Canadian Lynx in New Hampshire

 

 

If a lynx bounds through 18 inches of fresh power in the woods of northern N.H. and nobody is there, does it still make a noise?  

Trick question.

       Day in and day out, as the lynx races through thick underbrush searching for a snowshoe hare, it makes no noise. The the trees, almost in awe of such beauty, appear to bow outwardly to tunnel of travel. Massive paws allow this cat to skillfully and silently walk on top of the softest snow.

     With such a low density of lynx in N.H., I truly enjoy the challenge of trying to photograph them. For me, it is the ultimate test to design the right tools (remote camera systems) and combine those tools with the past experience and knowledge of wildlife to predict why/where an animal will be before it gets there.

          When working with remote cameras, in particular long term camera sets, if things can go wrong, they will. Moisture in the camera leads to blurry pictures, batteries die, the cold stops components from working, a curious moose or bear moves/steals/punctures the camera only to be found face down or waterlogged months later, and the list goes on. These photos, taken in the winter of 2013, highlight one such success. One lynx, eight pictures, frozen in time.

Canadian Lynx Kittens in N.H.

      This photo, one of a series, was taken in late November of 2012 is among the first to show not just Canadian lynx in New Hampshire, but a population of breeding Canadian lynx. A breeding population is vastly more important to biologists then a single animal or animals passing through.
       These kittens represent the future for lynx in N.H. Had this camera not been set, it is likely these lynx would have never been observed. It's a testament to a cat that is among other things, extraordinarily stealthy. Note the large size of the tracks in the snow, one characteristic that sets lynx tracks apart from it's relative the bobcat. There's a wonderful article in the N.H. Wildlife Journal, written by Nancy Skarmeas with the help of a very knowledgable biologist named Will Staats. It can be found HERE. Special thanks to Luke Barbour and Cameron Ehle, who helped setup/retrieve these cameras.