I’ve been pleased by the overwhelming response to my “Best of 2024” summary video, which seems to have brought enjoyment to many an armchair wildlife fan. Thanks for sharing your feedback! I enjoy sharing the videos from my wildlife camera, and I enjoy even more the opportunity to spend time in the outdoors, off trail, wandering through a local forest with an eye and ear tuned to the signs and sounds of nature. Read on to see January’s new videos!
On Friday night we received about 4-5″ of fresh, light powder snow. On Saturday morning the sun emerged while I was making my way through the forest. A light breeze caused the snow in the branches to fall like fairy dust; the forest was indeed a magical place to be on this day!
I walked silently atop this fresh blanket of fluffy powder, on snowshoes. The 3.5-mile loop takes me about two hours, pausing at each of nine cameras to swap memory cards, check the batteries, and ponder whether it might be time to try another location. I keep an eye out for tracks, hoping to discover patterns that might clue me into a new opportunity.
For the month of January I made three videos: one from cameras alongside the stream below the beaver dam, one from a camera along the riverside, and one from cameras deep in the forest. Enjoy!
Bonus: I came across this puzzling pair of tracks in the snow: one heading downhill to the left (covered with a dusting of snow, and thus made during the snowstorm), and a similar one heading uphill to the right (very fresh). It looks like it was made by a squat, short-legged critter that had to ‘plow’ through the snow as it walked. The track is about 6″ wide; there are impressions from paws, but not crisp enough to identify. [See video with closeup.] Ideas?
David Kotz 
Porcupine?
Porcupine
The consensus seems to be a porcupine made those mystery tracks. Read more at Naturally Curious.