Llamas at Attention
Passing the kitchen window yesterday afternoon, I caught a glimpse of two llamas standing at attention peering over the fence line. They looked particularly alert, so I started scanning the field for a bear, not unusual for this time of year. I didn’t see a thing, but I thought Pete, the black llama, and the smallest in our herd, looked really cute standing all tall and proud, so I grabbed the camera for some happy snaps.
I never saw what they were looking at until I downloaded the photos. To my surprise, there was a small animal in the adjacent field. Unfortunately, I’m looking down from about 200 yards, and my lens isn’t strong enough to get a good resolution on the critter.
My first thought was that it was a grey fox. We do have foxes around, and we have seen them crossing the fields near the llamas before. But the shape of the animal is wrong for a fox. A fox would have a straight topline from head to tail, and this animal has a humpy rear.
And a bushy tail—wrong for a ground hog or a possum. So my best guess is a raccoon. But it seems odd that a raccoon would be crossing an open field in the middle of the afternoon. I thought they were more nocturnal.
Any guesses out there?
My vote is for raccoon. In my sister’s neighborhood where people think it’s cool to feed the cute fuzzy little bandits, whole families of raccoons are out in the daylight climbing all over her deck. Oh and it was daylight when that raccoon trapped me in the dog kennel. Of course, he was rabid. But yesterday, I saw something unusual and I wish I had my camera. A big cat! It was at a distance but cougar? Large bobcat? No sure, but it was a feline!
tho’ people deny that cougars are in our area, we once saw one crossing our creek many years ago. I have seen rather large bobcats too. So your guess is as good as mine. Did you catch a glimpse of the tail? A dead giveaway.
A groundhog? They have that hulky shape and would be awake during the day…
Could be. I thought the tail looked too long, but looking at photos on google, groundhogs do have a bushy tail. You might be right.
oooohhh… it’s a racoon? In Italy we call it Procione or Orsetto Lavatore, but is not a species that lives here, by the way even if they are wild animals they look so cute and funny!
Thanks for the note. I love the name Orsetto Lavatore, little washing bear. I had never heard that name before. Too cute. I think I have decided that the animal in the photo is a groundhog rather than a raccoon. A groundhog in Italian is Marmotta.
it looks like a racoon to me ,if it is out during the day it prob has distemper,especially if it is walking like it is drunk.