Old and weary-but alive

      This big old buck survived the hunting season but looked tired. He staggered off and was never photographed by this camera again. Only a few deer were captured camera trapping in Pittsburg N.H. despite having 10 trail cameras active all winter (2012).

A few small mammals including this ermine and American marten (more commonly known as the pine marten) made visits to a number of cameras this winter. These cameras were checked in late April 2012.

A few pictures of Moose from Pittsburg N.H. Moose were one of the most common visitors to the cameras during their five and half month deployment. Many more photo's to come.

        Made the trip to northern N.H. and retrieved all but one cameras. These are the first of many photo's from 10 cameras that were out for 5.5 months! Most cameras were either still working or had stopped working April 10th or 13th. These are pictures of spruce grouse-a species of concern in N.H. I am told that these birds had never seen a human before and didn't associate "two legged" animals as predators. I was able to photograph a number of birds from as little as a few inches away!

Turkeys at the scratch post

The leaf scratches were everywhere and it was apparent Turkeys had been regularly sifting through the oak leaves trying to find a few acorns and insects that had survived the winter. When I checked the camera that's exactly what I found, lots and lots of turkeys. I was hoping for snow shots but the small amount of snow that had survived thus far disappeared in less then a day when the thermometer hit 70 degrees.

Life under the ice

 I thought I could get away with it for a couple weeks, but it's clear from these pictures that in order to achieve the picture clarity I desire, I need to put foam in the case to stop the flash bleed. Two weeks ago I crawled out onto a thin sheet of ice to place a camera next to open water that beavers have been keeping open to collect their winter food. After three days of above 50 degree temperatures I had to move the camera. I was lucky, I didn't fall through the ice collecting the camera, but another day and the camera would have been underwater.  Due to the problems associated with PIR detection of animals in cold water, I didn't get any pictures from that set. I moved the camera to the shore where the above pictures were taken. 

         

Back to the Log

         Back at one of my favorite logs, this camera was set up for otters and I got what I asked for on this one. Upon approach, I noticed an otter latrine (a group of scats together used for marking), and it looked as if otters had been near my camera. The camera was placed just a foot to close to the log so I moved it back and will wait for the otters return. All otter visits were in the evening or the early morning. A porcupine and a number of raccoons were also some of the visitors.