Momma on the Lookout

Was thinking about how I never see raccoons the other day and remembered I had a sequence of a mother raccoon in her home at the top of a broken palm from Florida last year. I found the files and thought this one captured it about as well as any. 

Two things really impressed me by this experience. The first is the coon chose a tree at least 7ft from the shoreline of an alligator-infested wetlands, and the thought of how she got to and from her home left me with much curiosity. The second thing was she was almost never relaxed...she was always scanning for danger while her young ones nursed or napped. Sadly, I could find no vantage that allowed for anything more than occasional glimpses of the babies, but I did like the mom's look here so thought it was worth sharing.

I'd love to know if you think I should crop tighter. After I processed this I realized cropping in from the right and top so there is no sky above or beside the trunk is probably a stronger comp, but this was done and I'm away photographing owls and foxes and bighorns in the mountains, so here's this version anyway!

Thanks for looking--your comments and suggestions are much appreciated!

Nikon D600

Nikkor AF-S 500mm f/4D IF-ED

ISO 400

1/2000sec @ f/5.6

handheld from vehicle window

Cropped to approximately 80% of original