Bucks on the Trail Camera May 2018

One Very Poor Young Buck

A larger Buck..beginning to grow his antlers. 

May at Norwich Lake

A Parade of Animals: I've returned a camera to a location I haven't used for three years. I took the last one down when a "Forrester" (ie Logger) came in and   left a terrible mess on the floor of the woods.  What was interesting is in one image there was a woman with a dog I've never seen before,  in this area, which has no  "human" walking trails.   Bobcats, Coywolves, Deer, Turkeys, Moose..( The Moose and calf in the dark is hard to see.) all travel through these woods.  (Yes! Old Blind in One Eye is back for the 8th year!) 

A handsome Bobcat

 CoyWolf: pregnant or well fed!

Pregnant Doe

Ghostly shapes of Moose and calf

Wild Turkey

In Velvet

A buck just starting to grow his antlers April 2018

Some Woodland Selfies

Startled by the Sun

Selfies

Thrilled to see Blind In One Eye survived another winter!  She first appeared on my camera in 2010 as a yearling. She had been attacked.  Blind in One Eye following Attack from a large predator.

The life span of a white-tailed deer can be from 6-14 years in captivity. In the wild, the majority of deer don't make it to that age because of disease, hunting and automobile collisions. The average life span for wild white-tailed deer is 4.5 years (Lopez et al 2003).

Searching for Acorns

March 29, 2018

The Seven Deer stayed together all month.
Spring has Arrived! (Click on square at bottom right to view full screen. )

March 21, 2018: Deep Snow is Tiring

Before the series of Nor"easters March 2018

The thaw before the storms brought out a Fox, Skunk, a Turkey, (not in video,) and seven Deer of all ages.  They were all looking, unsuccessfully, for acorns. (Click on the box on the right for full screen viewing.

Cougar Tracks

These tracks were photographed, measured and followed by a local Wyben MA  resident who spotted them behind his house. He and followed the tracks along the ledges on Grindstone Mountain, located between Wyben (Westfield) Montgomery and Southampton.  The cat was headed north, stopping to check out the ledges on the mountain.

36 inch stride

December 2017

Here are some photos from a couple of my trail cam's before the batteries gave out. I hadn't walked in the woods since Thanksgiving, between Hunting Season then a series of snow storms, wind and bitter cold.  Only two Bucks came through this season; a quick glimpse of a 10-pointer crossing the brook, and a younger  6 -pointer.  Once the weather turned bad, the individual families joined together, making a group of six.  I saw where the deer had dug through the deep snow under the Oak Trees, looking for food. The woods were criss crossed with the tracks of deer, a bobcat, a fisher-cat, fox, rabbit, squirrels, raccoon and porcupine.

10-point buck

Six point buck

Digging for Acorns 

"Yarding Up" before the Storm 

November 2017

Ole  Blind in One Eye is back for her 5th year! It's always a thrill to see her. Years ago, as a yearling, she was attacked; the trail camera revealed scrapes and deep  wounds on her face, neck and down both sides along her back.  This summer,  one of her newborn twins was taken by a coy wolf, and she disappeared for over 3 months. Her usual "birthing area" had been disrupted by a two year logging operation, and it is my sense that she took her remaining fawn further into the remote valley between steep ridges to the north.

I am pleased that She remains smart and alert to both four footed and two footed predators.

October 2017

A beautiful day for a leisurely walk in the woods, stopping to visit  the Trail Camera at the far end of the Ridge. Last month the digital card was blank, so I changed the batteries and am anticipating a full card this month.

A flash of Blue...Jays eating acorns; A flying squirrel; deer, Bob Cat, Bear, Fox.
 Video on YouTobe

Bear and Doe

A single bear wandered past at the end of July.
Early August: A young doe...one of last year's twins; her brother has gone into hiding. Also an interesting pair;  One seems to be totally dominant of the other, who trails along behind.

Two does and three fawns

The Fawns are growing rapidly. I've spotted the eyes of the Coywolf caught in the infrared of the trail camera as he cautiously observed from a distance.  The fawns are too large and too fast.

Here on YouTube:  The video is too large to upload here. Sorry.
At the start of the video there is a doe who looks as though she is pregnant...which is most unusual this late in the season...we shall have to keep a watch on her.


Does and Fawns

Norwich Lake 2017 The New Fawns

This year four fawns were born in early June. Old Blind in One Eye had twins, one of which a Coy-Wolf carried off within days of it's birth.   She isn't shown here, but Daughter from 3 years ago had twins, and Daughter from 2 years ago had a singleton.

Norwich Lake Bear and Bear Cub

This opens in Youtube: press "escape" to return to Blogger.

Midsummer Parade

Enlarge the video and turn up the volume; the porcupine looks and sounds pretty funny, walking on his hind legs. The young bear is off on his own, marking territory.  The Doe catches his scent ands steers clear.

Fawn taking it all in 1

Coopers Hawk Bathing in Brook

Grey Fox Kit's in the boulder wall.

Look Closely to spot two young Fox kits. There were five originally. I suspect the Coopers Hawk carried at least one off. 

New Fawn

This is a clip from a video: Top: You have to look closely to spot this fawn; one of three born last week.   Also traveling through: Bobcat.

Unfortunately one of the fawns was found by a coywolf and carried off 

Coywolf carrying a newborn fawn. This clip is from a video.