Bears and more Bears

I've been experimenting with a new IR camera I recently built. Since the camera is viewing the full spectrum of light, the colors are slightly off as there is no longer an IR filter on the glass inside the camera. Thus far I haven't noticed any difference in wildlife behavior compared to the white flash units I normally use. These are a few pictures from one spot in northern N.H. It was close to a bog and the black bear traffic was incredible to watch. At least 6 different bears visited this location in a 19 day period. Some spent time feeding in the blueberry patch directly in front of the camera or trying get pry the camera off the tree.

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.

           A few pictures taken in Wyoming of a mule deer and a small black bear traveling on a great ridge trail set. The bear was only photographed once but this deer in velvet was photographed multiple times (events). Time of a visit and frequency are important in gathering more information about this animals behavior, home range, etc, but this is a fragment of the information that the photographs from remote cameras can provide. Animal health, activity patterns, predator prey relationships, and powerful educational tools among others are a few of the reasons why remote cameras are growing in popularity with hunters, biologists, and those who love the outdoors. This is the same ridge trail where I photographed a wolf. This camera was only up for 10 days but exemplifies the diversity of wildlife over a ten day period on one trail.

The West is bigger...

         Things are just bigger out west, or at least it seemed that way in Wyoming. It's a different type of landscape from New England, one that's often open enough to easily watch wildlife from the road. In the early hours of the morning, dozens of mule deer in bachelor groups devoured everything in their path. I couldn't guess the score of antlers, but it was clear that we saw some huge bucks, maybe even record breakers.
           Holding true to crepuscular activity (animals that are active primarily during twilight), we often saw these deer on the side of the road between 4-6am. The high beams would inevitably flash across the field and in the distance the glint of eyes from a lifting head covered in a dark velvet crown. This photo was a decent buck that we often saw on the drive to work. There were a few much larger bucks that I would have loved to chase around. Photographed the first week in July, this guy had a long way to go.