New Raccoon

[Guest guest]

Earlier tonight one of the usual raccoons was outside. We're down to two now from 4 or 5, I think, since only two have been coming around. One of those is a dark colored one and I think it is male. The other is a lighter color with more light gray and I think it is female.

Just a few minutes ago I turned on the back light again. Something moved on the other side of the railing and blended in very well with the dead leaves on the ground. At first I thought it was one of the stray cats, but they it moved a little and I could see it had the face of a raccoon. It moved rather uncertainly like it wasn't sure of its surroundings and the light coming on seems to have stunned it for a moment.

As I watched it, it didn't look like any of the other raccoons. This was had a lot of brown in its coat and it blended very well with the natural litter on the ground. I tapped on the window, which usually gets the other raccoons to look up since they know where I watch them from. This one didn't react, save to pause and listen but not look around. It sniffed its way over to the back steps and I noticed it was also much longer in the body than the other raccoons. The others are rather squat, almost square shaped. This one was at least half again as long as the others, long like a cat rather than a square. When I came up the first couple of steps, I jiggled the doorknob and it turned and vanished. The other raccoons don't pay much attention to that sound or actually come up to the stoop, which they do because they've seen me throw out food from there (my mother too but I don't let her do that anymore since the time she had the door open and didn't realize one of the raccoons was up on the railing and was literally within inches of her hands).

I hope this one comes back and gets around where I can get a picture of it. It was so unlike the others that it could have been a different subspecies, though I sincerely doubt that is the case. Why this one is so different is puzzling. Really its body was more like a fox than a raccoon, but it wasn't a fox.