Mystery Animal on Game Camera

[thollandpe]

One thing that has been particularly striking about the past four weeks is the quiet. There has been no air traffic overhead, very much like the days after September 11. Walking the dogs early in the morning a Pileated woodpecker flew over and I heard the sound of its wings slicing the air. I have never noticed this before, and I encounter them frequently. Growing up in CA the only times I ever saw them was in very deep forest far removed from humans. Here they are abundant and unafraid.

The pileated woodpeckers have really multiplied around here over the past few years, they're having a ball with all the various bark beetles. Love their call, almost as common as turkeys now. Yesterday there was one right outside our kitchen window going to town on some fallen logs.

But the sound of their wings is amazing. I probably hear two for every one I see. They're still pretty shy. And fast.

[j44ke]

The pileated woodpeckers have really multiplied around here over the past few years, they're having a ball with all the various bark beetles. Love their call, almost as common as turkeys now. Yesterday there was one right outside our kitchen window going to town on some fallen logs.

But the sound of their wings is amazing. I probably hear two for every one I see. They're still pretty shy. And fast.

Asian longhorn beetle grubs for breakfast lunch dinner snacks etc.



Not my photo.

[htwoopup]

Those woodpeckers are the official bird of our little village in Canada. Never knew villages had official birds. They are everywhere and grow quite large and fearless near us. What always amazed me about them is how the holes they make are square or rectangular. Round beak and a square hole. Just seems odd.

[j44ke]

Though it looks round, the beak is actually shaped like a pointed splitting wedge. So they use the grain direction just like any good wood splitter. Most tree grain is vertical, some straighter than others, some wood harder than others, so the hole shape ranges from oval to rectangular.



Because Pileateds are so big and make nice big holes in trees for nesting cavities, they are important house-builders for screech owls and wood ducks, among others. If you have Pileated woodpeckers, you'll probably have screech owls, as long as the mix of trees is right. If you have Pileateds and you live near a stream or pond, you'll probably have wood ducks.

[htwoopup]

Screech owls and other assorted owls, ducks like crazy, turkey, bizarrely 2 seagulls which we always say she is screaming at him “I told you to look at a map”, bears, possum, beaver, moose, lynx. But we ain’t got no fisher and, oddly, no Canadian geese.

Just an excuse for a gratuitous picture of the environs.

IMG_1094 by Jon Mandel, on Flickr

[j44ke]

Seagulls are actually just gulls. There are plenty of gull species who never reach the ocean. Franklin's gulls nest in the northern Great Plains (oh Canada.) They do like water but an ocean is not required.

I am full of fun bird facts. Or full of it. One or the other.

[ides1056]

I have only once seen a Wood Duck. It was alongside the Middle Branch of the Westfield River. Frozen.

What a beautiful creature.

I gave it to a friend who is a fly fisherman.

[j44ke]

He she it is back. Looks very fisher-like to me in this series. I am slowly figuring out there is an animal pathway that comes in from the right just about where this series starts and then goes right again where the series ends at the big tree. Hard to make much out of the footprints due to the leaves and all the deer footprints obliterating everything. Anyway, we've moved the game camera about 20' further up the trail, so hopefully we get a better photo next time.

No idea what it was up to except that it was tear-assing up the trail and then it stopped and looked back. I still think that as silent as these cameras are to my ears, super sneaky extra radar critters know that something is up.

[guido]

Looking more like a house cat to me. Tail is much slimmer than a fisher's tail. The profile in the last pic is cat like as well...

[j44ke]

Looking more like a house cat to me. Tail is much slimmer than a fisher's tail. The profile in the last pic is cat like as well...

Geez, I hadn't considered that. Would be a house cat well out of its element.

The tail does look slimmer, but I am also a bit frustrated with this camera's night photos. I can't discount some motion-created distortion. But I guess that goes for the previous photos as well. We'll just have to see if the new position buys us any detail.

[Saab2000]

Geez, I hadn't considered that. Would be a house cat well out of its element.

The tail does look slimmer, but I am also a bit frustrated with this camera's night photos. I can't discount some motion-created distortion. But I guess that goes for the previous photos as well. We'll just have to see if the new position buys us any detail.

