Mystery Animal on Game Camera

[Bob Ross]

How about an under-nourished muskrat?

[GrantM]

Definitely the love child of bigfoot and the lock ness monster.

-g

[vertical_doug]

It looks like a Fox to me.

[Paul Jacobs]

What about placing a measured target in the same spot in front of the camera so you can estimate the exact size? In the fourth image it tends to stand quite tall so I would go for fox rather than any of the Mustelidae. A mink would look much smaller than a fox so the scale is important. I look forward to the solution.

[Saab2000]

My second guess is a fox. The last one shows a bushy fox tail.

These pics are legit interesting and I think we’d all like more, especially given the current excruciating boredom of most of our lives. Nice to see non-humans beginning to remind us that we’re not actually at the top of the food chain. Microbes are, but that’s not important right now.

[marley]

Looks like a mink. Too far south for fisher.

We had a Fisher cat in the woods , only 15 miles north of Boston

[j44ke]

Here's a photo of a coyote walking the same path to compare. The mystery critter is just beyond the stick across the path ahead of the coyote. Might not be so helpful for scale, but also note the relative tree sizes in the daylight photo.

I am sharing the crepuscular appraisal of fox habits. 1:44AM is a bit late for a fox, though adverse conditions could force them to hunt late. Like having a pair of coyotes in the neighborhood.




Here is a mink and a fisher. Different times of day, but the camera is supposedly in a similar spot. Hunched back, tail down, short front legs, head up and down.

I'd say a fox and a fisher, while differently proportioned, are probably about the same size. Red fox have long legs and gray fox have shorter legs but bushier longer tail.

[j44ke]

We had a Fisher cat in the woods , only 15 miles north of Boston

They are on the increase evidently, partly because of re-introduction programs and partly because porcupine populations surged when fisher populations declined due to over-trapping. Fishers are definitely incredible hunters, but they get a lot of blame for the work of raccoons on chicken houses.

Also we are on the western slope of the South Taconics, and as I mentioned, the S. Taconics have a more northern climate than the surrounding lowlands. Last winter we found moose tracks over the ridge at Jug End Trail in Massachusetts, and this winter I found a set of tracks crossing the iced-over wetlands while I was snowshoeing.

[Mabouya]

Jorn, you need one of two possible additions to your game camera set up:

[j44ke]

That is actually a really good idea. Thanks!

[j44ke]

I got a chance to talk to Dylan Cipkowski from the Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program. Dylan wrote a historical land use survey of our property dating back to about 1830 after spending hours and hours researching deeds and narratives about past owners. He spent a considerable amount of time hiking the property to connect the information on paper with features on the ground, so he knows the area where the photo was taken. He also grew up in Chatham (about 15min away as the crow flies) so he knows the animals.

He ID'd the photos as a fisher without hesitation, which was surprising to me. He said the hind end and fat tail was a give away. During the last year he found 5 dead fishers along the Taconic State Parkway on his way to work. The parkway is about 8 miles west of here, so if they have fishers there, we have them here. The Taconic State Parkway is a big obstacle for animals. A lot get killed there because of the natural habitat right up to the edge of the road on much of the route and then the grazing lands alongside the road elsewhere.

So I am going to reposition the camera a bit. I think at night the camera is actually focusing on some dead branches rather than on objects further out, so I will clear those away if possible. And I'll set it up to take more photos with less time between each photo, so there is a greater chance of getting something good.

Here's a photo of one of the fishers that Dylan found dead (unfortunately.) He photographs car-strike victims he finds as part of the program's data collection. Ironically biologists often only know a particularly secretive animal exists in a location when they find one killed on a road.

IMG_9292.jpg

[thollandpe]

Fisher is recognizable in profile because of its flatter face. A lot bigger than a mink. Mink will be like a ferret or otter with the pointy nose.

I've yet to see one in the wild but I've found tracks in the snow. The habits I see are dashing from tree to tree, unlike other animals that tend to follow a path.

[Tom]

Last year early in the year I saw a dead fisher on Route 159 going up toward Mariaville, it bummed me out because it was a really big and beautiful animal. Later in the summer I saw one as I was just cresting one of the steep hills west of town, it crossed the road in front of me and when I got near where it crossed there it was in the ditch poking around at something. It looked up at me and loped off into the woods. Exactly a week later on the road about three quarters of a mile to the east it crossed the road in front of me headed into that same patch of woods. All my life of wandering around in the woods I never saw one and then what I am sure was the same animal two weeks in a row.

[thomas]

I'm with the Fisher crowd. They're almost black, long bushy tail, and they're a lot more common than most people realize. Looks like the right size for one, too.

[WFSTEKL]

I am a 100% uncertain that you have captured an Old Speckled Hen.

[monadnocky]

Oh, and here's a thing about fishers. They don't make much noise at all, contrary to popular belief. They actually aren't known to verbalize much of anything, outside of a few grunts (in general, mustelids don't make any vocalizations at all).
That weird, eerie scream at night you're hearing? Most likely a fox, or something being killed, or a coyote, but most assuredly not a fisher, contrary to all the rural folklore.

[guido]

Three years ago we had an active Fisher week where we saw one in the yard, one crossing the road about 15 minutes by car south of the house and one a half hour west on a bike ride. We haven't seen one before or since. Curious critters indeed.

[ides1056]

They are common where I live, and I see them with some frequency, three to five times a year. What is most remarkable about them is the speed at which they can move. I have seen them bound through deep snow in advance of my dogs arrival, and disappear up a tree soundlessly as I ride along a gravel road.

Returning from a walk a few days ago on of my dogs took off into an area of deadfall spruce and I heard what sounded like the loud clashing of antlers. Following, I saw a black bear about thirty feet up in a spruce. I called my dog, loudly, and the bear came down the tree as though it was a firepole, more afraid of me than the dog. Fletcher listened and came to me and we made it home without further ado.

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.

[sk_tle]

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.

I live in a city, close to what is supposed to be an avenue that gets lots of traffic in a normal settings + two bars that close at around 3am just next to our building. Being able to enjoy the birds songs is revigorating. I actually fell asleep last night while listening to the sea 200m away.

[j44ke]

I tell you what, right now is a great time to have a game camera! I pull the SD card after 2-3 nights and there are 100+ images on it. Animals are feeling good about being out and about.

But the noise is returning. Local building supply company, Herringtons, sends out a fleet of deliveries every morning since a week ago Monday. Projects are go. GC says our house is likely to kick back into gear next week.