Backyard Bandit

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - Our screened-in Florida Room looks out on our 'natural growth' backyard. Natural growth being a nice way of saying that other than the sidewalk the area is a bit like a jungle. While sitting in a beach-style recliner surfing the internet and keeping track of business news on tv, I spotted some movement outside. Mama raccoon must have been hungry as she climbed up one of the trees which has a sort of fruit covering it. Normally we only hear the raccoons as they play their version of football or soccer and scramble back and forth across our roof late at night.

I was able to go back into the house, get the camera with the long lens (200mm with a 2x extender) and bumped the iso to 800 because the area was in full shade, and needed to be shot through a screen window at an angle. The above pic of mama caught in the act is not the spot-on super sharp pics we like to post but this bandit was too good not to share. She stared at me after hearing the shutter, thought about it and then scurried down the tree and out of sight. She was back in less than 10 minutes to sample the fruit again. This time I let her eat in peace.