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. 

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