A house cat would not be out of its element. They are super predators and nature’s efficient killers. They’re also invasive animals in many habitats. No need for these to have been the same animal.

I love cats but make no mistake. They’re actually just mini versions of apex predators.

[bironi]

Smart cat too.
Gives the camera a profile view from the greatest distance.
I think i't giving you the finger.

[j44ke]

Well what I meant was, with all the raccoons, owls, coyotes and bobcats around, I can see why this animal - if it was a cat - might have been running so fast down the path.

[charliedid]

Geez, I hadn't considered that. Would be a house cat well out of its element.

The tail does look slimmer, but I am also a bit frustrated with this camera's night photos. I can't discount some motion-created distortion. But I guess that goes for the previous photos as well. We'll just have to see if the new position buys us any detail.

Maybe try moving the camera to that tree where they hang a right? Chances are good that they are slowing and or stopping as in the pic. In the photos currently it appears to be huffing it up t'words the trees a bit and moving quicker...

Fun stuff either way.

[j44ke]

Maybe try moving the camera to that tree where they hang a right? Chances are good that they are slowing and or stopping as in the pic. In the photos currently it appears to be huffing it up t'words the trees a bit and moving quicker...

Fun stuff either way.

I’m going by this afternoon and I’ll check the results so far in the new location which is at the halfway point. If no good, I’ll move it to the end as you say. At least then I might get some head-on shots.

Also there is a squirrel crosses back and forth at the midpoint all day long, so out of 100 or so shots about 30% are Mr. Squirrel.

[Tom]

I've been meaning to ask how high off the ground your camera is. I have one in my back yard and it gets the small critters in the near foreground but I only have it perched on a 4 inch block. It does get amusing raccoon butt shots as they appear to hop over it but I can't help but think its missing a lot.

[j44ke]

I've been meaning to ask how high off the ground your camera is. I have one in my back yard and it gets the small critters in the near foreground but I only have it perched on a 4 inch block. It does get amusing raccoon butt shots as they appear to hop over it but I can't help but think its missing a lot.

Between 2-3’. Recently it was at 3’ almost exactly but I realized things were walking underneath it. And deer were licking the camera. A little lower and I get smaller critters and the deer don’t lick the camera. I am attaching it to trees, so sometimes it is low but points up a bit. And sometimes I wedge a few sticks behind it to get the angle I want. I try to find animal tracks and position the camera so it is looking along the path rather than across it. It also seems to work better looking up a slight incline rather than down.

[j44ke]

We drove into and out of NYC today (everything we have upstate is either wool or canvas so need lighter weight stuff.) On the way down, it was like Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom all along the Taconic State Parkway. Turkeys, hawks, deer, birds in wide variety. The TSP is like 24 Hours of LeMans on a calm day, and this morning (7AM) we were the only car for miles. On the return we took back roads and saw two dead mink, each on the shoulder of the road next to a small pond. Sad. But size-wise, no comparison to the mystery animal. The mystery animal is definitely a size up. Could be a cat though. That’s a possible ID as well as fisher.

[monadnocky]

We drove into and out of NYC today (everything we have upstate is either wool or canvas so need lighter weight stuff.) On the way down, it was like Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom all along the Taconic State Parkway. Turkeys, hawks, deer, birds in wide variety. The TSP is like 24 Hours of LeMans on a calm day, and this morning (7AM) we were the only car for miles. On the return we took back roads and saw two dead mink, each on the shoulder of the road next to a small pond. Sad. But size-wise, no comparison to the mystery animal. The mystery animal is definitely a size up. Could be a cat though. That’s a possible ID as well as fisher.

I take the Taconic rarely, but historically, I have tended to do so in the dead of night or very early morning before the sun is up. And I'm always afraid that I'm going to hit something large. One time that I did take it during daylight hours I saw a bear ambling down the shoulder, like he had a flat and was walking to the nearest gas station.

Reminds me of past trips I've taken to far northern NH, in the dark, dodging moose* and deer the whole way. Trust me, it's not a lot of fun.


*Very few moose left in northern NH now, what with winter tick and all. I go to Pittsburg (NH) once a year - ten years ago they were everywhere- I haven't seen one in five years.

[Mabouya]

I saw a bear ambling down the shoulder, like he had a flat and was walking to the nearest gas station.

Happens all the time...