Visitor

     My wife was hanging up clothes yesterday around noon and she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. There was a bear cub going up on our porch. We had been seeing it around in the fields near the house the past couple of days. It was weaned by it's mother this spring and is a little confused making it on it's own right now. She said after it explored the porch it laid down under a shrub beside the porch for two hours and slept complete with snoring. It finally wandered off after it's nap. Hopefully it will head back into the mountain and stay away from the houses.

Bathing Owl

I've seen some other folks get pics of owls in the water but this is a first for me. I think this is a Barred Owl. Got it on my camera set at the small mountain pond. I'm guessing it was after some of the frogs that are in the pond.

Zoomed in on this one.

Taking A Dip

He doesn't look too pleased after he got out. Guess the water temp wasn't to his liking.

Grey Fox

       HOLY COW!!! I haven’t posted anything since March :(. Been pretty slow on the camera traps and very busy for me this spring. Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things soon.
      Can’t tell if this is a male or female but it’s been a regular visitor at this camera site this spring. I suspect there’s a den near this camera but I just haven’t had time to investigate it. Should be starting to see some fawns pretty soon.

Turkeys

       Considering all of the snow and cold we’ve had and are still having (another 6” tonight) the turkeys are really looking good. I’ve seen this flock several times and it looks to have 20 to 25 birds in it.

Gray Fox

     Got some day time shots of a beautiful Gray Fox the other week on two different days in the same spot as the Skunks. It’s unusual to get a Gray Fox on camera during the day time but like the Skunks it's their mating season so you can see them any time.

Skunks

     It’s rare for me to get skunks on camera during the day time. But the other week I didn’t get one but I got two. February and March are the breeding season for skunks here so I’m guessing the orangey white one is a female and the blacker one that come through a few minutes later is a male.

     Oh, and in other good news we may get another 8” – 12” snow Monday. @%$#@@@#&^%!!!!

Snow is a Four Letter Word

      While I wouldn’t say I hate snow I am getting really tired of it this winter. We actually had a beautiful sunny warm day today and it was so nice to get out and check my cameras. I really got some good shots the past couple of weeks from two cameras. But I’ll start out with some from the big snow we had. I had 16” at my house. It was a light fluffy snow so my snow blower just rolled through it. The good thing about snow is I get to play with one of my toys :).

The beginning of the storm.

Notice the snow on the deers back. It's amazing how well insulated they are.

Storm was just about over.

Face full of snow.

My wife liked these Valentine's Day pic.

Squirrel vs. Deer

     It's always fun to watch the different animals interact with each other. Squirrels and deer are always in competition with each other for food but this is the first time I’ve seen a deer actually chase a squirrel.
      I didn’t get out to check my cameras today. We had 16” of snow Thursday and I don’t feel like fighting it to check them today. I’m really for warm, sunny weather!

The stare down

And they're off.

The squirrel decides the ground might not be the best place for him.

Back to normal.

Well, maybe not.

Looks like the chase got everyone pumped up.

Man-Eating Tiger and the Coldest

     I know a strange combination but humor me. First I saw an interesting article today about a man-eating Tiger in India. The ones of you that have followed me know I’m fascinated about stories of man-eater and have a large collection of vintage hunting books by men who have hunted them. This story really caught my eye because of where it was occurring…in the Jim Corbett National Park located in north central India. Corbett is one of my favorite writers on the subject of man-eating tigers and leopards. Here is a link to the story….Man-Eating Tiger. So if you’re having a bad day think about how much worst it could be running into a 500 lb. cat that is going to eat you.

      Now for the coldest. The following pics are from a couple of weeks ago but they are the coldest temperature I have recorded on my trail cameras…2°F. The deer herd up in the cold weather and travel in groups. This group of does were being followed by a small buck.