An Opossum

Our Noctural Possum

February 17, 2009

Beginning in January 2009 and continuing into February, an opossum began visiting Sue and me each evening while we had dinner. In January, it was difficult to make him out in the dark; we saw him courtesy of indoor lighting. We named the possum Peter. (Why not?)

One day in early February, Peter arrived shortly before dusk. For the first time I got a few reasonable photos of him. Apparently, he begins nibbling directly under a hanging bird feeder.

After polishing off the bird seed, Peter Possum moved directly opposite a sliding door (which conveniently faces the game land).

That is the spot at which he finds leftover squirrel food: corn and the occasional peanut. Peter loves peanuts.

As the days have become longer, we're no longer eating when Peter is present, but I hope we will see him now and again. The very first year Sue and I moved to Pennsylvania, we saw a possum in the early afternoon rolling around in the grass. Now that would be a true photo opportunity!

Photo note: The first photo was taken with the Pentax K200D and the SMC-A* 300mm lens, and the second one was taken with the Pentax *1st D with the SMC-A 50mm f1.4 lens. Both were taken on the same evening.

Opossum from 2011 | Young groundhog | The bunny hop
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