Raccoon Encounter

 

Young Raccoons on Patrol, Blue Heron Lake

My wife and I headed down the hill to take a stroll through the SF Botanical Garden and Blue Heron Lake, and I only brought my camera so I wouldn't have to kick myself if we saw something unusual. We continued our walk after watching the raccoons for a while and stopped to let another photographer know they were coming his way. The photographer turned out to be RaphaelXOX, who showed us some of his brilliant shots of bird action around the lake.

This pair of red-tailed hawks were hanging out at the top of a tall pine in the SFBG, and I wondered if they had a nest. Then they flew a short distance to hang out at the top of this tall cypress. No nest there either. Just bonding, I guess. We'd see them riding a thermal together a little later.

We had just reached the lake when I heard a guy not too far away say the word "raccoon," and he was pointing across the lake. We walked over for a closer look and saw that it was two young raccoons hunting for snacks. This one has its paws feeling around beneath whatever ledge exists on the edge of the lake.

We followed them for a little while, and it was fun to see people react with surprise when the raccoons strolled past them.

They were checking out the lake in a clockwise direction, at one point being hissed at by one of the two white-fronted geese that have been calling the lake home for a while.

The smaller of the two raccoons seemed to take to the water more than the larger one.

Raccoons Working the Lake

I was wondering if the raccoons had found, or would find, the pied-billed grebe nest, but the grebe was still there, floating next to her nest. It looked like she'd covered the egg with leaves. Especially on the weekends, the number of paddle boats going past her nest is probably a cause for caution.

When we got home, I noticed something odd in the Mt. Sutro eucalyptus trees.

It looks like a huge sheet of plastic wrap that fell off Sutro Tower. It's probably going to be tough to get the garbage off the tree, so I'm curious to see how long it stays put.

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