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Walking home, encountered a Muskrat on the path. As soon as it spotted me, it made a quick retreat - to a large puddle in the path. After a quick search for a way out it froze, allowing me to get close enough to take a nice photo.

Scientific & Common Name(s)
The raccoon, Procyon lotor, is also known as the Common Raccoon, the North American Raccoon and the Northern Raccoon.

Habitat & Geographic Range
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) redlist, the raccoon is a very adaptable species often found in areas with water sources such as shorelines and streams, as well as suitable area for denning. Their great adaptability has lead the species to expand this habitat range to mountain areas, coastal marshes and urban areas. The raccoon typically forms dens under logs, in tree cavities or burrows. Research done by M. McWilliams and J. Wilson in 2014, has determined the geographic range of the raccoon to from 2560 ha to as large as 5000 ha, through using radio collars on the captured raccoons. The geographic range was then measured using radio telemetry techniques (McWilliams, 2015).

Size/Weight & Lifespan
The raccoon is a medium sized animal that typically doubles in weight during the fall, due to increasing caloric intake in order to increase its fat storage. The species weight before winter averages between 4 to 8.5kg, which was calculated, in the study by McWilliams and Wilson, through the capturing of wild raccoons. Male raccoons typically weigh 15% to 20% heavier then female raccoons. The average length of the species is around 80 centimeters with the tail consisting of about 25% of this length (McWilliams, 2015). The weight of a raccoon at birth is 60 to 75 g. According to the IUCN, the average lifespan of the raccoon is around three to five years in the wild however, captive raccoons have been documented to live up to 20 years.

Diet
The raccoon is an omnivore meaning they will consume either plant or animal food items. Their diet consists of a variety of plants, invertebrates and vertebrates. In the warmer months, the raccoons diet consists primarily of invertebrates whereas throughout the fall, it consists of food high in calories, such as nuts and fruits, in preparation for winter (Schulte-Hostedde, 2018).

Reproduction & Communication
According to the Canadian Wildlife Federation, breeding season stars later in January and beginning of February with majority of mating occurring in March. Generally, the highest peak of births occurs in May however, have been noted to occur in March up until September. Breeding occurs throughout the entire year in more southern areas. The gestation period last from anywhere between 54 to 70 days and raccoons typically produce a litter consisting of two to five babies. In a research paper published in 2008 by J.Sieber, involving the capturing and observations of raccoons, it was determined that they communicate with one another using more than 200 different sounds and 13 different identified calls.

Predation: Does the animal have any predators?
The Canadian Wildlife Federation says that the primary predator to the raccoon is a human due to hunting and injury from vehicles. The species have multiple other predators such as pumas, bobcats, coyotes, foxes, great horned owls, dogs and wolves.

Conservation Status
The International Union for Conservation of Nature has determined the conservation status of the raccoon as a least concern species. This indicates that the raccoon is at the lowest risk for becoming threatened and endangered.

Did You Know?
The English name raccoon is derived from the Algonquin Indian word arakun, which means, “he scratches with his hand”.

References:

Albrecht I Schulte-Hostedde, Zvia Mazal, Claire M Jardine, Jeffrey Gagnon;
Enhanced access to anthropogenic food waste is related to hyperglycemia in
raccoons (Procyon lotor), Conservation Physiology, Volume 6, Issue 1, 1
January 2018, coy026, https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coy026

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/41686/45216638#habitat-ecology

Molly McWilliams & James A. Wilson (2015) Home Range, Body Condition, and
Survival of Rehabilitated Raccoons (Procyon lotor) During Their First
Winter, Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 18:2, 133-
152, DOI: 10.1080/10888705.2014.950733

Otto J. Sieber. (1984). Vocal Communication in Raccoons (Procyon
lotor). Behaviour, 90(1/3), 80-113. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/4534359

Raccoon. (2018). Retrieved from
http://cwf-fcf.org/en/resources/encyclopedias/fauna/mammals/raccoon.html

Raccoon. (2018). Retrieved from http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Raccoon

This is a photo of an owl seen a few days ago. Any help in identifying it would be appreciated. I realize the photo is not great. Person that saw the owl described it as being larger than a saw whet owl yet smaller than a barred owl.