Bigfoot ????

If you spend any time looking at videos on YouTube or watching certain cable TV channels, you can’t help but stumbling on an abundance of videos or shows on the subject of “Bigfoot”.

“Bigfoot”, “Sasquatch”, “Yeti”, and several other names have been applied to what are reported to be large, hairy, upright-walking apes or ape-like creatures that roam wooded wildlands throughout North America. In their travels the Bigfoots (or is it Bigfeet?) supposedly leave footprints in mud or snow and are said to have been glimpsed by many people.

Why on earth am I writing about this???? It’s because of a set of footprints in the snow that I found along Rock Run in northcentral Pennsylvania –

How readily these tracks could be ascribed to a Bigfoot, adding to the abundance of Bigfoot lore. Yup, it would be really easy! But, the tracks have to be considered in context: the photo was taken on January 2; the track was obviously a day or two old; Rock Run is a favorite place for young folks to party; many of those young folks are under the influence of alcohol or other mind-altering chemicals; the tracks were at a favorite swimming hole in Rock Run, atop the large rock outcrop from which swimmers jump into the stream.

So, no the tracks aren’t those of a Bigfoot, just those of someone who apparently, for whatever reason, jumped into the frigid waters of Rock Run. 

Some of those other footprints and sightings have clearly been hoaxes – some very crude, some well done.  Others are obvious cases of mistaken identity – under many conditions the footprints of bears’ hind feet look remarkably like a human footprint. Similarly, a black bear standing upright closely resembles the description of a Bigfoot.

It’s a remarkable coincidence (or is it?) that virtually all Bigfoot reports come from within the geographic range of the black bear in North America.

Think about it, if a creature such as Bigfoot actually existed, there would have to be a sufficient number (500? 1,000?) to maintain a breeding population. With that number, a dead individual or bones would have been found, one would have been hit and killed by a vehicle, someone would have shot one in “self-defense”.  None of these has happened! In fact, there is no Bigfoot, not along Rock Run, not in Pennsylvania, not in North America.

The only place any Bigfoot exists is in the minds of people who never really consider how irrational the idea of a large, hairy ape wandering North American woodlands really is.

P.S. If you're a Bigfoot "true believer" don't bother commenting on this post.

Beautiful Flyer

Beautiful they are, fly they do not – actually they glide. These small creatures are nocturnal, inhabiting cavities in trees and nest boxes as well as barns and cabins in wooded areas. They're fairly abundant in wooded areas and often visit bird feeders at night.

For many years I’ve habitually tapped on trees containing cavities to check on possible occupants. It was about 50 years ago when that tapping caused an occupant to peer out of the opening –

Then to stick its head out –

And finally to emerge –

That was one of the first of these beautiful flyers (err, gliders) I’d ever seen – a southern flying squirrel. Southern flying squirrels inhabit deciduous woodland from southern Canada to the Gulf Coast and west to the limit of dense woodland at the edge of the Great Plains.

 

 

Southern flying squirrels feed on fruit, nuts and fungi as well as insects, birds’ eggs and nestlings and carrion. They spend daylight hours in cavities, during non-breeding season in groups of up to 25-30 animals; cavities are also used for rearing the young –

Flying squirrels glide by using membranes (called the patagium) which reach from the front leg to the rear leg on each side of the body. At the end of a glide they swoop upward to land on a tree trunk and quickly scurry to the opposite side to avoid predation.

A closely related species, the northern flying squirrel, prefers coniferous woodlands and is found in scattered locations in the northern states and southward in both the Rocky and Appalachian mountains as well as throughout Canada and Alaska.

For several years I’ve occasionally scattered seeds in front of one of my camera traps to capture photos or videos of the southern flying squirrels that share their home territory with us –

 

Although flying squirrels are quite common, few people ever see these strictly nocturnal animals – I hope you enjoyed seeing them here.

A Day in the Big Woods

It was one of those cold, damp, gray, dreary January days in the depths of winter. The days are noticeably lengthening but the sun still dim, almost all bears are in their winter dens, migrating waterfowl and songbirds are not yet coming north, and there’s little or no snow. As tempting as it was to sit by the fire with a cup of coffee laced with milk, sugar and chocolate syrup, I nonetheless headed for the Big Woods.

Remnants of the inch of snow that had fallen the day before had, in many places, totally melted, in other areas it still lay on the fallen leaves and the old road. Even though it’s the quietest time of year there’s always something interesting to see in forest and field. And so, here’s a selection of the interesting things in the forest on this dreary day.

First up was this old boundary line blaze on a hemlock. Although this is a large tract of public property and has been for many years, the boundary blazes of some of the small parcels from which it was assembled will live on for as long as the trees that bear them –

Also in the hemlock forest was this stump of a tree that had been felled long ago. There’s callus around the rim of the stump where the stump has been attempting to close the wound. How does it do that? Roots of the felled tree and a nearby hemlock had fused and that root graft has kept the stump alive for all these years – the root graft can be seen in the photograph –

Further on a fallen dead beech tree feeds a fungus known as “horse’s hoof” or “tinder fungus”. Horse’s hoof due to its shape and appearance; tinder fungus because the crushed dried fungus readily burns so pioneers and Native Americans could easily start a fire –

The old road approaches a stream where small icicles had been forming on mid-stream rocks –

Along that stream are several areas that were heavily logged during World War II to obtain hemlock lumber for the war effort. Those areas regenerated to tulip-poplar, a tree species that is fast-growing and produces (as a co-worker used to say) tall, straight, limb-free boles, reaching to the sky –

Towards the headwaters of the stream I found the seeds of a poke milkweed emerging from a seed pod. Poke milkweed is an uncommon species that grows in moist woodland and bears white flowers –

There were no songbirds to be seen until a small flock of black-capped chickadees came foraging through the woods and across the old road –

Among the fallen leaves and remnant snow was a scattering of small green leaves. Those leaves belonged to a round-lobed hepatica and they’ll stay green all winter, even beneath many inches of snow. Come early spring the plants will put forth flowers of blue, white or, less frequently, pink. No matter the color of the flowers, they’re all the same species.

A road-side puddle had frozen, in the process producing a mosaic-like pattern –

So far the walk had primarily produced photos typical of this time of year – black and white, gray and brown. I was almost back to the car when what should appear but a male cardinal that conveniently posed for several photos –

The cardinal brought his brilliant red to brighten a drab, dreary day.