Raccoon with a cinnamon-colored tail standing in mud at the water's edge, looking at the camera.

Cinnamon-tailed Raccoon at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge

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At Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma, I photographed a raccoon with a cinnamon-colored tail. I had photographed cinnamon-colored raccoons before, and I wrote about one in Cinnamon Raccoon In Oklahoma. A cinnamon-tailed raccoon is not something you see every day. This was my first one with a tail colored this strong.

A Cinnamon-Tailed Raccoon Near The 4-Way

I found this raccoon near the curve west of the 4-way intersection in the refuge. It was not alone. A young raccoon followed it close and copied a lot of what the adult did.

Raccoon with a cinnamon-colored tail standing in mud at the water's edge, looking at the camera.
This cinnamon-tailed raccoon worked the muddy wetland at Sequoyah, and its colored tail set it apart.

The two of them worked through the underbrush together. They would stop now and then, rest a bit, or check the ground for food, and then move on again.

Cinnamon raccoons are rare to start with. One with a tail colored like this is rarer still. The cinnamon color likely comes from a recessive gene. I had never seen the color carried this strong in a tail before.

A Beanbag Over The Truck Window

I shot from my truck, with the camera on a beanbag over the open window. That setup holds the camera still and keeps me out of sight, so the raccoons went on about their business.

The early light was dim, and it made me work for the shot. I needed a high ISO and a shutter speed of 1/800 of a second to freeze their movement. The Canon EOS R5 handled the low light well. As the sun came up, the backlight caught the texture of their fur, and it lit that cinnamon tail up best of all.

  • Camera: Canon EOS R5
  • Lens: EF 800 mm f/11
  • Aperture: f/11
  • Shutter speed: 1/800 second
  • ISO: 1600 (Auto)
  • Focal length: 800 mm

Deer, Egrets, And A Red-Shouldered Hawk

The raccoon was the highlight, but it was not the whole morning. Deer browsed off in the distance. Birds called from the treetops. Egrets waded in the marsh, and a red-shouldered hawk sat high on a branch.

That mix is what Sequoyah gives you. The refuge has wetlands, woodlands, and open ground, all in one place, and you never know which part of it will produce. Encounters like this one are why I keep coming back. The photos matter to me, but the stories behind them matter too.