Mystery Animal on Game Camera

[claritycycler]

Sooo many good caption possibilities for this pic!

[Mabouya]

Sooo many good caption possibilities for this pic!

"That d@med Smokey - when he sold me the car he swore that the thin blue exhaust smoke was just the new rings bedding-in, and it would soon go away. Now the smoke is all black, the plugs are fouled, and I have no power.

You just can't trust a bear who's gone human."

[ZenNMotion]

"That d@med Smokey - when he sold me the car he swore that the thin blue exhaust smoke was just the new rings bedding-in, and it would soon go away. Now the smoke is all black, the plugs are fouled, and I have no power.

You just can't trust a bear who's gone human."

"I'll do my part for the planet, this thing looks a couple quarts low, a little honey replacement should do the trick"

[Mabouya]

"I'll do my part for the planet, this thing looks a couple quarts low, a little honey replacement should do the trick"

[bironi]

That won't make it to the motor.
The mechanical one that is.

[thollandpe]

“Well I’ll be dipped in shit, that really is an Isuzu motor in a GMC.”

[choke]

“It’s because I’m smarter than the average bear.”

[j44ke]

So I don't know what that animal was. Maybe just a house cat. It hasn't shown up on the game camera again. I've actually only checked the game camera twice in the last couple months. So this morning when I switched the SD card out, it had 1250 images on it. A lot of them were the local showboat squirrel. And the resident crow family. And an endless number from the raccoon family album - about 30 nose ear and whisker shot from the kids (I suspect) trying to open the game camera.







Nice pics of the coyote. It has been hot and dry.









Turkey family



Red fox



Correction: Coyote evidently got a fawn.



A porcupine!





Bobcat!

[Mabouya]

Very cool variety.

Do you know if the brook runs throughout the summer, or does it tend to dry up?

[guido]

The one in the fourth from the end looks like a porcupine...

[j44ke]

Very cool variety.

Do you know if the brook runs throughout the summer, or does it tend to dry up?

It gets a bit “thinner” than it is right now, but there has always been a trickle. The frogs love it this way. They are all over the place. Which is also probably why the raccoons are there every night. They like frogs. And their kids, like all kids, want to be on the Internet, so they won’t leave the camera alone.

The one in the fourth from the end looks like a porcupine...

Yes, definitely a porcupine. That’s the first living one I’ve seen east of the Mississippi in a long time. Of course, I didn’t see it technically, the game camera did. I saw them fairly regularly in Arizona, usually south of Tucson but also in the Superstitions east of Phoenix.

But that’s actually a coyote with the fawn. Not a fox. Size and color are wrong for a fox. I may have been on the property about the time this happened, because there was a doe running down the middle of our street when I pulled out, which was weird.

[Mabouya]

It gets a bit “thinner” than it is right now, but there has always been a trickle. The frogs love it this way. They are all over the place.

You must also have salamanders. (and lots of other critters that like having a stream)

[j44ke]

You must also have salamanders. (and lots of other critters that like having a stream)

Hoping to find one of the large spotted salamanders. The ones from the family of “mole” salamanders. Subterranean species.

[ides1056]

You are very lucky to have that cat show up. Looks like a Lynx. Porcupine are abundant here. There is a fox in one of the photos I think: longer ears and abundantly bushy tail. At 2:41.

[Tom]

Lynx are tall and leggy, my guess would be bobcat. I just read a book about foxes intrigued that I had one in my city back yard. Surprising how well they adapt, but more surprising is how little they are, like 8-15 pounds. I laugh at everybody going keep your cats inside! when the cat has teeth, claws and probably 3-5 pounds on the fox and likely predates on the kits.

[monadnocky]

The regional variation in porcupine density is interesting. Here in Merrimack county (NH) and especially in the Lakes region, you can't go out into the woods without seeing one, especially at night or daybreak. Saw a juvenile a few days ago crossing the road on a (road) ride. It's almost alarming to hear that you don't bump into them where you are in NY (at least, those that aren't roadkill).
As Tom noted, that's definitely a bobcat. Lynx are startlingly tall and leggy (and surprisingly big) and vanishingly rare - in fact, there is no evidence that there are any breeding lynx in New York, and the state wildlife site doubts that there are any at all in the state. There may be some in (far) northern NH, but even this is apparently in doubt.

[ides1056]

You are right.

[monadnocky]

Here in NH, what really divides people, more than red v. blue even, is the question of whether mountain lions are in the state. Despite the complete and utter lack of any evidence whatsoever (a body, a kill, scat, a print), despite the fact that everyone has a high-definition camera in their pocket these days, so many people here really really really want to believe that lions are everywhere and the state department of fish & wildlife (for some completely incomprehensible reason) is part of a conspiracy to cover it up.

A friend of a friend states that he sees them all the time. Like, every few days. They kill his llamas all the time. So odd that he never can seem to get one on camera.

[htwoopup]

The regional variation in porcupine density is interesting. Here in Merrimack county (NH) and especially in the Lakes region, you can't go out into the woods without seeing one, especially at night or daybreak. Saw a juvenile a few days ago crossing the road on a (road) ride. It's almost alarming to hear that you don't bump into them where you are in NY (at least, those that aren't roadkill).
As Tom noted, that's definitely a bobcat. Lynx are startlingly tall and leggy (and surprisingly big) and vanishingly rare - in fact, there is no evidence that there are any breeding lynx in New York, and the state wildlife site doubts that there are any at all in the state. There may be some in (far) northern NH, but even this is apparently in doubt.

Interesting. In Mont Tremblant, the last 6 or 7 times I have brought the dog into the vet for one thing or the other there has been someone with a dog needing porcupine quills removed every time. Yet I have never seen one.

And, we have so many Lynx along one of the 100-ish KM trails we have that one of the MTB trails is named Lynx. I have seen at least one on every ride in that area.

We aren’t that terribly north of NY/NH. And there isn’t a border wall. Just find it fascinating the variation.

[monadnocky]

Interesting. In Mont Tremblant, the last 6 or 7 times I have brought the dog into the vet for one thing or the other there has been someone with a dog needing porcupine quills removed every time. Yet I have never seen one.

And, we have so many Lynx along one of the 100-ish KM trails we have that one of the MTB trails is named Lynx. I have seen at least one on every ride in that area.

We aren’t that terribly north of NY/NH. And there isn’t a border wall. Just find it fascinating the variation.

It's even more intriguing taking into consideration their enormous home ranges. In the late 80's to early 90's, quite a few were released into upstate NY and tracked. They immediately dispersed widely, some ending up several hundred miles (once close to 500 miles away) but none stayed in the area. Given this range, you'd expect some in your area would disperse south ito New England and upstate NY. Northern - and I mean way northern - NH doesn't seem to be that different from Quebec, ecologically speaking. Wonder why they don't disperse south.