deer – Page 3 – David Kotz

Lyme wildlife – August

August treats us to bears, coyotes, a bathing owl, and more!

I woke at 2am to the howls of the coyotes, and they sounded close. It’s increasingly common for us to hear coyotes near our home, but in 33 years living in New Hampshire I’ve only once seen a coyote in-person. (They are mostly noctural, and I am not!) As noted in my post from June, I was thrilled when my wildlife camera caught a daylight video with a litter of coyote pups visiting a vernal pool. So, as I lay awake listening to the coyotes last night, I imagined those little pups were out there now, learning the ways of their pack, and wondered whether they might be in view of of one of my cameras.

Indeed my cameras brought us many exciting treats in August: a pack of coyotes, many views of both mama and papa bear (and baby bears too!), a fastidious barred owl, a nosy skunk, and more.

Two bear cubs explore the shore of a vernal pool.

Wildlife camera – July

July edition of captures from my wildlife cameras in the forests of Lyme. Squirrel, bear, deer, and raccoons.

July was a quiet month for my wildlife cameras – but resulted in some interesting video captures! Mid-month I shared the fun close-up view of a black bear, who used my camera as a back-scratcher. Now, I share a video compendium… a cute squirrel grooming himself, a busy raccoon moving through the woods overnight, a black bear that gets frighteningly close, a series of deer (including a young buck), and a pair of mischievous raccoons!

Lyme wildlife: June 2024

New surprises!

My wildlife cameras have been busy this month! With the return of spring, I placed a camera back down by the riverside… and started capturing the daily visits of a couple of Canada Geese and their brood of little goslings. As the weeks wore by, the goslings grew bigger… and fewer. (We started with four, then three, then two.) They were fun to watch, but the really cool stuff came later. Read on!

Aspen Mountain

A steep climb at high altitude, with outrageous views.

I was in Aspen for a AAA&S workshop for higher-ed leaders; immediately afterward, I pulled together my hiking and photography gear and took the hotel shuttle into the center of town. From there, I walked a kilometer on city streets to reach the trailhead for the Ute Trail, which leads up to Ute Rock and beyond to the summit of 11,270’ Aspen Mountain (3435m). I was fortunate to have arrived in Aspen three days earlier, to give me a little time to acclimatize to Aspen’s 7,980’ elevation (2432m). Still, especially under the afternoon’s strong summer sun, I really felt the altitude as I climbed the incredibly steep trail through eight, nine, ten thousand feet. The first half of the route ascends on steep switchbacks through a forest of aspen and conifers, with wildflowers sprinkling the forest floor; it then follows ski slopes (black diamond and double-black diamond!), some with lingering patches of snow, to the summit. Three thousand feet of gain in under three miles, at this altitude, whew!

I take in the view from the sundeck at the summit.

Aspen

My first visit to Aspen – beautiful!

I had the opportunity this week to attend a Forum for Higher Education Leaders, hosted by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (AAA&S), in Aspen, Colorado. I had never been to Aspen before… but the opportunity to spend a week in the Rocky Mountains, during wildflower season, was too much for a hiker/photographer like me to pass up.

View down to center of Aspen, along my route down Aspen Mountain.

Lyme wildlife – May 2024

Five cameras in the forest.

As spring turns into summer, my wildlife cameras have been busy. I have five cameras out in the forest – one capturing a timelapse and four using motion triggers to capture passing wildlife. After the exciting encounter with momma bear (and two cubs) early in the month, as noted in my earlier post, I did not see her again for almost three weeks. This month’s video highlights a variety of animals and locations, mostly in chronological order: turkey, deer, raccoon, porcupine, a teeny mouse, … and yes, momma bear, who returns to fiddle with my cameras once again.

Wildlife camera – April

Momma bear returns… with cubs!

April was a month of transition for my local patch of forest, here in Lyme New Hampshire. Although we had a big snowstorm early in the month, all of the interesting wildlife videos I have to share this month show the bare ground and leafless branches of early spring. In this month’s video highlights, you’ll see a familiar cast of characters – turkey, deer, raccoon, porcupine, skunk, and even a busy little mouse. I caught the raccoon red-handed (twice!) inspecting that hole in the tree – highlighted in a recent post – but as far as I can tell, the hole is still unoccupied.

The raccoon climbed the tree and inspected the nesting hole.

Perhaps most excitingly, the big black bear is back – last seen on Christmas Day – and now has two little cubs in tow! The appearance of this bear family reminded me of a comment made by a local – that the other side of the hill is “bear country” – so I moved a couple cameras over there. Two weeks later: Wow! I got more than I expected. I’ll share that experience soon. (Subscribe, so you won’t miss it!)

Wildlife camera – March

Fox, deer, turkey, skunk, mouse, more!

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?

deer looking at my wildlife camera — Wildlife camera captures from March 2024, in the forests of Lyme NH.

Wildlife camera – February

New cameras and exciting footage!

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!

Wildlife camera – January

Deer, fox, coyote, and fisher!

Winter has been fickle this year – bringing us some good snowfalls, but also tremendously warm weather and bare ground. I expanded my set of wildlife cameras from two to four, and explored several new locations in the forest near my home. Check out the video! I caught many videos of white-tailed deer, including an interesting behavior: food is scarce for them in winter, so they browse on the thin branches of hemlock trees. I placed a camera next to a fresh fallen hemlock, surrounded by deer tracks, indicating they come often to nibble.

I also caught two red fox running by on a brilliant sunny day and a glimpse of a coyote trotting by in the middle of the night. Most exciting, though, was the fisher, a well-known local animal I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen. “The fisher (Pekania pennanti) is a carnivorous mammal native to North America, a forest-dwelling creature whose range covers much of the boreal forest in Canada to the northern United States. … It is sometimes referred to as a fisher cat, although it is not a cat.” [Wikipedia] Indeed, Wikipedia’s image of the fisher in its winter coat is a dead ringer for what we see in my video:

By http://www.ForestWander.com, CC BY-SA 3.0 us, Link

Unfortunately, my fisher video came from one of the two new cameras, which seem to be perpetually out of focus. I’ve tried numerous tests and fixes, and communicated with tech support, to no avail. They are sending replacement cameras, so I hope February will bring me more clear video!