October Above the Yard

In October the camera trap on the hill just above the yard captured fewer videos than in the past. There were videos with raccoons and opossums and white-tailed does but, with exceptions, those usually aren’t particularly interesting.

However there’s always something interesting in the natural world, and these are the most interesting videos from October.

They start with a gray fox with a kink in its tail, possibly from a broken bone; the fox then makes repeated appearances. The gray fox is followed by a red fox carrying prey; the red fox also appears again.

Some folks express difficulty in distinguishing red and gray foxes in black-and-white photos or videos: the gray fox is stocky with fairly short legs and a black stripe on the top of its tail; a red fox is more slender with longer legs and the front legs usually have a black stripe on the front.

The foxes are followed by the first of several striped skunks; the first has its tail upright, ready to spray its defensive scent, something must have startled it or an unseen fox got too close.

Late October is the height of the rut for white-tailed deer and bucks from away make an appearance as they pursue does that are local residents. It appears that seven different bucks spent time in front of the camera. Two young bucks are seen sparring, a real fight between bucks involves much more violent pushing and shoving and one of the combatants occasionally receives a mortal injury – as described in this post.

Here are October’s videos –

The bucks and the red fox were eating the apple cores and peels that we put in front of the camera, if they’d been put in our compost pile the same critters would have eaten them but you wouldn’t have seen videos of the “feast”.

A Pair of Preening Peregrines

It was a beautiful morning down along the river: crystal clear, blue sky with a few fluffy white clouds, 45° with a stiff breeze. And there, in the tree where I’d seen them off and on for years, was a pair of peregrine falcons. Both birds were vigorously preening their feathers, a fitting activity for a species that is, if not the fastest bird on earth, then the second fastest.

The tree is a black locust not far from the riverbank, within sight of both their nest site and the place where they spend their nights. This pair has apparently been together for several years; as in most birds of prey the female is the larger and in this case she’s noticeably darker than the male, making them easy to identify. When I saw them the female was on the right side of the tree, the male on the left, but they were somewhat obscured by branches –

After maneuvering to a spot with a better view of both birds I began taking both videos and still photos –

A branch cast its shadow on the female and her head was usually hidden by another limb, but the male was in a good spot as he spent some time nibbling on one of the tree’s seed pods –

For the entire time I’d been watching and photographing the pair, I’d been wishing I had my longer lens, so I unlimbered the cellphone and called H to ask if she’d bring it to where I’d parked. Then I began walking back to the car and arrived moments after that nice lady pulled in. After trading cameras and lenses I returned to to the peregrines and found that they’d both moved from one side of the tree to the other, in essence they’d traded places. More photos and videos were taken, between the two cameras 1,233 in total.

The female peregrine continued to preen, giving special attention to her feet, and repeatedly opened her mouth as wide as it could go, apparently she was trying to cast a pellet of indigestible material (feathers, fur and bones) as do all hawks and owls –

While the male seemed to nap as he covered his eyes with their nictating membrane – 

 

After an hour and a half of watching and photographing the peregrine falcons, and futilely waiting for them to take flight (I wanted to take photos of them flying) the camera's battery was down to 9% and the spares were at home, so it was time to leave.

Ralph's Feeder

Ralph was a friend of mine: and of other photographers, mechanics, hunters, politicians and shopkeepers. Back in the 1970s and 80s Ralph knew more about Pennsylvania’s elk than any other human, even wildlife biologists. It was Ralph who first introduced me to the elk herd in the mid-1970s when there were only a handful of elk (perhaps fewer than 60) in Pennsylvania. Over the years he wrote three books on the elk herd, a history of Elk County and a history of the 50,000 acre Quehanna Wild Area he was also featured in a film about the elk herd. Ralph died in 2015 when he was 87, Pennsylvania's elk lost a champion and we lost a special person and true friend.

But I digress, this post was meant to be about a bird feeder that I first saw hanging in an old apple tree in Ralph’s yard in Dent’s Run. While it vaguely resembles several other designs, I’ve never seen another like it. Did Ralph come up with the design or did he see it somewhere? I don’t know.

I like the simplicity of this feeder and the fact that it can be made of scrap wood by anyone with a minimal collection of tools. The chickadees, titmice and, especially, nuthatches seem to favor Ralph’s design.

 

The first “Ralph’s feeder” that I made was small and made from a salvaged white pine board. The latest, which was made from scrap plywood, is large and holds about a gallon of sunflower seeds – hopefully enough to last about a week while we’re on a trip –

The dimensions of the largest –

The slanted sides are made from ¼ inch hardware cloth (galvanized wire mesh), the feeders hang from a hook made from a wire coathanger that passes through both the top and bottom of the feeder where it’s bent at a 90° angle. The lid is held in place by two cleats that limit its movement. Filling is done by lifting the lid and temporarily turning it sideways.

These feeders are by no means squirrel proof or even squirrel resistant, but they’re inexpensive and easy to make.

