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. 

Memorial Day Parade

The end of May is a busy time in The Pisgah Woods: Several Does, all that had fawns last June, are pregnant; their yearlings have bonded and appear to be traveling together, but still try to follow their Mom's, who show signs of loosing patience with them.  Our Old Blind in One Eye Doe is back for another season, accompanied by last year's twins, one of which is a Young Buck.

Bob Cat

Jack in Pulpit

We haven't spotted this species on our property in at least 25 years!
And not one, but four in a row beside the garden path.

April in the Hemlock Grove

At the end of April, the deer move from the swamp in the south, through the dying Hemlocks, to open fields a couple of miles north.  In the immediate area of this trail camera four large hemlocks  have fallen.  The deer are thin, and showing signs of ticks.
In this series we see first, an old doe followed a few days later by a  mature doe with her yearling twins.  In the video the doe can be seen aggressively attacking her young buck. Before long he, like the old doe, will be traveling in tandem, but  behind, remaining at a safe distance.

Setting the Camera in a new location. 

Old Doe

Red Fox

On Alert

Mature Doe

Yearling Buck being driven away by Mom

Yearling doe

Otter on Norwich Lake

Early morning:  Well,  Look at that!  First time we've witnessed  an Otter on Norwich Lake, running and sliding!              

An Otter!  So much larger than a mink.
Enjoying the March Blizzard of 2017!

PIsgah Bob Cat

Bobcat passing by the Brookside trail camera February 27, 2017
I installed my first trail camera March 2010 and have feel it a privilege to have watched the various animals that live or travel through in the woods just steps away from our house. 

January 2017 Young Deer

Tracking the Deer

February 19th: Deep snow in the woods and the deer are having a difficult time.

Winter in Pisgah Woods

Between December 1st and today: Feb 19, 2017 I had not checked the cameras; today there was only one I could get to without snowshoes and found that, while there are loads of fresh tracks, the camera had stopped recording Feb 9th.  On my walk I saw a large bear track very close to our house; coyote, fox, rabbit, deer....even though there is a lot of snow in the woods, the animals were moving as the temperature rose to 50 degrees this afternoon.

Barred Owl Through the Curtain

The Owl Pages: "The Barred Owl is a fairly large owl with a large rounded head with no ear-tufts. It has also been known as the Hoot Owl. "

On this foggy January 3rd,  outside the bedroom window, we spotted a Barred Owl. This was a first for us.  I grabbed the iPad off the night stand, hoping for time to make a couple of quick shots through the curtain. Seeing my movement, he turned,  looked straight at the "camera,"  then glided off.  How special was that?