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. 

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.