Mystery Animal on Game Camera

[j44ke]

This showed up on the game camera when we checked it this afternoon.

Horrible quality (probably from rain on lens) - 1:44AM Friday morning 04/24 - eastern NY just over the border from Great Barrington - hemlock woods near stream











I have no idea, so looking forward to best guesses!

[Saab2000]

That’s a chupacabra.

[j44ke]

That’s a chupacabra.

Not the easter bunny on a post-holiday bender then?

[cny rider]

Fisher or mink?

[sk_tle]

I would have said a marten, a mink or a fisher. Hard to really figure out the exact size.

[robin3mj]

Looks like a mink. Too far south for fisher.

[alexstar]

That’s a chupacabra.

Came here to say this but I'll guess pine marten.

[Diablo de Acero]

It looks like a turkey or pheasant maybe.

[caleb]

How far from water? I think it'd be pretty unusual to see a mink up way away from the water.

I'd guess pine martin, or some sort of black tree weasel.

[caleb]

It looks like a turkey or pheasant maybe.

Oh yeah, good call. Small hen turkey.

[guido]

Mongoose?

[monadnocky]

My money is on fisher- they're not as arboreal as commonly believed.
unless water is nearby, I doubt mink.

And the suspect birds definitely roost at night in the trees.

[monadnocky]

My money is on fisher- they're not as arboreal as commonly believed.
unless water is nearby, I doubt mink.

And the suspect birds definitely roost at night in the trees.

On second thought: fox perhaps, but they're mostly crepuscular, not dead-of-night 1:44 am nocturnal.

[Colinmclelland]

On second thought: fox perhaps, but they're mostly crepuscular, not dead-of-night 1:44 am nocturnal.

Bit early for Wordish Wednesday but I can't even draw what crepuscular might mean....is it a Campy thing?

[j44ke]

It looks like a turkey or pheasant maybe.

That was my first thought, but both almost non-functional in the dark - like chickens - so they really aren't nocturnal. But possible I guess.

The water is a stream about 10' to the left of where the critter is, and about 30 yards in the direction the animal is traveling, the stream flows out of a collapsed beaver pond that makes about a 10 acre wetlands.

We are right next to the South Taconics, and they have this strange connection to habitat further north. Like moose. And Fisher is possible. Mink I hadn't considered.

Marten would be Adirondacks though.

Too small for an otter. Maybe a beaver? But the tail isn't right, though it is hard to tell.

A skunk?

On second thought: fox perhaps, but they're mostly crepuscular, not dead-of-night 1:44 am nocturnal.

Good idea. We have both red and gray fox. This would be more the size of a gray fox.

[j44ke]

Bit early for Wordish Wednesday but I can't even draw what crepuscular might mean....is it a Campy thing?

Active at twilight.

[guido]

[happycampyer]

That thing holding a staff or spear to the right looks like a wildling...

[monadnocky]

Now that I'm looking at it with a fresh eye, I wonder owl.

[j44ke]

I'm liking the mink/fisher idea. It seems to move a few steps and raises its head, then head down for a few steps and head goes back up. That's pretty much how those guys move around.

The owl suggestion isn't bad though. There is a pair of barred owls nesting nearby. Owls really don't like walking, but if they've caught something and it is putting up a bit of a struggle, they might hop around. But I'd expect to see wings.

I'm going to go back today and see if there are tracks. And change a few settings on the camera to see if I can get a better shot the next time.