Squirrel Enjoying a Mushroom

Apologies for quality of video; I tried cropping so you could seen the squirrel picking and eating a mushroom.

Along the North end of The Ridge

Usually at this time of year a pair of Bucks travel through the area; one would be large...8 points, and the other a Spike Horn. This year the large Buck has just 4 points...and the younger one has almost nothing showing.   

A four point Buck

Doe with a female yearling. 

Trail Camera Activity at The Brook August 2018

A Mink, Two does with fawns, and a Heron. I've left out the raccoons, porcupines, squirrels...
We've had a lot of rain this summer and the brook stayed high.

On You Tube

The Woods Still aren't Pretty

This is the second summer after the hill behind our house was Logged..devastated, actually, and left a terrible state; and a terrible fire hazard.  The animals still try to pick their way through the area that used to be a well traveled trail.
Difficult to tell, but this is a photo of a Bear...the last photo taken on my trail camera before he ripped it off the tree.

Comparisons

I was surprised at how large the coywolf was in comparison a young buck born June 2017.

On left: a young buck born 2017, photo taken by a trail camera in the afternoon.
On right, a coywolf, photographed by the same trail camera in early morning.

Musical Tree

There is a clump of trees on a woodland path that always makes an interesting sound that  most resembles the call of a young calf for its mother. Today I  took the time to examine where the sound was coming from. My iPhone didn’t do a very good job but what I discovered was that a broken branch from one tree was rubbing against the trunk of another, creating this  unusual sound. I was reminded of a bow being drawn across strings of a violin.  The tree trunk was deeply worn by  the rubbing. 

Bucks on the Trail Camera May 2018

One Very Poor Young Buck

A larger Buck..beginning to grow his antlers. 

May at Norwich Lake

A Parade of Animals: I've returned a camera to a location I haven't used for three years. I took the last one down when a "Forrester" (ie Logger) came in and   left a terrible mess on the floor of the woods.  What was interesting is in one image there was a woman with a dog I've never seen before,  in this area, which has no  "human" walking trails.   Bobcats, Coywolves, Deer, Turkeys, Moose..( The Moose and calf in the dark is hard to see.) all travel through these woods.  (Yes! Old Blind in One Eye is back for the 8th year!) 

A handsome Bobcat

 CoyWolf: pregnant or well fed!

Pregnant Doe

Ghostly shapes of Moose and calf

Wild Turkey

In Velvet

A buck just starting to grow his antlers April 2018

Some Woodland Selfies

Startled by the Sun

Selfies

Thrilled to see Blind In One Eye survived another winter!  She first appeared on my camera in 2010 as a yearling. She had been attacked.  Blind in One Eye following Attack from a large predator.

The life span of a white-tailed deer can be from 6-14 years in captivity. In the wild, the majority of deer don't make it to that age because of disease, hunting and automobile collisions. The average life span for wild white-tailed deer is 4.5 years (Lopez et al 2003).

Searching for Acorns

March 29, 2018

The Seven Deer stayed together all month.
Spring has Arrived! (Click on square at bottom right to view full screen. )

March 21, 2018: Deep Snow is Tiring

Before the series of Nor"easters March 2018

The thaw before the storms brought out a Fox, Skunk, a Turkey, (not in video,) and seven Deer of all ages.  They were all looking, unsuccessfully, for acorns. (Click on the box on the right for full screen viewing.

Cougar Tracks

These tracks were photographed, measured and followed by a local Wyben MA  resident who spotted them behind his house. He and followed the tracks along the ledges on Grindstone Mountain, located between Wyben (Westfield) Montgomery and Southampton.  The cat was headed north, stopping to check out the ledges on the mountain.

36 inch stride

December 2017

Here are some photos from a couple of my trail cam's before the batteries gave out. I hadn't walked in the woods since Thanksgiving, between Hunting Season then a series of snow storms, wind and bitter cold.  Only two Bucks came through this season; a quick glimpse of a 10-pointer crossing the brook, and a younger  6 -pointer.  Once the weather turned bad, the individual families joined together, making a group of six.  I saw where the deer had dug through the deep snow under the Oak Trees, looking for food. The woods were criss crossed with the tracks of deer, a bobcat, a fisher-cat, fox, rabbit, squirrels, raccoon and porcupine.

