Thoughts of salt marsh wildlife typically evoke images of great blue herons, ospreys, hermit crabs and various species of fish. Seldom due people consider the mammals that inhabit a salt marsh, particularly during low tide when the exposed marsh platform and mud flats provide considerable opportunities for foraging, but many mammals do regularly utilize these habitats for foraging, including raccoons. Raccoons (Procyon lotor) are found everywhere in Massachusetts, except on Nantucket. Although we’re all familiar with raccoons’ reputation as masked bandits that raid our trash cans at night, this extremely adaptable diet is actually the raccoon’s secret to success – they will eat practically anything. Those that live close to humans take advantage when they can, but those that live near enough to the coast take full advantage of the bounty offered by productive salt marsh ecosystems will readily do so. They venture down to the marsh at low tide among the Spartina alterniflora grass to dig for mussels, clams and fiddler crabs, or eat fish that have washed up on the beach or been trapped in small pools. 

Winter can offer enhanced tracking opportunities, with fresh snow providing a blank pallet with which to capture the tracks of passing animals. But with raccoons, we don’t need to wait for a perfect snowfall; the wet sand or mud around salt marshes, stream banks and ponds provides the best opportunity to spot raccoon tracks. Features to look for to distinguish raccoon tracks from other similar species include 1. five obvious toes on each foot (muskrats have a fifth toe, but it rarely imprints), and 2. all five of the toes are generally pointing forward (opossum prints have a fifth toe, but it extends at almost a 90-degree angle from the others). The hind feet also tend to be more elongated than the front feet. The prints in the photos included here were approximately 3-inches (hind foot; seen in the far right of the photo printed over a front paw print) and 2-inches long (front foot).