Turkey Day

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day in the U. S., a day to give thanks for all that we have. It supposedly originated when first Europeans and Native Americans shared a three day feast in November 1621. Cordial relations between Native Americans and European settlers ended a few years later with disastrous results for the original residents. There’s apparently no record of turkey being eaten during the feast and it was more than two centuries until Thanksgiving Day became a national holiday. Nonetheless, turkey and its accompaniments are now the traditional meal on Thanksgiving Day, including among our own family members.

In honor of the involuntary guest of honor at our thanksgiving meal, here’s a selection of photos of wild turkeys –

The bird, which is native to North and Central America, was named for the country of Turkey apparently because Turkish traders had earlier brought Guinea fowl to Europe and England where it was called the turkey-cock and the heads of the two species appear similar.

By the way, the term “Turkey Day” was first used in 1863, the same year that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a day to give thanks in November. And the first Thanksgiving football game was played between Princeton and Yale in 1876.

Great Morning

On a beautiful fall morning I headed to the Big Woods to walk a couple of old roads. Down the road from my parking place there was a small dark figure in the road. The camera's telephoto lens showed what, at first glance, appeared to be another one of the house cats that plague the natural world.

But then it moved and was revealed to be a bobcat. At that point I was about 1,000 feet from the intersection where the bobcat had been surveying its surroundings. I walked closer very, very slowly; the bobcat turned and unhurriedly ran down the road –

When it made a sharp turn, crouched and headed toward a thick patch of foxtail grass I realized that it hadn’t been frightened but was instead hunting a small mammal or bird in the grass –

It had disappeared in the grass, so I kept walking toward where it vanished. Suddenly it dashed across the road – faster than I could react – and disappeared in the brushy woods.

At the intersection I stood partially concealed behind a large tree and began making a series of squeaks mimicking an injured mouse. It wasn’t long before there was movement in the brush. Then all was still – and then a bit more movement. After a few minutes there was a shape discernible; while my eyes’ 3D vision could pick out the shape, the camera with 2D could not. Using my best estimate of where to aim, I took a few photos –

If you can’t find the well camouflaged bobcat, here it is –

Apparently it realized something wasn’t right because it silently disappeared back in the brush. A minute or so later there it was, heading down the other old road at the intersection where a few squeaks caused it to stop and look back –

Then it turned and walked further down the road –

More squeaks brought it to a stop once again, and again it looked back –

And with that it turned away and went back into the brushy woods, not to be seen again, and I resumed my walk.

Interestingly, this encounter with a bobcat was only a couple of hundred feet from the spots where I photographed a bobcat in 20o9 and again in 2011 –

H and I saw a bobcat in an adjacent grassy field about ten years before that. The location with it's mix of brushy forest, mature woodland and grassy field apparently remains ideal bobcat habitat.

Elk in October

The last several visits to Pennsylvania’s elk range were relatively unsatisfying since there were few elk to be seen. One of the places we had visited was Winslow Hill where, years ago, there were always a lot of elk.

Winslow Hill is also the area where the multi-million dollar visitor center complex was built a few years ago. The complex has two buildings, several large parking lots, a restored farmhouse that can be rented and wagon rides. During the elk rut the large parking lots are often full and there are vehicles parked on the grass. Meanwhile large tour busses climb the road to the visitor center, diesel engines roaring. “The Elk Country Visitor Center ... sees an (sic) upward of 480,000 visitors every year.” (Keystone Elk Country Alliance)

Is it any wonder that there are fewer elk to be seen on Winslow Hill????

Since I’d rather see elk than either people or large tour busses, like some other elk photographers I've given up on Winslow Hill and would rather seek the animals in other locations where elk live a more normal and undisturbed life. And so H and I planned to travel to a “secret undisclosed location” in search of elk.

On the road at 5:30am, picking up breakfast and coffee on the way, we arrived at the chosen location, after driving over deep ruts and even deeper potholes, just as the light became sufficient for photography. There, far from the maddening crowds, we found a couple of bands of elk. One small bull and about ten cows and calves and shortly after a very large bull with a half dozen cows and calves –

Although I took a lot of photographs, most weren’t what I wanted since the sun was often behind the elk and there was no way to maneuver to a better aspect.

As the sun rose and the elk departed to spend the day in thick cover, we also departed to visit other locations and look for elk sign.

There were other highlights that morning: a gray fox dashing across a field and into thick cover as well as several flocks of wild turkeys picking grasshoppers and acorns –

Late in the day we returned to the area we visited at dawn. And there they were, the same groups of elk we had seen earlier in the day, first the young bull and the cows and calves –

As the sun moved lower in the sky another photographer and I located the big bull and his band of cows and calves. This time the light was very good and the elk were quite cooperative, allowing us to get into good locations, not too close, but close enough.

The big bull kept walking closer and we moved aside to give him space.

Finally, as the sun began to set, it was time to leave for the long drive home – but we’ll be back!