10-point buck

Six point buck

Digging for Acorns 

"Yarding Up" before the Storm 

November 2017

Ole  Blind in One Eye is back for her 5th year! It's always a thrill to see her. Years ago, as a yearling, she was attacked; the trail camera revealed scrapes and deep  wounds on her face, neck and down both sides along her back.  This summer,  one of her newborn twins was taken by a coy wolf, and she disappeared for over 3 months. Her usual "birthing area" had been disrupted by a two year logging operation, and it is my sense that she took her remaining fawn further into the remote valley between steep ridges to the north.

I am pleased that She remains smart and alert to both four footed and two footed predators.

October 2017

A beautiful day for a leisurely walk in the woods, stopping to visit  the Trail Camera at the far end of the Ridge. Last month the digital card was blank, so I changed the batteries and am anticipating a full card this month.

A flash of Blue...Jays eating acorns; A flying squirrel; deer, Bob Cat, Bear, Fox.
 Video on YouTobe

Bear and Doe

A single bear wandered past at the end of July.
Early August: A young doe...one of last year's twins; her brother has gone into hiding. Also an interesting pair;  One seems to be totally dominant of the other, who trails along behind.

Two does and three fawns

The Fawns are growing rapidly. I've spotted the eyes of the Coywolf caught in the infrared of the trail camera as he cautiously observed from a distance.  The fawns are too large and too fast.

Here on YouTube:  The video is too large to upload here. Sorry.
At the start of the video there is a doe who looks as though she is pregnant...which is most unusual this late in the season...we shall have to keep a watch on her.


Does and Fawns

Norwich Lake 2017 The New Fawns

This year four fawns were born in early June. Old Blind in One Eye had twins, one of which a Coy-Wolf carried off within days of it's birth.   She isn't shown here, but Daughter from 3 years ago had twins, and Daughter from 2 years ago had a singleton.

Norwich Lake Bear and Bear Cub

This opens in Youtube: press "escape" to return to Blogger.

Midsummer Parade

Enlarge the video and turn up the volume; the porcupine looks and sounds pretty funny, walking on his hind legs. The young bear is off on his own, marking territory.  The Doe catches his scent ands steers clear.

Fawn taking it all in 1

Coopers Hawk Bathing in Brook

Grey Fox Kit's in the boulder wall.

Look Closely to spot two young Fox kits. There were five originally. I suspect the Coopers Hawk carried at least one off. 

New Fawn

This is a clip from a video: Top: You have to look closely to spot this fawn; one of three born last week.   Also traveling through: Bobcat.

Unfortunately one of the fawns was found by a coywolf and carried off 

Coywolf carrying a newborn fawn. This clip is from a video. 

Memorial Day Parade

The end of May is a busy time in The Pisgah Woods: Several Does, all that had fawns last June, are pregnant; their yearlings have bonded and appear to be traveling together, but still try to follow their Mom's, who show signs of loosing patience with them.  Our Old Blind in One Eye Doe is back for another season, accompanied by last year's twins, one of which is a Young Buck.

Bob Cat

Jack in Pulpit

We haven't spotted this species on our property in at least 25 years!
And not one, but four in a row beside the garden path.

April in the Hemlock Grove

At the end of April, the deer move from the swamp in the south, through the dying Hemlocks, to open fields a couple of miles north.  In the immediate area of this trail camera four large hemlocks  have fallen.  The deer are thin, and showing signs of ticks.
In this series we see first, an old doe followed a few days later by a  mature doe with her yearling twins.  In the video the doe can be seen aggressively attacking her young buck. Before long he, like the old doe, will be traveling in tandem, but  behind, remaining at a safe distance.

Setting the Camera in a new location. 

Old Doe

Red Fox

On Alert

Mature Doe

Yearling Buck being driven away by Mom

Yearling doe

Otter on Norwich Lake

Early morning:  Well,  Look at that!  First time we've witnessed  an Otter on Norwich Lake, running and sliding!              

An Otter!  So much larger than a mink.
Enjoying the March Blizzard of 2017!