Saturday, March 16, 2024

Early bluebird

I saw a male bluebird land on the nest box today, the first of the season. I quick set out the remote trigger DSLR and the #6 trail camera (Melted Browning) but got nothing to prove what I saw.

There's a few inches of snow on the ground, much less than last year at this time. My first post last year was late April, and in 2022 it was early April.

Saturday, December 30, 2023

Bobcat

I got a bobcat several times in Custer Gallatin National Forest in December, on the 9th, 20th (not shown) and 30th.


Bobcat

Bobcat

Coyote

Saturday, December 9, 2023

Hawk

It's rare to get a hawk on trailcam. I got one earlier this year on Melted Browning #6 in the field behind the house. The same camera, now positioned out in Custer Gallatin National Forest, captured another one on Nov. 16. Unfortunately none of the new images are worth posting, but from looking at the sequence I think it was a Northern Goshawk or a Northern Harrier. The head looks like a goshawk, but I'm not sure of that ID due to the barred tail on the bird in the images. The Sibley book does not show a barred tail in its illustration of an adult goshawk. The body was gray, unlike the harriers I've seen closer to home that are brown, but the Sibley book has illustrations of gray harriers.

It was a really slow month on the trailcams out in the woods. On Nov. 16 a deer wandered through the area and was captured by new Browning #11 and new Reconyx #7. The time is about an hour apart, but I think one of the cameras has not been adjusted for Standard time. The third image is the hawk in the field from May 18.

Wednesday, November 15, 2023

One from each

Activity south of town in the National Forest was concentrated between October 7 and 18, with nothing since then. There was a moose cow and calf on the 9th, and herd of 8-9 elk moving through on the 15th, followed by a lone bobcat on the 17th and 18th. All five cameras on site are represented here.

My brother's camera near his cabin.

My brother's camera near his cabin.

Melted Browning #6 near the bridge.

New Browning #11 just north of the bridge.

New Browning #11 just north of the bridge.

Old Reconyx #2 new location near the road.

Old Reconyx #2 new location near the road.

Old Reconyx #2 new location near the road.

New Reconyx #7 between the bridge and miner's cabin.

New Browning #11 just north of the bridge.

Yote video

In the national forest south of Red Lodge, coyote skipping past.

Friday, October 6, 2023

Brown black bear

In a followup to the July 21 post, I've gotten images of the brown black bear cub again with his sibling and mama. The first three are from Reconyx #7 and the fourth is from a new camera location for Browning #11 a bit south of the two Reconyx. After getting these, I decided to swap the locations of Browning #11 and Reconyx #2.

Monday, October 2, 2023

Pirate deer

The flash from trailcams lights up deers' eyes at night, but I noticed something unusual in images from early Saturday morning of the deer with the lopsided antlers. His left eye is shining bright, but his right eye is not. It's on the same side as the stunted antler. I looked back at previous images and I found one from six weeks ago showing the same anomoly, but daytime SLR images from four weeks ago don't show any obvious eye damage (see August 30 post).