Wintertime Elk

It was a spur-of-the-moment decision to head for Pennsylvania’s elk range. The decision was based more on an increasing case of cabin-fever than any need to actually see or photograph elk. The computer’s hard drive contains hundreds of photographs of elk of all sizes and ages, elk in all seasons – but, what the heck it was a good reason to get on the road and in the woods.

Having left after a quick early lunch there wasn’t going to be time to walk far from the roads and parking areas on Winslow Hill, but at this time of year there wouldn’t be the hordes of tourists that frequent (some would say infest) the area during the fall rut.

In a field in one of the long-abandoned hill farms a band of elk was bedded down –

Except for one young bull sporting a pair of spike antlers that still bore the remnants of velvet, this was a band of cows and calves  – 

After about a half-hour the elk gradually arose to graze in the field –

Along the large stream, Bennetts Branch of Sinnemahoning Creek, that drains much of the elk range there were a few elk in the open woodland –

Including a couple of bulls that were probably 2 ½ years old –

Unlike white-tailed deer that usually lose their antlers in January or early February, bull elk hold their antlers into March or April. The last two photographs were taken as night was rapidly setting in - it was time to head for home.

It was dark as I drove past the post office the village of Driftwood and something caught my eye. That something was a trio of impressive bull elk feeding on the grass on a south-facing portion of the post office’s lawn. By pushing the camera’s ISO setting to its limit, and using the slowest shutter speed that could barely be used with the unsupported camera, images of the elk could be captured –

The largest of the bulls was backlighted by lights in the post office’s lobby which made the resultant photograph one for the trash.

There’s no quality to the photographs from so late in the day, but they do show that photos are possible in the full dark of 8:00 pm on a cloudy February evening.

Along a Frozen Stream

A few weeks ago the streams in the Big Woods were frozen, some of them bank to bank with barely any open water for long distances.

Others were at least partially open, especially where they flow through hemlock forests and the overhead evergreen cover moderates the cold winter temperatures. Walking along the frozen streams was a real pleasure, a pleasure brought by the beautiful designs of the openings in the ice, icicles and the tracks of wildlife that had crossed or followed the frozen stream.

First a sampling of cold holes in the ice cover –

There were also icicles, some at the edges of those cold holes, some where water seeps from the steep stream banks –

Along the stream there were areas of bare ice, areas with just the barest dusting of snow and some places with about two inches of snow. Wherever there was snow there was an opportunity for tracks of passing wildlife to be displayed –

Bobcat

Gray Squirrel

Dark-eyed Junco

Mink

Wild Turkey

Vole

Walking along a frozen stream is always an adventure; now the ice has melted under record-setting heat and spring is on the way. 

Trail Camera on the Trail

Most people call them trail cameras, I prefer to call them camera traps – in any case they’re either commercial or homemade digital cameras that utilize one of several different kinds of motion detectors to turn the camera on and trigger photos or videos. Last fall I set one of my homemade camera traps along a wildlife trail on a rather steep hillside to see what used the trail – so this really was a trail camera.

The first image the camera captured was of a black bear –

Then came several white-tailed deer searching for acorns beneath the larger oak trees on the hillside –

A porcupine also searched for those nutritious acorns –

In late October a white-tail buck thrashed a small white pine as the rut was about to reach its peak. The camera captured a number of photographs of the buck in action –

 

That wasn’t the only buck on the hillside, but this one was just a young fellow –

Almost a month later another impressive buck passed the camera. At first I thought it was the same deer as the one in the collage, but a closer look revealed that this one's antlers were different –

In mid-December more snow fell and deer continued to use the trail –

A couple of weeks later, after a bit more snow had accumulated, a bobcat walked the trail –

And deer continued to use the trail through the end of January when I changed the camera's memory card –

The trail camera along the trail will remain in place  to capture more photos of wildlife on the hillside.