Nature blogging, Racoon edition!

Why, hello there.

Last weekend, we were at home being domestic and doing some chores. Colin was in the attic investigating a possible roof leak, and I was sitting in the bedroom working on some Biostatistics homework. After about ten minutes in the attic I hear Colin call for me, saying that I have to come see something. I obliging trot over to the attic stairwell, mumbling the equivelent of 'this better be good darn it, I was in the middle of something...' to find Colin staring out the window. I go stand next to him and look outside at the veiw of Ent, the enormous tree that lives in our backyard. At first, I see nothing unusual, and then suddenly I spot the raccoon lumbering along a tree branch towards our neighbors roof. For a moment I thought the racoon was going to jump from the branch down on to the neighbors roof and then scramble down to the ground from there. He looked down onto the roof and seemed to be assesing his chances of a soft landing. After a few minutes, he turned around and headed back on the branch towards the tree trunk. At this point we quickly retrieved the camera and shot a couple of photos of our stripey new friend as he descended the tree and wandered off into the underbrush.

Displaying head down climbing technique.
I did not even know raccoons could climb both head up and head down!

Last shot before he lumbered away. Check out those awesome paws!