Raccoons

There are raccoons living around here but long periods go by when I don't see them. Recently Shelley spotted one in our parking area and we grabbed our cameras to check it out. It ambled across the parking lot, climbed the fence quite adeptly, turned to look at us, and then disappeared. Looking at the photos afterwards, one of its eyes looks damaged.

A week or so later, out kayaking, I spotted a mother raccoon and three kits. The mother looked at me suspiciously, but didn't seem too worried.

After a while the four of them wandered off, Mum leading the way.

A few days later I was walking on the waterfront path and noticed some movement on the beach. It turned out to be another family of raccoons. I happened to have my camera with me and through the telephoto I could see the mother had a damaged eye - presumably the same individual that we'd seen in our parking lot. She must have had her kits stashed somewhere that time.

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Kayaking

There was lots to see on a recent kayak outing. There were harbor seals around but they weren't out sunning on the rocks today. Instead they kept popping up beside me, having a look, and then disappearing again. Too quick to photograph but nice to see them close up.

Four or five deer were standing on the shore and I stopped to watch them. To my surprise, one by one they jumped in the water and swam over to the island. I knew they could swim, but this island seemed an odd choice - it's mostly bare rock with meager grass on the top.

It took some climbing ability for them to get up the steep rocky side of the island.

Just after seeing the deer the big group of otters appeared. It's always hard to count a group in the water when they're constantly diving and popping back up. It's only when they emerge on land that you can see them all at once.

And then to top it off, as I paddled away from the otters I noticed something on the shore. It was a really low tide and that's when the raccoons seem to come out to search for food, presumably crabs?

Even at a fair distance, not moving, in my kayak, it was still a little suspicious of me and it soon left. But just after it left, another one arrived.

It's always a bit of a challenge using a long telephoto from a bobbing kayak and trying to track a moving subject. But if you take enough shots with any luck some of them turn out.

All in all it was a fun outing. I'll close with an abstract shot of backlit kelp.

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