Backyard evening visitor

I've seen these fellows before in my back yard. However, they always scoot away before I can run into the house and get the camera. This was is a juvenile that was munching on something. Juvies tend not to be as fearful.

This was shot with a 40D, 580-EX II, and EF 70-200 f/2.8L. I reduced the exposure because the original looked like broad daylight. In fact, it was almost pitch black.

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

Nice capture. These guys are tough creatures. I once saw one fall from a 25-foot tree limb, hit the ground, shake it off, and headed into the brush.

Possums are neat animals.we don;t have them here on the island, but had masses of them over on the mainland..usually alot of them ended up as roadkill on the highways

Great shot! I have a ton of them, but have never caught one on "film".

We get a lot of them as well. Actually, I find the adults to be more "dopey", so to speak, and have been able to grab them by the tail and pick them up. The little ones are light enough to flip up and climb their own tails, though, so I leave them be. Their fur is quite soft, and I find them to be neat animals. I read a study about them while I was in mammalogy class that said the majority of adults had several broken bones, of which the main one broken in most cases is usually the scapula. I suppose that could be from frequent falls.