Frozen Lake

Snow Shoeing in a Snow Storm on the Frozen Lake

Fisher, Hunting

Fisher from trail camera video 1

Fisher from Trail Camera Video
You can see the video on Youtube by clicking on the link below. 

 I hiked into the woods to bring in the trail camera for the winter...there is at least a foot of snow in the Grove, and no animal tracks. One last surprise on the video camera, however...taken Dec 22nd...a "Fisher."

 Fisher on youtube

Eagle Hunting

Sunday, January 6th, 2013: A young eagle visited our yard this morning.  The lake is frozen, so expect Eagle is waiting for the squirrels at the bird feeder.
Here is his "snow Angel." Can you can spot his foot prints?

Mink

This morning when Al was filling the bird feeders he spotted a mink on the stones by the edge of the water.    My father told me he only saw one live, wild mink in all his 98 years.

Cardinal Red

A flash of red on my deck...
A quick photo through the window...
He heard the shutter

and....


  A poem posted today by craig cornish    

Cardinal Red
On barren branch, in gray skies cheer
Cardinal red
A drop of hope that Heaven bled
And spread on feathers now appear
To brighten skies and dry a tear

The Eagle

The Eagle rocketed  down on a squirrel at my bird feeder this morning at 9:15 am.
A huge blur, past the window, between me and the feeder. This photo was taken by someone else but is identical to what I saw....You can imagine my excitement!

The White Tailed Buck

7:00 am: I spotted something swimming fast across the lake this morning, and as it came closer I realized it was a Buck. The lens on the camera was a short one...20-70 mm.   Wonder if a Dog or Coywolf forced him into the lake. I hope he finds a good hiding place as Deer Hunting Season begins soon. Be safe!

Cleft in the Rock

Hilltown Land Trust

It's Veteran's Day. Good day for a hike. This Hilltown Land Trust property is a mile down the road from our house. The "trail," while freshly cut, is not too clearly marked.  Spots of blue paint on squares of white paper, nailed onto trees.  No clear path, and in some places the "sign" markers are missing.

 What was an easy walk at first, past huge bolders covered with several species of moss and lichens, soon became more difficult as the "trail" started it's descent past a "glacier dump" into a wooded basin surrounded with  ledges and bolders.  After picking our way down the trail, using our walking sticks to test for holes between rocks, hidden by oak leaves, we made the turn back towards our starting point, following for a brief stretch,  an old established "trail" along a brook and through a Hemlock grove. Old stepping stones placed across a clear running stream left us on the other side facing a steep climb between boulders and trees, back up to the top of the hill, and our vehicle.

While the Hilltown Trust describes this as a  "moderate" hike,  for a couple of 75 year olds with arthritic knees,  the climb back out was beyond Most Difficult.

The Eagle

 A ring side seat, and a camera handy this morning.

The Eagle spotted a Cormorant

The Cormorant dove under water, and the Eagle circled several times before flying away.

Birchwood Reflections

Along the Shore
End of Autumn. 

Wild Turkeys

Using the trail camera set to "video" provides a much more complete
way to observe and enjoy the wildlife in the woods beyond the garden. The older camera that I started out with never could hold a charge long enough.

September Still Life

King Fisher

Two Great Blue Herons Celebrating the End of Summer

The Summer people and swimmers have gone, and all is quiet on the Lake. The Kingfishers are able to relax on the ladder of the raft; two Great Blue Heron's performed an amazing ballet over the water, and the Eagle perches on overhanging branches.  Ok. The Heron's don't show up too well in the photo, but theyswooped and spun, taking turns touching the water, then soaring again.

Huge Black Bear

The woods "smelled" different when I took my walk today. This video reveals the reason. He's pretty big!
I do hope he's just passing through. Guess I'll get a bear bell and some pepper spray.

Moving on...

The old buck being chased away by an old doe.  The other deer in the group include a daughter born last year.  The mother apparently didn't raise a fawn of her own this spring.  Whatever the case, she's decided that this old buck should move on. In the 2nd video our new fawn receives a lesson in sharing at the salt lick.

August Still Life

Trio of Mushrooms

Moist August days;  mist on the lake in the morning, distant  thunder in the afternoon...
A heavy rain, washing clear the trail littered with rocks and dead wood.

Moose Tracks

Moose Tracks

Moose tracks, captured this morning with the iPhone.  There had been a heavy rain overnight, and the Moose Tracks were clear. They looked like overgrown cow tracks. This must be a younger one. He didn't sink too deep into the mud, and while they were wider than the heel of a man's shoe print, they weren't as long.

We recorded our walk on an iPhone app. Total length: 2.24 miles. The going was rough, we stopped frequently to "check out" various tracks,  and to contemplate a handsome old Oak Tree which had recently snapped off half way up it's trunk.    Wish the Moose had walked by my Trail Camera.....

Video of Late Night Visitor

I decided to try the Video function of the Bushnell Trail Camera...
The deer have become used to the simple still photo action, ...but the light created by the video is a new thing.
I am hoping that the Buck or the Fawn will pass by during the day...

Visitors this past week

The Fawn's first visit...Out of Hiding!

Later that night...a Buck in Velvet!

Doe Visiting the glade

Eight am Visit. Soon she will be bringing her fawn(s) out of hiding. 

Young Black Bear

 I wonder if the bear scared off the deer? Between June 16th and today the only movement triggering the camera  appears to have been  a flying squirrel.

Flying squirrel?

