Young Raccoons

This very young raccoon (Procyon lotor) fell from a nest in a very large silver maple. I don't recall ever seeing a raccoon this young. I wish I had recorded this on video because the crying was surprising. My friend David of Viral Media Productions said I could have retired early off the advertising. I hid it in the bushes near the base of the tree; hopefully it's mama retrieved it before a cat, crow or other opportunistic critter found it.

As trees begin to "leaf-out", few are as impressive as those in the legume family like the honeylocust (Gleditsia triacanthos). Most species in this family (Fabaceae, formerly Leguminosae) have pinnately compound leaves that develop remarkably fast. The honeylocust is among my favorite trees, and they're indigenous to the mid-Atlantic region and beyond. They make very good street trees because they create just enough shade, are fast growing, and don't require raking in the fall. They aren't disease-resistant, but they certainly recover well. We have many in the woods on our Hampshire County farm with all of their natural, medieval-looking defenses intact. Fabaceae is the third largest family of lowering plants, with 730 genera and over 19,400 species, and they're found world-wide. Many legumes, of course, are economically important as food and they also return nitrogen to the soil in which they grow.

Redbuds (Cercis canadensis) are also representative native legumes widely recognized in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle.