Parade of critters

We got a brand new fancy field camera and set it up a couple months ago.  It's on top a steep and rocky hill and it takes a good 15 minute hike and many breaks to get up to it.  I'm usually the one to go and it's my exercise for the day.  We set the camera up to take 3 shots once the motion detector goes off with a 1 second interval. At first, everything was great with a reasonable amount of shots to review each week.  We even put the old field camera up near it.  We've had a bunch of windy days and nights which resulted in at first hundreds of photos within a week, but the latest round has resulted in over 6,000 photos.  It's attached to a smaller tree that moves in the wind and there's an ample amount of branches and leaves into the field of view to set the camera off.  The top bear photo was enough to stop reviewing the photos in the field and quickly scramble back down the mountain. I just hope this big guy survived the imminent bear hunt.  The usually visitors are the squirrel, oppossum, and raccoon.  The coon and possum seem to play tag team and their photos are always close to each others.  The squirrel shot is what I called the sunbeam squirrel shot.  For now, we've taken the cameras down and will wait later winter for some new action.  In the meantime, I hope that we can solve the excessive photos because my eyes are not happy from reviewing them all.

 

We also had a mystery guest as shown on the photo below.  The camera is set pretty close to the ground.  By process of elimination, we said it was a red fox.  We think its' up on the camera going for a very very quick sniff because the photos before and after it, which are one second apart, show nothing.....unless someone else thinks otherwise.

 

Wild New Jersey

I grew up watching a lot of Marty Stouffer's Wild America. I fondly remember the grizzly cub raising episodes. My parents didn't have cable and perhaps still don't have cable, so kid friendly shows were limited on non-cable tv. I'm sure if they knew what profession I end up with, they would have quickly ordered cable and had me watching doctor or teaching shows instead. I don't think they fully or even partially understand my profession and my father isn't very happy with the constantly dirty state my car is in. Did I mention that just this weekend my father remarked that he couldn't tell the difference between a squirrel and a chipmunk.....and had probably ran over the dead one we were looking at? Yup. I'm totally adopted....at least that's what I tell myself.

Even though the summer's heat has been at times unbearable (very punny), I've had my share of bear sightings. First up was a mother and her two young cubs. I spotted them while driving and quick as a flash I jumped out the car, left the car running, and grabbed my camera. My shots came out awful, but thankfully my boss' shots came out good and he didn't mind my animal paparazzi action. One cub immediately scurried up a tree, while mom and other cub casually meandered closer to us. Everyone was very relaxed and cubby eventually came down and joined the fam.

I had another encounter at another site with likely the same bear that had spooked me this spring. Had it not been for my co-worker, I wouldn't have seen the bear....two times mind you. We seemed to be following it or playing some sort of game of tag. Eventually it hunkered down for a nap and if I had been solo I probably would have walked right into it. I also reaffirmed to myself that if you hear rustling in the bushes....rustling of a large animal....a deer or bear....and if you yell out to it, if it doesn't run off it's likely a bear.

Dumpster diving

It was not the typical monday morning. We had a visitor to my office dumpster who helped themselves to our trash. The plastic flaps on the dumpster (now destroyed) and open gate made it an easy target. A bunch of us gathered around and gawked at it until the landscapers' truck drove up to it and scared it off. Everyone except me went back in the office. I just had to get a closer look with my camera. Sure enough the culprit was relaxing along the treeline waiting for another opening so that it could continue its breakfast. The landscapers felt the need to try to warn me. Surely I wasn't around to take out some trash considering I was holding my camera in fully ready mode. Then the garbageman showed up so the landscapers had to back out and I alerted the garbageman of the bear. Of course, neither the landscapers nor the garbageman picked up the trash and so the bear, I'm told, came back. As I left for the field, there was a trail of trash leading to the woods. And we wonder why bears are a problem. It's like leaving a pile of cookies and candy on the counter at work. People will swarm in and help themselves without abandon. But I think I'll be taking the scenic route to my parking spot each day to cruise by the dumpster. Side note - The copy repairman was so scared of the bear he spent 45 minutes in his car. Apparently he couldn't just drive to a different part of the parking lot to avoid the bear.



