May 27, 2o17
On the weekend I decided to take a drive out to St Thomas to visit Pinafore Park again in hopes of seeing the momma raccoon and her babies. I got there a bit early so I could take a walk around Lake Margaret and hopefully photograph some other wildlife. As I started down the trail I could hear a bird calling in the trees so I looked up to see if I could locate where it was. Luckily I was able to find it and take a photo before it flew away. With the help of some other Instagram users I was able to identify it as a Grey Catbird.
When I made it around to the other side of the lake I headed towards the pond directly adjacent to see if there was any animal activity. As I neared the edge of the water I noticed several turtles all lined up together on a log enjoying the evening sunlight. I took some photos of them and then out of the corner of my eye I saw a single turtle closer to the edge of the pond on top of a much larger log. I crept closer without scaring the turtle back into the water and snapped some quick pictures before making my way back to the trail.
I realized that it was getting close to the time that momma raccoon and her babies would be coming out of their tree so I headed back around the lake and back into the park. Once I got to the spot in the fence in front of the tree I got my camera ready and waited for the raccoons to make an appearance. After a few minutes had gone by I finally saw momma raccoon emerge from her hiding spot and soon after that one of her babies popped their head out from behind the tree.
Unfortunately this time the raccoons headed down the tree pretty quickly so I didn’t get as much time to photograph them but I was thankful for the opportunity to spend a few minutes with the momma raccoon and her babies. I waited until I knew that they had gone and then I made my way back to my car. Below are the photos that I took during my visit to the park.