Going on a Bear Hunt

Black bear in the Glade

Going on a Bear Hunt

Memorial Day Parade

Geese Family Memorial Day 2012: Taken with my iPhone from the Deck

The Buck visits at Midnight

June 1 2012: Midnight Visitor
Notice the new antler's beginning to grow on this Buck

It will be interesting to see if this fellow continues to visit the area throughout the summer so we can see how large his antlers grow...

Snail

Feeling  his way across the driveway. 

 Where are his eyes?
On  the tip of the longer tentacles.

The Luna Moth

This is the first live Luna Moth I have ever seen in the wild.
There were three of them clinging to a barn door in broad daylight.
The next day I saw another. 

YouTube life cycle of the luna Moth

After the Storm

A violent Thunderstorm brought the deer together deep in the hemlock grove.
Occasionally they huddled together, side touching side,  heads facing away from the wind. 

Quiet Moment

The Yearling and her Mom

New Trail Camera Up and Running

On Alert: A porcupine is nearby.

A new Bushnell trail camera.!! 8 m pixels, infra red at night, and uses 4-8 AA batteries. It is tiny and goes unnoticed.  This new one is placed in the same "secure" location....just off a well used animal trail, in a grove of Oaks and Beech, surrounded by Hemlocks. It is a hike in any direction to deer feeding grounds, but offers sanctuary, especially to expectant does.

Wild Honeysuckle Blooms in May

The Fragrant "Swamp Pink"

Another spring...last year I posted a photo of this fragrant bush in full bloom.
This year's image was taken with my iPhone4S.



Swamp-pink

To him who keeps an Orchis' heart –
The swamps are pink with June.
               Emily Dickinson















"But with June comes the most exquisite of our New England wild-flowers, the arethuta, or swamp-pink,——The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 5 (1860)

"Swamp Pink . . . they are eagerly sought after, and form a conspicuous part of the decoration of the mantel-piece, in its season, the month of June. The color is commonly a fine pink.——New Book of Flowers (1866)

Baby Snapping Turtle

Tiny Turtle

This Prehistoric-looking turtle was found and photographed by my neighbor. Many years ago my son somehow pulled a giant snapping turtle into his canoe.
"Mom, can I keep it?"
I should not be surprised that 30 years later a giant snapping turtle is still resident and  reproducing.

Along the Path this Morning

Spotted Newt

Wake Robin

Fiddlehead Fern

April Gold

Nothing Gold Can Stay
by Robert Frost

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay

April's Assault

THE OLD RED KAYAK AT SUNSET
From the  Deck on an April Evening
Camera:  iPhone 4s, using the " 6x6" App. 

Assault

I HAD forgotten how the frogs must sound
After a year of silence, else I think
I should not have ventured forth alone
At dusk along this unfrequented road.
I am waylaid by Beauty. Who will walk
Between me and the crying of the frogs?
Oh, saavage Beauty, suffer me to pass,
That am a timid woman, on her way
From one house to another!
-Edna St. Vincent Millay

April's Charms

New Leaves in the Thicket
Camera:  iPhone 4s using "CameraBag" app:  "Magazine" filter.

"When April scatters charms of primrose gold

Among the copper leaves in thickets old,

And singing skylarks from the meadows rise,

To twinkle like black stars in sunny skies;

When I can hear the small woodpecker ring

Time on a tree for all the birds that sing;

And hear the pleasant cuckoo, loud and long --

The simple bird that thinks two notes a song."

-  William Henry Davies, April's Charms 

Passing Through the Woods in Early April

Three Deer in The Woods"
Camera: Wildlife motion activated trail camera.
Rendered with more color  in Aperature.
Update April 18th, 2012: Both of my trail cameras have stopped working.

Looking for Acorns

There isn't much food in the woods this time of year. The deer are used to finding acorns under the Oaks, but last fall the trees didn't produce.

Expect that the deer will move on to a high meadow further up the mountain in search of food.

The Old Ash Tree

The hole is 5 inches in diameter; wood chips circle the base.
It appears that a woodpecker is building a nest hole
in this old ash tree.

Update: 2014: This year the old ash tree doesn't have any leaves..it is totally dead.  

First Green

The snow melted in the Hills this week..exposing last fall's leaves and bright green moss in the brook.

Winter of 2011-12: Kinder to the Deer

This doe was so much fitter after our  mild winter, compared to the winter of 2010-11
Problem with the warm winter is that the ticks didn't die out. Each time I walked into the woods to check the
camera I came home with a tick.

Daylight Savings Time March 2012

Time to bring in the Bird Feeders. You will have to take my word for it, but these really  are bear tracks.

Bear Tracks in snow

If you enlarge the photo you can see the leaves under the snow.  We had over 12 inches of new snow a week ago, followed by some very warm weather.
This  bear must have come out in the last 5 days, as the sun warmed the southern exposures of the rocky, wooded hillsides.

In this spot there was a pile of rocks, with a couple of young hemlock trees growing out of the top. The bear walked in a tight circle all around the pile of rocks, then wandered back  in the direction he had come...

I'm glad I didn't run into him..but wish my trail camera had been up and running.

Woodpecker Advice

Woodpecker at the Birdfeeder

"First, land on the rail
Then  tip back on your tail.
Thrust both feet forward
And grasp the lip of the feeder.
Otherwise you'll bump your head every time."


A great (March) wind is blowing, and that gives you either imagination or a headache.
Catherine the Great

Wordless Saturday Morning in early March

The Shed and Coyote Tracks

March Storm

March 3, 2012: And I thought the ice would melt soon....
There were tracks of two large "coyotes" crossing the yard this morning.