In a Small Clearing

Since 2013 one of my camera traps has been located at a small clearing in the Big Woods. The clearing is in an area that was once an agricultural field, but the field last grew crops over 100 years ago. During the intervening years a diverse mixture of trees and shrubs have become established; that mix of species and sizes attracts a wide variety of wildlife.

The first camera at the clearing was a commercial unit that didn’t produce very good images. That camera was succeeded by a homebrewed camera built with a point-and-shoot digital camera and a commercially available control board. More recently, with the great improvement in commercial trail cameras, I’ve used one that yields video clips. Photos and videos from all those cameras and all those years have been posted on In Forest and Field.

In 2021, as in most years, the camera was in place continuously except for the big game hunting seasons when more people are afield. The video in this post consists of a sampling of the best video clips from 2021.

Among the videos captured last year is a piebald (leucistic) white-tailed deer with large areas of white hair on her rump, legs and flanks. She's appeared in a number of photos and videos from camera traps elsewhere in her home range of about a square mile –

Also in several videos is a black (melanistic) male eastern coyote and his mate –

Both animals appeared in videos from this location in 2020 and before. A gray fox had never appeared in videos or photographs from this spot, but here it is. Once the fox appeared it was no surprise to see two animals since mated pairs often hunt together –

Have a comfortable seat and a cup of coffee and sit back to, hopefully, enjoy this long video –

The camera’s back on its tree awaiting what may pay the clearing a visit in 2022 – watch this space.