But my bear stories don't end there. I ventured to bear country and had to do a turtle survey. There was a couple of recent bear dumps as we walked in. Add to that chomped skunk cabbage and cattail. Both usual sights. But today, throw in some nice and very clear bear prints. We all separated as we searched. I was in a tucked in spot along the woods. I then spotted an unusual tree sapling and was yelling out to the others about it. Then I heard a large crash and a huff very close in the woods. I couldn't see anything and I didn't hear any running. So my gut said "Bear, not deer!" I quickly rejoined the group and told of my observation. Needless to say none of the guys ventured over to that part for the rest of the afternoon. Their excuses were "You covered that area so well" or "There was just not enough time." I think we know the real reason.

Three bears and no photos

Sorry folks, I was not able to obtain photos during my three bear sightings this week. The first bear was seen on foot and by the time I spotted it, the bear was barely visible in the woods. However, it was a lot closer when we first approached the area, but I oblivious to it. Makes me wonder how many other bears I've been oblivious to. Y'know with it's soft and padded paws, they can be silent walkers. The only thing that drew attention to it's presence was a chipmunk scurring across a log and making a ruckus. The last two bear sightings were in the car and moments apart. One bear was hoofing it up a wooded and rocky slope and another was in the was heading to the road. I heard today another bear was on that same road today. It's like a bear convention or something. I'm half tempted to drive that road this weekend to spot a bear and get an actual photo. Although it's tough to drive and bear watch at the same time. I'd that person driving like 5 mph on the non existent shoulder with the hazards on.

I've spent the entire week out in the field hiking many miles. Someone I've managed to keep up the energy to keep going. I kept saying that by friday, I'll need a walker and a wheelchair. Nevermind the predawn wakeups. But I see the light at the end of the tunnel and we should be able to finish up tomorrow. I am demanding at least one bear sighting. I've been spoiled this week since the last bear I saw was a couple years ago. I'm not counting the ones that I've heard or near misses. Here's some photos that shows what sort of hills we've been climbing.

Real summer

I was briefly back out doing more plant surveys. They were cut short thanks to the heat and other boring reasons. I can't say I was sad to be indoors during our short wave. I could usually handle the morning but by lunch I'd start get loopy. I'd stop caring and I'd be ready for a nap. Here's some more cool fungi about.

This is a ravaged tussock sedge, which is a clumped sedge. Some small critter must have made a nest in it and I can only assume a bear was determined to get at it.

Tomorrow I head into extreme mosquito zone from what my co-workers have said. Hopefully it won't be that bad but I'm already preparing for the worst.

A Tale from turtling

I've been out turtling as much as I can...weather permitting of course. The weather this spring has been whacky to say the least. We've had possibly record breaking heat followed by near freezing temperatures. It's now raining and cold and more of the same is predicted for most of the week. Not good turtling weather.

But given the hectic work schedule, I've had to make lemons out of lemonade. That's why we had to go out turtling at a very large site on the insanely hot day. We started out early to avoid the heat, but that didn't matter considering we had to spend about 3.5 hours out there. The vegetation was very dense shrubs peppered with swamp rose. I forgot my garden clippers so getting through was even more difficult. To add to the mess, every once in awhile you would stumble upon a bottomless open pit, which had to be carefully navigated. Boredom and exhaustion came early. No turtles were spotted. I did spot a couple water snakes and a newt....that was my excitement. To add insult to injury, dozens of ticks were continuously invading me. Each time I crashed through and even brushed up against a shrub, at least 5 ticks would hitch a ride on me. Of course, I was the only one in the group that had this problem. I did spray myself with bug spray, but since I didn't wear hip waders (opted for the lighter and cooler rubber knee boots...if you can call them that), I was the object of their affection. A few hours in I hear a co-worker yell to another "mumble mumble bear heading mumble mumble." I immediately jump out of my heat/boredom coma and come rushing towards the action. From what I learned is that all the skunk cabbage had been eaten in one area. I know exactly what that means....beartown. My co-worker then spotted a boulder and thought it was a good spot to rest on. Turns out the bear was resting on the other side! My co-worker did a silent and quick retreat and another co-worker unknowingly came upon the scene. Other co-worker made some noises and whistles and the bear took off.

