March was unusually warm – and my patch of woods lost all their snow even before the month began. But snow fell again, at least twice, and so my wildlife videos include some scenes with snow, and some without. Two new critters appear this month for the first time – a tiny (but very busy!) mouse, and a chipmunk. (Both on the same log! I share only a little video of each.)
This month’s video (less than four minutes) ends in a cliffhanger: does the fox crawl into the skunk’s burrow? and if so, what happened next?
Wildlife camera captures from March 2024, in the forests of Lyme NH.
As you may recall from my prior blog post, I purchased and deployed two more wildlife cameras, allowing me to explore several interesting locations simultaneously. I quickly captured some exciting video of a fisher, a small but fearsome predator I’ve never truly seen in the wild. The new cameras were blurry, and flaky; after numerous iterations with tech support they sent me two new cameras. So I have lots of video to share this month! Check out this new video of the fisher, nice and clear. Later, watch the deer sniff my camera. Read on, though, for the most exciting video!
My wildlife cameras show a lot of activity in the forest during hunting season.
Snow fell overnight, just a little. It seemed like a fine way to mark the end of hunting season. I headed out in the early morning light, striding uphill through the woods, eager to check on my wildlife cameras. A month ago, just before hunting season, I placed the cameras in promising locations after obtaining permission from the landowner. Deer season – specifically, rifle season, when most hunters are out in the woods – ended last night. I dressed in bright orange clothing, just in case, and full of hope for what my own ‘hunt’ may have captured. Read on to find out!
My two wildlife cameras spent another month in the yard, capturing some fun photos and video of critters who visit our property. Most of them were captured at night, using the cameras’ infrared illumination. Check out the gallery!
Perhaps the most fun video was the parade of animals that came by our patio to check out the spot where we’d accidentally dropped a pizza as it came out of the pizza oven! I also experimented with other locations.
You may want to take another look at September’s gallery, to which I’ve added some new content. Lots of critters came to browse for fallen apples under the apple tree: groundhog, possum, raccoon, porcupine, turkey, deer, fox. I was particularly excited to see a bobcat come by one night!
For November, I’ve placed the cameras in the forested hillside across the street – with landowner permission – and am hoping for some more action “in the wild!”
I try to reserve a bit of daylight, each day, to get out for a walk. When I’m especially busy, or lazy, I walk up the road and back, keeping an eye peeled for that bald eagle I saw over the river last week. But when I have a bit more time and energy, I don my pack and strike out up the steep hill on the other side of the road. These hills were formed several centuries ago when the Connecticut River was formed by the receding waters of the Pleistocene-era Lake Hitchcock, after the glaciers receded from what is now northern New England. The hillside is steep, but it’s a good chance to get my legs moving, to fill my lungs with fresh air, to follow my whims, and to see what I might find. What did I find out there today? read on.
We’ve lived in Lyme for over twenty years and I have spent time in the woods of New Hampshire for over thirty years. I’ve seen nearly every large mammal – deer, moose, bear, coyote, fox, and more – except a bobcat. So I was especially excited to spot a bobcat, at a distance and from behind, at the edge of a cornfield in September. Even then, because of the distance and the circumstance, I was unsure whether it was a bobcat until I’d returned home for close examination of the two photos I managed to snap before it disappeared.
Today, however, I had the good luck to look out the window, across the snowy lawn and the icy river to a dark figure moving along the Vermont shore. A bobcat was exploring the river’s edge, as if to test the ice and consider a move to New Hampshire. I grabbed my Nikon and the 200-500mm lens and collected a couple hundred shots in the two minutes it took him to walk out of sight. Even at 500mm it still takes a tight crop to get a good look, below. See the gallery for a few more, including a nice look at his face while he pauses to drink from the river’s surface.
A Vermont bobcat explores the river shore across from our house.
An uncropped example is below.
[uncropped] A Vermont bobcat explores the river shore across from our house.
Such a beautiful animal. I hope s/he visits again soon!
David Kotz 