Lyme – Page 3 – David Kotz

Lyme wildlife – beavers

A new location allowed me to capture hundreds of videos of beavers.

In late October I purchased a new set of wildlife cameras, which allowed me to move the older cameras to a completely new location. It’s not far from the earlier locations, and located along a brook that has been dammed by beavers. I quickly discovered a path that had clearly been recently (and heavily) used by the beavers, commuting from the water to the woods, where they had felled several trees and must have been dragging the branches back to their pond just upstream of their dam. I placed a pair of cameras on a single tree – one camera pointed uphill toward the woods, and the other aimed downhill toward the water. I placed another camera across the brook where the dam met the shore. Within hours my memory cards were filling with beavers! Read on…

Wildlife cameras – October

No bears! Maybe they’ve all hibernated.

October was another busy month for the wildlife cameras near my home. As the oaks dropped their leaves, the turkeys and squirrels were busy foraging for acorns and other delicacies. Deer – both does and bucks – were plentiful. I enjoyed the comings and goings of a red fox, trotting past my cameras at all hours of the day and night… as well the plodding of a porcupine. For me, the bobcats are still most exciting – whereas the most interesting may be a tough, scar-faced buck, and the most mysterious is the noctural appearance of some sort of weasel.

This month I have posted just one video – less than seven minutes long – with the highlights. I’ve organized it into three locations, and at each location the clips are presented in chronological order. I find it interesting to see the same location visited by several different critters, all in the same day. Sometimes the predator passes by only a few hours behind their prey!

Wildlife cameras – September

Spoiler alert: Not all the cameras survived!

September was a busy month in the forests of Lyme New Hampshire, as the foliage started to turn and forest residents began their preparations for winter. This month I’m organizing the videos by location – with each video mostly in chronological order. It’s interesting to see the variety of animals that pass by a given point – sometimes within minutes of each other. I captured first-looks at two species I’ve never seen on camera before: a solo flying squirrel, and a group of strolling crows, both foraging among the leaf litter. Unfortunately, one of my cameras did not survive the month! Read on.

Comet (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS)

A new comet!

September treated us to a lunar eclipse, which I had the opportunity to photograph, and now October has brought us a good view of celestial visitor C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS). The evening sky was clear last night, but it took quite a while for me to find this new comet – still far above the western horizon more than an hour and twenty minutes after sunset. My first glimpse appeared in my peripheral vision – it was easier to see what I was not looking directly at it. I finally lined up my camera for a couple of decent shots.

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS)
(cropped from the photo below)

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) on 2024-10-18 at 1922 EDT
2.0 seconds at f/4, ISO 2500, cleaned with Lightroom Denoise

Lyme wildlife – a walk in the forest

A weekly ritual.

I currently have six wildlife cameras in a hillside forest near home. Every week or two I take a walk, from one side of the hill, over the top, and down the other side, stopping to check each camera along the way. I enjoy the opportunity to be alone in the forest, off trail. I pick my own path, following my own sense of direction, recognizing familiar landmarks like a particular fallen tree, a fern-filled glade, or a notable boulder. I scan the forest floor for fresh tracks, listen for birdsong or the crackle of branches, and just immerse myself in the experience. I find it intellectually interesting and spiritually restorative – and a good workout, climbing up and down the steep hillside. Read on for the video!

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!

Groundhog days

Seven groundhog pups!

Far in the back of our backyard is a pile of sticks – woody debris we’ve piled up for over 25 years as we trim trees and clear brush. With time, the pile has decomposed and compressed into a thick, firm dome-shaped structure. Last fall I discovered that some critter had burrowed under the pile. This spring I placed one of my wildlife cameras a few feet from the entrance and, in early June, I started capturing video of a big fat groundhog (woodchuck) emerging from the burrow. Then one day, I saw tiny faces appear deep in the burrow. Within a day, seven groundhog pups were exploring the burrow’s “front yard.” Wow, do these little pups have energy! Mama would come and go, presumably to feed (and perhaps to catch a little ‘me’ time), and sometimes to bring back a mouthful of dried leaves to freshen up the interior of their home. Meanwhile, the pups would play, wrestle, climb, and explore. I collected hundreds of minutes of video capturing some fascinating behaviors; here, I edited it down to an eight-minute compendium of my favorite clips. Settle in for eight minutes, and enjoy the video!

Wildflowers in foggy meadow

An hour wading among wildflowers on a summer morning.

A meadow near our home has been planted with wildflowers, bringing smiles to everyone who rides or drives by. One foggy morning I spent a happy hour collecting photographs as the sun rose and started to burn off the fog. Check out the full photo gallery!

Many thanks to the Upper Valley Land Trust (UVLT) for conserving this former farm field, and to the landowners for planting beautiful wildflowers!

All images shot with Canon R5 with the RF 100-500 lens.

Back scratcher

A black bear finds a new use for my wildlife camera.

Earlier this month one of my busiest camera locations encountered a black bear who had an itch to scratch. See the video, up close and personal!