So I am borrowing my hedge clippers from the family for the next visit....if that happens. If it does happen, you can all guess where I will be heading towards first. Don't worry, I won't be bringing it any snacks. I just want a peek....after all 3.5 hours is a long time for turtling.

A good start to spring

Update: My coworker went out to the site with the "root cellars" (actually old wells) and that bitten up tree. He ran into two bears, which quickly ran off when they spotted him.


This past week I got to spend two beautiful days alone out in the field. The beauty of being alone is that you can go at your own speed and enjoy nature as you go. Tuesday was the best day of the bunch. Unfortunately it was one of those days were photo opportunaties didn't quite work out. I spent the morning searching for salamanders, turtles, and other herps. Things were going relatively normal until I decided to walk back to the car along the edge of the pond. It had recently rained and I was surprised to have not seen any spotted salamander eggs, especially since my co-worker had found an adult on the shore the past week. Then bam, I spotted an egg mass and then another and another (see horrible pic above...all those clumps are egg masses). Then I spotted a pile of egg masses. They looked freshly laid since they hadn't had a chance to absorb water and grow so big. The pile of egg masses looked like coral. Then I shifted my focus under the water and I saw at least three big adult salamanders running/swimming like hell away from the pile. I grabbed one and it was the skirmiest, biggest, and slipperiest salamander I ever held. My snake stick was in the other hand so I had to handle it with only one hand. I battled my way back to shore, but I eventually lost the battle and the salamander dropped out of my hand and into the water. Mind you when I had first spotted the first egg mass I was at capacity with the boots. I had about an inch from the water line to the top of my boots. Well that all went to hell and one foot got quite wet and my arm sleeve was drenched once the commotion started. I tried to go back and get another salamander but the water had become so clouded and the salamanders were wise to the invasive giant.


Other morning highlights was seeing a spotted turtle, a painted turtle, and hearing a pickerel frog call. The the lowlight of this site was getting a deer tick biting into my belly. That would be two deer ticks bites this year and from this same site! Thankfully I seem to be ok.




The afternoon I headed to another site, which was part of a state park. It had beautiful woods and a nice stream. Also there were two old structures along the stream, which I imagine were used to keep food cold....or something like that. I also found an old homestead and piles of junk. All of this was again time suckers.

When I had first stepped foot on the site, I noticed what appeared to be porcupine poop. I also noticed this action on a tree, which was right next to some old bear poop. So I was on medium alert for some bear action. I'm pretty sure this is gnawing from either squirrels or porcupine. I guess they like birch beer as well.

Bear Haven

We all know that I like animals. There's a few animals that are especially dear to my heart. Bears are on that list. If there's a bear on a show, I'll probably be watching. I watched all those Growing up Grizzly shows and I was on team Aniston after watching her followup episode when she started getting a teary eyed....not in fear, but just emotional. I thought I was the only one that did that. So of course I watched this show about a retired school teacher in Alaska that has created a bear haven. He has a cabin, which he opens up in spring, and basically hangs out with bears. He feeds them and they all come in like pets. Some of the bears even can come inside! Because he feeds them, they have become like circus bears. Complete strangers can come in and mingle with the bears. My problem is the feeding of bears. He's taking perfectly fine wild bears who can hunt and survive and changing them into beggars. Besides, how can a diet of probably just dog food be good for bears over an extended period of time. What happens when Charlie dies? See, I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt that he won't be attacked viciously. I believe that he can read the bears and makes smart decisions regarding their behavior. These bears will go hungry when Charlie is gone. Plus having such a density of bears together is not good. Fights break out and bears get hurt. Won't these bears be easy pickens for the local bear hunters? I understand where he is coming from, but I think he's being selfish. Charlie says it's a fairy land and in a sense it would be a fairy land for me. But in the long run, this is not the best interest for the bears. I would rather have him create a bear sanctuary for former circus or pet bears or orphaned cubs. He would still have close contact but would allow the wild bears to be.


Most of the time the closest I get to bears is seeing things like this. Bear prints. Too bad about the human heel print but I guess it gives a good size perspective. I saw these prints today after scrambling down a very steep embankment to a river. The funny thing is that I was in the middle of a little historic downtown and not in the middle of the wilderness. It really was one of the last things I was expecting.