Winter on the Rim

For the past several years one of my camera traps has been along a wildlife trail on the rim of the Allegheny Plateau in northcentral Pennsylvania. The trail generally follows the rim which is also the transition between a mixed oak forest on the dry soils of the plateau and a birch-maple-hemlock-oak forest on a steep slope dropping into a deep valley. Large outcroppings of bedrock and a great number of large rocks and boulders that originated from the outcroppings occupy much of the slope.

There have been a number of previous posts about the photos and videos that the various cameras at this spot on the rim have captured, including a bobcat’s pursuit of a gray squirrel, a female black bear with cubs, a pair of eastern coyotes, a flying squirrel and wild turkeys.

To me winter is what is often described as meteorological winter – December, January and February – when the days are short, the temperatures low and with long-lasting snow cover. This has been a relatively snowless winter, and fairly warm at that. Here are the best of the winter’s videos (in the order in which they were taken) from the camera on the rim –

Some geese were beginning to head north and the first mixed flocks of blackbirds had arrived by the end of February, spring is on its way.