Maine’s 588 raccoon records trace an animal at home almost anywhere woods meet water. Cumberland County leads the count, but the map runs the length of the state, from Popham Beach on the southern coast to Baxter State Park, Moosehead Lake, and the Allagash Wilderness Waterway deep in the interior.
Built for the water’s edge
A raccoon’s front paws work almost like hands, and much of its feeding happens along streambanks, pond margins, and tidal flats, where it feels out crayfish, frogs, clams, and whatever else a muddy shoreline offers. Maine supplies that edge in every county, which helps explain records from Acadia National Park’s cobble shores to the river reaches of Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. Away from water it dens in hollow trees, old woodchuck holes, and barn lofts, and it eats nearly anything, from corn and berries to eggs and carrion.
Late nights, and a light winter sleep
Counts climb from May through August, when females are traveling with young and warm nights bring raccoons out along roads and shorelines. The species does not hibernate, but a hard Maine cold snap can keep one denned in a tree cavity for days at a stretch, living off stored fat until the weather softens. That habit, not any real absence, is what quiets the midwinter record.
Status in Maine
NatureServe ranks the raccoon S5, Secure, in Maine, and the species is native to the state. USGS NAS does not list it as nonindigenous here.
