May 2003

"What's in the hole?", I was asking myself during a walk through an old wood in Oakland County. I usually check as many as possible holes in the trees in search of owls and other animals taking advantage of those cozy places.

One evening, when the last sun rays were breaking through the leafless branches, I noticed something slowly moving (breathing) in a hole 15 meters above the ground (left above). A breathing tree? Never saw something like this!

I put my tripod in place and waited for something to happen. Later some hikers came along the trail and loudly asked me what I was looking at. Those sudden voices awoke the sleeping animal. As he watched us showing just his nose (right above), it was easy to identify it as a raccon.

As the quietness was back, he just changed his position, made himself comfortable (perhaps knowing that 15 meters of an unclimbable tree were a good barrier between us) and looked at me a last time before falling asleep again.