof dumpsters we saw when camping up in the northeast.
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There’s a few homeowners with bear resistant garbage cans around here. Many are attached to concrete slabs so the bears can’t flip them over or roll them into the bush.
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Better look over their shoulders for a Florida Panther. 🙂 Cute critters. I have to rescue a couple a summer out of our dumpster at work. The lids have bars to keep them from being opened but folks don’t always use them.
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Lol! Ha, yes, Steve, you never know when there might be a panther on the loose on the boardwalk!😉
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awesome! i read that raccoons are *omnivores*, and they can eat nuts, seeds, fruits, eggs, insects, frogs, and crayfish!
On Sun, Nov 14, 2021 at 3:03 PM Birder’s Journey wrote:
> Birder’s Journey posted: ” As I’ve mentioned before, healthy Florida > Raccoons are regularly out and about in the daytime, unlike their northern > counterparts. The curious fellow above was romping in the flowers alongside > the trail at Orlando Wetlands. A few weeks ago, I” >
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Yes, Yishai, it looks like they eat just about anything, and they love scrounging in the trash if they can get at it!
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Lovely footage of thee cute little guys BJ. This is a creature quite foreign to us down here. The little straggler was somewhat timid, and showed that these animals similar to us, have individual personalities.
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Great point about the straggler, and about how different each one’s personality and temperament can be, AB!
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That individuality really came across in the videos. I enjoyed watching your encounter with these little characters! 🙂
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Thanks so much, Ann!
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How cute they are!
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☺️
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Many years ago, I had a midnight encounter with a racoon family when I let my dogs out before going to bed. As with you, one of the little ones got separated (unknown to me), and mama wasn’t going to leave the yard with out it. Once I figured it out, I hauled the dogs away by their collars, and the little guy could rejoin the family.
I’m glad your encounter ended well, too!
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I’m happy to hear that your raccoon family was reunited as well, Amy! Thanks for sharing this story.
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They’re so cute and cunning. This was a delightful post!
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Thanks so much for your visit and kind words, Deborah!
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