On the Log Again

Last week's post had some videos that one of my camera traps had taken throughout the month of June at a beaver pond. One of those videos was of a great blue heron walking on a log in front of the camera.

That great blue heron frequents the beaver pond and became the star of a number of additional videos. For some odd reason, watching the heron's trips on the log reminded us of Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again", hence the title. Here’s a compilation of the best of the videos that starred the heron in its breeding finery –

It was interesting to see how seemingly cautious the heron was about stepping off the log, but with those spindly legs it pays to be cautious.

The plan is to leave the camera at the beaver pond throughout the summer – we'll see what the future holds.

From the Beaver Pond

It was early spring and the winter’s ice had melted when the camera trap went back to the beaver pond where it had been last year (see this post). At the first check the memory card had photos of wood ducks –

A great blue heron –

And a bobcat –

That camera takes only still photos, with all the wildlife activity I decided to replace it with a video camera. Here are some of the videos from the month of June –

 

More videos from the beaver pond will be in next week’s post – stay tuned.

Hey Mom, Wait for Me!

By this time of year most species of wildlife have had their offspring. Some of those young ones are now old enough to face the world alone – squirrels and chipmunks and cottontail rabbits and great horned owls quickly come to mind. Some species are born later in the year or are dependent for a longer period.

In the last couple of weeks the camera traps above the house have gotten videos of some of those young animals and their mothers. The young ones followed their mothers around: to nurse when they were hungry; to gradually learn what foods are palatable; where to take shelter from storms (rain seems to have been unceasing lately); and, hopefully, how to stay away from danger.

Here are some of those videos: of spindly-legged fawns and black bear cubs –

Young ones  often have to hustle to keep up with their longer-legged mothers and the bear cubs were no exception.