Moose at Midnight May 15th

The eagle flew over the house today.....white head gleaming in the morning sun...always special!

Meanwhile, on the trail camera  I was thrilled to find a video of a Moose. Ok. I couldn't obtain a very good clip,  and it  was the back end, at midnight. Whatever.  It's fun to record the  "happening"  in the woods just beyond the house.  Later in the day a pregnant doe came through.  Most likely when her time comes, she will have the fawn somewhere close by. We'll start looking for it in about 3 weeks. 

There is a second  doe in the area, but only one will "set up" her nursery within range of the trail camera.

Clip from a video of the back end of a moose.
The next morning a doe came through....

Cat Scratchings

Found! The old Hemlock Tree that I couldn't locate last winter.

Read Here

Today I found the tree!  And the scratches!  Last January I had been following a large animal  because it's track resembled those of a mountain lion. A large melted area at the south base of a hemlock tree suggested that it had slept overnight where the land sloped away, and further, there were quite a few tracks around the east base of  the tree, and a lot of scrapes and scratches.  The next day I went back with a camera but was unable to find the specific Hemlock. Was I dreaming?

Today I was following a distinct deer trail east to west, through a hemlock grove, looking for a new spot to put a trail camera, and found the old Hemlock tree!  The scrapes aren't as white as they were last winter but still quite visible.  Now, one would argue as to what made these scrapes, but I have the advantage of having seen the large cat tracks,  AND witnessed and remarked upon the spot where it had slept, right next to the tree. (click on "Read Here" above to see the original post.)

Wild Turkey Scratchings

Working methodically through the grove the turkey would reach forward......making two long scratches, take a quick step back,   peck. ....  then make one giant step forward....and scratch, twice, a new section...

The Young deer have returned

The Young Buck April 20, 2015: He has the small nubbins on his head: the beginning of antlers.
The Trail Camera showed that there are 5 deer in the area including an old doe, two younger does, and two young bucks. There isn't any food in the woods...hopefully they will move further up the ridge. 

The Ice Went Out

Watching the ice go out; at sunset there was still some, but by the next morning we were greeted with open water!

The Last Snow

Most of the deep snow has melted.

Fog and a fresh bit of snow April 10th 2015

First Day of Spring

My view of the sun set on the first day of Spring.

The Neighbor's Dog

Sometimes "Ace" accompanies me on my walks; in this photo he has spotted something in the woods that needed chasing....The trail is packed here, but off the trail the snow is still 2 feet deep, and you sink in past your knees. I had packed a trail with snowshoes earlier in the month, and was able to hike in to change the camera batteries.

Moving with Difficulty

A gentle snow and 27 F tempted me outside. While  I hadn't used snowshoes in 15 years, a quick refresher video on YouTube was all it took to get my courage up.
 The snow, another 4 inches deeper than shown in these photos, made tough going;  each first step required several stamps before the snow held. Once the  trail into the Grove was made,  I knew it would be  a lot easier going out.   The heavy cover of hemlocks is gone as most of the trees have lost their needles due to the Wooly Adelgid.  Another of the larger Ash trees has snapped off about 15 feet up. I am not certain what has attacked them, but four in the Ash Grove are diseased and dying.

Yours Truly captured on the trail camera. Technique isn't pretty but I made in in and out. 

The twigs in front (about 5 o'clock) were fully covered with snow on March 1st.

February's Bitter Cold and Deep Snow

The snow is deep in the woods.  After a recent storm  we found deer tracks in our front yard, looking for food.  One actually lay down to rest in the morning sun. Deep snow keeps me from walking up into the woods to check the trail camera.
I should give snowshoes  a try, actually. The batteries are probably dead in this extended cold spell.

deer tracks in our front yard Feb 20th

January Snows

Lots of tracks in the woods today; I wish the rabbits would travel in front of the trail camera...but they stay away...
Here is a video of The Fox, and two  days later, a couple of deer wait out the Blizzard of January...fortunately the worst of the storm went to the east of us.

Bob Cat on my Trail Camera

Did the tracks in the woods  two days ago belong to this fellow? Nope. The Bob Cat tracks aren't nearly as big. . CLICK HERE TO View THE BOBCAT ON YOUTUBE

Mountain Lion

January 20, 2015: I needed ice walkers to move in the woods. There was a variety  of animal tracks: fox, rabbit, deer, and bobcat, frozen in place following heavy rains;  and a set of tracks left by something a whole lot larger, which curiousity required  I follow  to be sure of what I was seeing.

 I took  a couple of photos with a cell phone,  but didn't find the spot where the cat --yes  a BIG cat--had lain down in the snow, against a Hemlock tree,  until after the phone battery died.

While the rain had washed out the fine detail,  I'm posting this  photo,  to give a comparison between a deer track, on the lower left, and the cat track, going in the opposite direction,  at the upper middle.  The rear foot overlapped the forefoot, making it look like one elongated track.
Just  beyond this spot, the cat leapt at least 10-12  feet, coming down the other side of a blow-down.

          These mountain lion tracks were made sometime between January  17th and 18th,  2015.  If I wasn't an old grandmother trying to navigate a woodland  full of ice, and if my cell phone hadn't died,  I might  have followed them further.

I went back the next day with a charged battery in the iPhone,  to photograph the hemlock tree with scrapings and the melted area under the tree, but wouldn't you know it..I could NOT locate the tree with the scrapings again...not even  by following my own tracks...

May 2015 update: I found the tree with the scrapings! See my May 5 2015 posting.

The Grey Fox

Click on the box on the bottom of the video box to view full screen...

