Friday, July 31, 2015

Where the wild things are


We think a fox family lives near the trail

The "critter cam" Santa brought me for Christmas is the gift that keeps on giving.

Dad loved the mountains and wildlife
As many of you Dirt Diaries readers recall, we built a small nature path  in memory of my Dad back in 2012. 

We've always wondered what cool things were happening on "Curly's Trail" at night or when we weren't looking. (Was there a Sasquatch or zombie on the loose?)

So I set up the camera (a Browning sub micro) on the last post you can see in the accompanying photo.


That stairway is about 30 yards from our deck and leads down to the stream and a little waterfall. 

The camera takes a photo of anything that moves within 100 feet of its view, night or day. 



 The resulting picture includes an information bar that displays the time, date, moon phase and temperature.

A raccoon heads towards the stream


 That’s great unless you forget to turn the camera off when someone is working in the area. We had 150 pictures of Alfredo’s legs when he was sprucing up the trail and patio by the stream.

Caught the head of a pileated woodpecker

 Some of the critter pictures have been surprising. We didn’t realize there were so many deer around. (As long as they stay away from my roses, that’s okay.)

The deer love my hostas and wildflowers.


We thought we might catch a glimpse of a bear since they’ve visited our deck several times. None yet. We’ve seen owls around, but thus far they haven’t shown up to have their portraits made.

The discovery that a bobcat had been sauntering around the trail was a true shock. I often work down there in the new rose bed Alfredo built for me last spring.
 
Yikes! Mr. Bobcat strolls along the trail at lunchtime

We’d heard they do live in Western North Carolina, but no one in our community has ever seen one. Until they take a peek at the photo on my iPhone.

From now on, I’ll be looking over my shoulder when I’m down by the trail tending to my beauties.

Because we no longer have to wonder where the wild things are.

They’re right here in our very own garden.


6 comments :

Janneke said...

My goodness, you live at the most exciting place. I knew about the bear but a bobcat......and I should not like to meet them in my garden. The only critters I've in my garden are bunnies, a dog, hens, insects, butterflies and many birds, nice but a bit boring in comparison with your visitors.

Lynn Hunt said...

Hi Janneke! Well it may be exciting but it can also be scary. The other day when I went to put the critter cam back after changing the batteries, I came across a 5-foot snake. Not a welcome visitor! I do know they are here, just want to avoid the poisonous ones. Hope you enjoy the remainder of your summer. We have a few bunnies around too, but they like to snack on my roses!

Sunil Patel said...

Hi Lynn, a bobcat, I mean, what's next, a giraffe munching on the hanging baskets (at least they won't need to come up to the deck)!? I think you should put cat food out in front of the cam and see what happens.

Lynn Hunt said...

Sunil, I wouldn't put any food out because the bears would be here in a jiffy! Now that we've put flashing on the deck posts the bears can't get traction and climb up. But two years ago a little bear came to our front door begging for food. We think the mother had been killed. It was all I could do to keep from giving that little guy something to eat. I called the wildlife authorities, but don't know what happened to him. :(

Sunil Patel said...

Aaw that's must have been heartbreaking, but if you had started feeding him, it wouldn't have been long before the little bear grew into a much larger one, still coming to your door for food but now able to break it down if he wanted seconds!

Lynn said...

You are right Sunil, apparently those bears have long memories and that guy would be hanging around looking for a handout today!

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