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!
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!
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!
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!
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.
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.
Momma bear deconstructs my camera…
A couple months ago I circumnavigated the forest property where I keep my wildlife cameras, re-discovering a steep ledgy hillside that I’d seen a few years earlier. The landowner had told me that this area was “bear country”; seeing these granite outcrops, with their many dark nooks and crannies, and jagged fallen boulders, made me understand why. This rugged terrain, with plenty of surrounding forest and nearby sources of water, virtually cried out to as home for bear, coyote, and bobcat. So at the end of April I brought two of my cameras over to that side of the hill. I found a promising game trail and strapped my camera to a tree. Little did I know what would come by, only hours later! Read on to find out.
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.
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!)
Finally, a visitor to the hole in the tree.
Back in February I noticed some tracks and signs in the snow beneath a big ol’ tree. Looking up, I could see a big hole in the tree, about 25′ up; it sure looked like a nice place to build a nest. So I set up two cameras there: one at the base of the tree – which has led to some pretty cool videos of fisher, coyote, bobcat, and more – and another high in a neighboring tree so I could record any activity in that high-up hole. The picture below is the view from that camera. I’ve gotten a lot of video from that camera, but all of it was simply from the wind blowing the trees back and forth. Until now! Read on.
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?
David Kotz 