Earlier this week, I came home from work late one night only to bear witness to one of the most amazing spectacles I’ve seen in a long time: a family of raccoons out on the town for a night of fun and mayhem.
At first I noticed a noise in one of the bushes outside my house, and when this prompted me to take a look, I quickly discovered a pair of adult raccoons wrestling one another in the midst of a large mud puddle in a nearby vacant lot. Having realized they were being watched, they quickly broke it up and went back to scavenging for food.
It wasn’t long before they were at it again, this time in a tree! A round of loud chittering and squealing broke the silence, this time going on for quite some time, so I grabbed my camera and flashlight and headed for the source of the noise. What followed are two of the most fascinating videos I’ve captured in ages.
I should also add that despite my first impressions, the raccoons’ actions seem to convey something more along the lines of horseplay, play-fighting, or at most, establishing the pecking order. These little guys don’t seem to be causing each other any harm, but damn can they crank up the volume!
This has been one of the many reasons I love Victoria: the wildlife is extremely abundant here, and if you look hard enough, there’s always something cool going on.