porcupine

Time lapse: equinox to solstice

Watch spring arrive in New Hampshire!

As regular readers know, I have placed several wildlife cameras in a forest near home, and have captured many enjoyable videos of wildlife like deer, bear, fox, coyote, bobcat, turkey, and more. The same cameras can be set to capture photos on a regular schedule, which can later be stitched into a timelapse video. Back in March, a few days before the spring equinox, I placed a camera at the edge of what I knew to be a vernal pool; this month, a few days after the summer solstice, I removed the camera. The camera snapped an image every five minutes from sunrise to sunset, resulting in 14,697 images. Watch the pool evolve from a snowy landscape into a lush fern-filled glade. Watch the heavy snow of March 23 lay its burden on the branches, and then watch those branches relax on March 23 and 25; watch the pool freeze and then re-thaw; watch the April 4th snowstorm bury the pool once again; watch snow melt and the grasses stretch toward the April sun; watch the ferns unfurl into the May sunshine. Below is an abbreviated timelapse, one photo per day at noon. See the full-res noon-time video (1 minute), and the full-length video (10 minutes). If you watch very, very closely, you might see a animal or two.

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 – October

Fox, deer, bobcat, and more!

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!”

Backyard wildlife

One location, nine days, six types of critter!

I found a new location for my wildlife camera that is creating a feast of images: the backyard apple tree. The apples are ripe, falling from the tree, and feeding the entire neighborhood! Check out this two-minute video review of the local deer, fox, woodchuck, turkey, possum, and porcupine.

The woodchuck stands to watch and listen – keeping one eye on my camera.

Sometimes it pays to look up.

Now that the snow has mostly disappeared from my little patch of woods – ‘my’ home forest, where I like to ramble in the early mornings when I have the opportunity – it feels like there is less to see. In the the depths of winter I can wade uphill through fluffy drifts of new-fallen snow, or crunch my way through older sun-worn snow, enjoying the fresh air and the opportunity to see (quite literally) the comings and goings of the local wildlife mapped out on the terrain in the form of their footprints through the snow. So today, as I topped the ridge on a warm spring morning, the sky as blue as ever but the leaf-covered ground as bare and brown and boring as it ever can be, I thought to myself that spring is just not nearly as interesting as winter. At least, for an untrained observer like me, not accustomed to ‘reading’ the complex groundscape of leaf and twig, stone and brush. Sure, I’ve noticed the places where the local residents scratch among the leaves in search of last year’s acorns, and I’ve examined piles of scat to discern who may have been through here – or whom they’ve eaten – but it’s much harder to see what’s going on. Then, I looked up.

Vermont Institute of Natural Science

Always a worthwhile visit.

It’s always worthwhile to visit VINS, especially when they have a special event… today, it was “Marvelous Mammals Day”, so in addition to their display of live raptors (hawks, eagles, owls, etc.) they had several live mammals on display, with expert docents explaining their interesting features. We enjoyed the presentation of a red-tailed hawk, a porcupine, and a possum.