It’s mating season for Raccoons and the weather here has been alternating between warm (for February) and frigid, a combination that disrupts the daylight sleep of these nocturnal mischief-makers and provokes them to take occasional strolls during the day. They don’t hibernate.
These masked mammals were given the strange name “Raccoons” by the early English settlers, who transliterated the Powhatan (Virginia Algonquin) name for “animal-that-scratches-with-hands.” Their masks are thought to reduce glare in daylight and concentrate light in darkness. (Brooklin, Maine)