Tuesday, March 10, 2026

Florida Critters


Here it is -- the moment you've all been waiting for. (Not really, I know.) I downloaded the data from the wildlife cam yesterday morning and found a few interesting clips. I captured a pretty big raccoon sauntering across the back yard at my stepmother's guesthouse, another raccoon snuffling the camera and trying to figure out how to take it off the tree (!) and finally, an armadillo nosing around a rotted part of our dock, where there are probably plenty of bugs. For just four nights' recording, and not knowing where I was likely to encounter animals, I was pretty happy with that glimpse of nocturnal Florida!

I am programming this to post automatically, because I'm not landing until 9 a.m. Tuesday. I'll fill you in on my journey on Wednesday, if there are any stories to tell!

27 comments:

  1. The racoon really gave the camera a good shaking.

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  2. It's lucky your camera survived that racoon!
    Interesting to see night time visitors in a different part of the world

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  3. I have never seen an armadillo (or a racoon) in the wild - even though the latter have steadily been spreading in Germany, too, to the point of becoming something of a pest in some areas (not where I live).

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  4. Not sure if my dog would be happy with racoons and armadillos wandering in the garden! Great catch on the camera....back to the normal foxes, cats and squirrels tonight!!

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  5. You should be on the ground now! Welcome home. The raccoon is hilarious. I’m surprised it didn’t manage to remove the camera. Exciting to see the armadillo. I’ve never seen one (except in a zoo).

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  6. I see raccoons all the time but armadillos is an animal I have only seen once in my life outside of a zoo and it was a long ways away and nearly buried in leaves at the time. With global warming, there is a chance that will change as I have started seeing them dead along the highway only 100 miles to the south of where I live. When I was younger, I probably had to go 300 to 400 miles south to get to their habitat.

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  7. I enjoyed that little wildlife clip. I've never seen an armadillo before so that's a treat. It's fun to see what goes on while we are sleeping. You should be home or close to it as I type this. Welcome back.

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  8. Welcome home.
    I have seen raccoons in Vancouver and an armadillo in the grounds of our hotel in the cloud forest of Costa Rica. None here though!

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  9. very interesting! You should do this every visit!!

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  10. An armadillo, wow. That was a great glimpse. The raccoon trying to yank the camera was protesting! Surveillance, no!

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  11. Aren't armadillos cute, I have only seen a couple in my life and always in a zoo. That is brilliant footage.

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  12. I feel like we must have at least half a dozen armadillos in our side yard right now. There are holes everywhere.
    That raccoon was NOT happy about having his or her privacy invaded.
    I hope you're home and happy.

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  13. I've never seen an armadillo. Raccoons want to investigate and fortunately your camera survived. No alligators in the garden are good.

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  14. I like the night background with this critter,

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  15. Welcome home! Glad the raccoon didn't break your camera. Good video!!

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  16. How could you tell that was a racoon? I have no doubt, they are clever creatures with clever fingers,

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  17. Interesting creatures of the night.

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  18. We had a raccoon on our porch last night! He was huge. No armadillos though!

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  19. I've seen plenty (too many) raccoons but never an armadillo!

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  20. That armadillo looks like an armored possum.

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  21. Haha.... well that could have been MY back yard! That's so funny how the coon tried to take the camera.

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  22. Safe travels! I have never seen a raccoon before in the wild - do they normally have longer tails or is that in my imagination? Had it been here in my front yard, you would have got plenty of roos over the last few days - and a whole gaggle of Wednesday morning joggers today

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  23. Yes! Armadillo! Thanks, Steve - this made my week! Also glad you had the family time to reminisce about your stepmom, and a visit to Dave's parents. Sounds like it was a good trip, though a lot to pack in. Hope your trip home was smooth. Chris from Boise

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  24. Raccoons are so dexterous! We had to try several ways to secure our garbage cans at our cottage in the 80s. Those fellas were undeterred by bungee cords, large rocks, and heavy boards :)

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