From the Fencerow

Our friends bought an old hill farm when they were married over 50 years ago; at that time it hadn’t been farmed for a number of years. The 1938 aerial photo of the farm shows very few trees other than those in a steep valley along the eastern boundary.

Since active farming ended, trees have grown in a valley on the western part of the property – that valley was the subject of this post.

Although our friends pastured a handful of beef cattle for a few years and cut hay from the fields until 15 years ago, the fields have only been mowed occasionally in recent years.

In the 1938 aerial photo there are a limited number of trees delineating what is now a significant fencerow. It was in that fencerow where I’ve had one or more camera traps at various places over the last few years.

From GoogleEarth

The fencerow is a travel corridor between the wooded valleys to its east and west.

White-tailed deer are frequently caught by the camera traps, second only to the ubiquitous gray squirrels. The second white-tail fawn in the video has an unusual pattern of white spots, with many more spots than most fawns. 

Although they are quite capable of doing so, woodchucks seldom climb trees and many people don't realize that they do. Speaking of climbing trees, gray fox are quite cat-like in their ability to climb and often prey on roosting birds at night. No other North American canine is capable of ascending vertical trees although red fox and coyotes often travel along fallen logs.