The Fox seems to follow after the Deer...

Here's a youtube link to a video of the young buck that this fox was following....

Tracks in the Snow

December 17th, 2014:
Fisher Cat tracks in the snow.....Shaped like a raccoon track, but larger..
And with sharp claws evident...

Squirrels and Chipmunks in the Bird Feeder

Himself has been chasing small mammals of all sizes and colors out of the bird feeder this morning, but they weren't too worried.
What worked?  The Eagle cast a large dark shadow over the deck about 11 am,  and the little mammals vanished.  Its now 1 pm, and still no sign of their return.

On the Trail Camera Today:

The December Survivor

Watch him on youtube

Hunters take note: since the snow storm last Monday the only new tracks in the woods have been human. No sign of deer anywhere near The Grove. Hopefully this handsome fellow is hiding deeper in the hills,  and we will be seeing him again next year.

The Lost Surveyor

When I saw boot tracks in the snow, I was expecting a  photo of  "Hunter and his gun"  on the trail camera,  not a Surveyor with pencil and pink ribbons!
He was  WAY out of his way on that  bitter cold Monday afternoon,  December 8th, 2014. (Date stamp didn't reset when I changed the batteries last week.)

Outside on Sunday

Sunday: 30 degrees; The Thanksgiving snow had melted down, and it was time to replace batteries in the trail camera.  It hadn't taken any new photos since November 23rd.  Between Thanksgiving and cataract surgery, I hadn't been up in the woods for a couple of weeks! Even without photos, the remaining snow  told the story of our Woods: It's Deer Week, and there was  A Deer Hunt: Big Human Tracks and Little  Human Tracks, in and out several times, their quest encouraged by the criss crossing of deer, coyote and fox tracks.   And telling, too; no sign of blood or drag marks in the snow,  making Yours Truly happy.  We don't have so many deer here  that a "culling hunt" is in order.
No new photos, so here's one of a very thin summer bear; hope he fattened up the last couple of months of fall.

A bear from Summer

Bear on November 16 2014

 Bear: A surprise visit!

You can watch him on YouTube YOU Tube

It is always a "red letter day" when there is something other than raccoon, squirrels or porcupines 

on my trail camera...seeing fawns, does and an occasional buck is fun..the grey fox is entertaining; but to find a big Black Bear  WOW... Be sure to click on the You Tube link above, and watch him walk through the grove....

Buck Traveling Through

This morning The Eagle was in a tree near our deck. In a wink of an eye, he dove for a fish, dropped it, and kept flying. Away. He did not circle  back for a  do-over.   It's when he swings back to try again that I have time to pick up the camera....

  Earlier, before dawn, on the trail camera; a small parade: This Year's Doe and her fawn, followed by a medium sized buck, with a grey fox bringing up the rear.   During the day the camera captured a squirrel, busily stashing acorns.
This trail camera, when it first "wakes up," takes a still image, followed by a short video.

Deer Scrape November 2014

A young buck..just entering on the left

Two bucks are in the area this week.   Usually "deer season" keeps me out of the woods, but today was just too  too nice, so I donned an old orange hat and red coat. 

An 8 point buck, entering on the left a couple of days later. 

Deer scrape

October Eagle

A large eagle just flew past my window....

Eagle Fishing 

Rainy Night

October 20-21: Pouring rain; The does had a lot of company..but no Bucks in sight...

Cautious Doe

The Doe are more cautious entering the Grove, since the visit by the Feral Cat...
Earlier in the week: Watch them on YouTube
Click Here to watch the does on Youtube

Large Cat and Small Fox?

On my Trail Camera late September 2014 (At the day of the Autumnal Equinox) there was a very large cat on the trail camera.  I studied it for a long time..thinking "young mountain lion..." but it had to be a very large feral cat.
The  behavior of the deer after the feral cat came through was interesting. Curious that they  never reacted quite the same way to the bears, moose, turkeys, foxes, raccoons, etc. At the bottom is a video of a young deer soon after the feral cat came through.

Bear Cub on the CAIRN

Fox on the Cairn

Feral Cat on the Cairn

Want to see it better? Click on box in bottom right corner to enlarge video..

On High Alert

Doe and Fawn on High Alert. A large Moose was in the immediate area that day.

Fawn on It's Own

Here is a link to a video of the fawn that was born in early June in the woods beyond the garden:
Click here to see video

Bear

I arrived to check the trail camera today to find that it was not in it's usual spot. It's cable was still in place, and  the camera had been turned around to the opposite side of the tree by  this fellow..

The 25 second video is on Youtube….at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-Bih_QTV7I&feature=youtu.be

Great Heron

Heron walking along the shore .
I used an old telephoto lens and obtained  a pretty shaky record shot. While there has been a heron on The Lake for years, this is the first time  one has spent over a half hour fishing right in front of our house.
We were wondering what he found so interesting up ON shore…that HUGE snake, maybe

Young Bear Visits the Grove

In the video accompanying these stills, you can see the bear "marking " the tree on the left by rubbing himself against it.   I will try to create a merged video of the several 25 second clips and upload it to YouTube.

I don't usually put food out in the woods, but several loaves of stale bread came to hand and it  seemed like a nice treat  for the Raccoon and Porcupine families living together in the Boulder Condo across the brook.  Only one Bear had been in the woods to date, in early July, so finding this fellow on the Trail Camera was a surprise. As was the interesting exchange between Raccoon and Gray Fox!

Watch on YouTube…

Fox meets Racoon

Fox meets Raccoon 

Raccoon "escapes" up the Tree

Stand-off

White Tailed Fawn on Her Own Today