Free Eats

The post from two weeks ago, Dinner is Served, featured the videos from a camera trap’s the first week at the carcass of a white-tailed deer that had apparently been killed by a bolt from a crossbow.

When I checked most recently the carcass had been moved and a lot of rain had fallen. The wetland vegetation was flattened where the carcass had been dragged off – Oh Boy thought I, there would be videos of a bear or eastern coyote (other than humans or large dogs the only creatures in the area capable of dragging the carcass away) feeding on or dragging the dead deer. I followed the drag mark and found what was left of the carcass in the water. Not much remained, the large bones, rib cage and most of the head.

Checking the camera I found a multitude of videos of the red fox; actually two red fox, one readily distinguished by a mange-caused bare spot at the base of its tail. And a few really poor videos of an opossum and two raccoons feeding on the far side of the carcass. But there was no video of the carcass being removed. It seems the camera malfunctioned at the most critical time – Murphy's Law at work. Nonetheless there were some interesting videos –

The ravens are probably a mated pair that nest on a nearby high ridge and regularly visit the valley. Ravens are omnivores, eating virtually anything edible. They eat waste grain and earthworms, are predators on small mammals and birds and regularly scavenge other predators’ kills. I’ve watched them flying along highways searching for roadkilled animals and they often follow large predators or hunters to share in the booty.

Bald eagles, although they primarily feed on fish, are active predators of small and medium-sized mammals and medium-sized birds and also readily scavenge from carcasses.

As for the great horned owl, it apparently didn’t feed on the carcass but might have considered an opossum a suitable meal.

While I was very happy to get videos of the ravens, owl and eagle, in some ways the most interesting and indeed the most humorous were several videos of the man and his pets – especially the goat. Have you ever seen anyone walking with a goat as they would a dog?