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. 

Hilltown Winter

Outside my Bedroom Window

February 27th 2012:  The sun catches the hill opposite my bedroom window, across the frozen lake.  Soon the ice will melt and neighbors will lose their seasonal shortcut.

The Eagle will return.

A few people  saw the tracks of a "Big Cat," close to area cottages.

My trail camera batteries don't hold up to temperatures below 25 degrees, so I don't have any winter photos.

Hilltown Weather Keeping Us Indoors

Ice Storm

Hilltown weather..
Mud encased by ice
Covered with slush
Puddles, over slush,  on top of ice
Encasing mud. 
Framed by silver branches bent
By the weight of winter

                                                    Alma

A cardinal crunching, fog lifting, hot chocolate

Reading and painting all day - not so bad. (dish for tv not working, no tennis today)

                                    Mary Jo

Hilltown blue
Feeling bent 
Like the yew,
covered in ice
That's my view
Nothing spent, 
nothing new
Time feels lent
How about you?

Carol

The Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle outside my Window

At 8 am we spotted this mature eagle outside our bedroom window. I was able to grab one quick photo before our movement behind the curtain spooked him.

Deer Hunting Season is Over!

A nice Doe living in the Woods..and tracks indicating several more. Well done.

Passing Through

Last year a buck with 6 points appeared on the trail camera; this year a larger buck... 10 points! came through. Wonder if it is the same animal? Impossible for me to tell.  Himself tells me that I am not the only one who knows this handsome Buck is in our neighborhood. During Deer Hunting Season a neighbor "bagged" an 8 point buck. Perhaps this fine fellow escaped deeper into the woods, and survives.

A Bloggers Mistake...

The two does and their three fawns have been chased  deeper into the hills by Bow Hunters.  The camera has only "trapped"  a porcupine and a raccoon in the past week or so.

Bloggers Mistake:
I do hope the deer have found a safe haven..and remain safe during the next month...as more hunters take to the woods with their rifles.

Have I inadvertently put these lovely deer in harms way by posting their photos?  Will hunters find them in the nearby woods?

The Duplex (see "Woodland Duplex post)  in the Woods brings to mind Thornton Burgess, who used his  outdoor observations in nature as plots for his Mother Westwind stories.

In his first book, Old Mother West Wind, published in 1910, all of the characters were introduced...including Peter Rabbit, Jimmy Skunk, Sammy Jay, Bobby Raccoon, Little Joe Otter, Grandfather Frog, Billy Mink, Jerry Muskrat, Spotty the Turtle, Old Mother West Wind and her Merry Little Breezes. Illustrations by Harrison Cady.

The Woods at Night

This little doe first arrived just before dark on Nov. 14th, and spent the entire night...getting up and down several times throughout the night. The last photo was 5 am, Nov. 15th, when she is startled by something in the woods.

Halloween Snow Storm

20 Inches of October Snow. The Camera was too slow to capture the Animal that set it off....

Because of our altitude, the snow wasn't as wet and heavy as down in the Valley. The  Oak and Ash trees, heavy with leaves,  were thus able to bear the burden.
Not so fortunate were the thousands of Oaks and Maples elsewhere in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Woodland Duplex

Duplex: Rabbit Hole? Bear Cave? Curious. 

I was curious as to the occupant of  the "duplex" so set up a trail camera; a "video" created from the images reveal Bobby Coon coming out from the Tree Hole to explore the new addition to his neighborhood.   Lilly Porki,  a bit more timid..started forward to explore, then retreated.. back into her cave.

Bobby Coon followed her calling : "No Worries.. it's just a trail camera."

Coy-Wolf: October 23, 2011

"coy-wolf...! "

A "coy-wolf" on my Wildview trail camera! 11 PM.  About 15 minutes after a deer passed through.    While the  "Eastern Coyote" has been in this area for quite a few years, this is the first image "trapped" by my camera.
Read more:
Massachusetts Wildlife Link

Late Autumn Woods: A Poem by Bryant

Squirrel in the Autumn Woods

AUTUMN WOODS

William Cullen Bryant

    Ere, in the northern gale,
The summer tresses of the trees are gone,
The woods of Autumn, all around our vale,
Have put their glory on.
The mountains that infold,
In their wide sweep, the colored landscape round
Seem groups of giant kings, in purple and gold, That guard the enchanted ground.
     I roam the woods that crown
The upland, where the mingled splendors glow, Where the gay company of trees look down
On the green fields below.
My steps are not alone...
 In these bright walks; the sweet south-west, at play,
Flies, rustling, where the painted leaves are strown
Along the winding way.

The Days are Getting Shorter

Gathering under the Hemlock and Oaks

The animals are moving along the trail...there were Bear tracks, and further up in the woods, fresh moose tracks. Both were headed north, to the dens and swamps deeper into the State Forest.
The deer are beginning to group together.

After the Hurricane

Traveling along the deer trail, skirting the gorge, dodging blowdowns, and checking tracks.

I walk the woods quite often. Lyme Disease is ever present on my mind. Not only have I had Lyme, my daughter and three grandchildren, who live in Northern New Jersey,  suffer from late stage Lyme, a terrible disease which has robbed them of years of normal living, and caused them to endure countless hours  and travel far distances to obtain diagnosis and treatment from Lyme Aware Physicians.
Sometimes my camera catches the image of a terribly diseased deer.  Perhaps I am just trying to understand it all.Massachusetts Wildlife: Living with Deer

Hot Summer Afternoon, under the Oak Trees

The doe on the right had twins with her last week; today they are nowhere to be seen.

Where are the Twins?

Looking for her Twins

On Alert

Where oh Where have They Gone?

Twins In The Woods

Deer Twins 

Summer

Among the Ferns and Oaks

The woods belong to someone else. It was once an old farm...there is a cellar hole near the upper road. . I use these old roads on my walks. The trails aren't "posted," so I hope the owner doesn't mind my being there. Criss crossing the area are a maze of animal trails, and sometimes I will follow the fresh animal tracks, and set up my Trail Camera on one that looks especially well traveled. I notice this year, for the first time, that the hemlock trees are showing the effects of an infestation of the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid.  They are dropping needles at an alarming rate, and the older hemlocks are breaking off about 20 feet up the trunk. The woodland floor is littered with dead trees and branches. The Beech trees in the same area are also stressed, and the tops are breaking off in heavy winds.

I can't begin to imagine what these woods will look like in three or four years.  

Summer Morning

Spotted fishing off our raft this morning...

Great Blue Heron

Out of Hiding

Fawn Big Enough to Travel

Big Enough to Explore

The trail camera was able to capture this image because so many of the lower branches the surrounding Hemlock trees are infested with the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid.