West Hill Bathtub

Archery deer season starts this weekend. Time to check the West Hill game cameras. This summer we repurposed an old bathtub into a wildlife waterhole and here are some of the game camera photos.

A black bear stopped for a drink.

Mama bear and cub.

Bobcat

Coyote

It's Not Easy Bein' Green

I was doing some clean-up work near a wetland on our property and found this baby green tree frog. (Shown on my hairy arm)

This little frog on the tip of my finger.

'Eat or be Eaten'

One of the laws of nature is 'survival of the fittest' and the titles of prey and predator can sometimes change very quickly. I was mowing a field of dead grass and goldenrod when I watched a preying mantis fly by and into the web of a Black and Yellow Garden Spider (Argiope aurantia). The preying mantis suddenly went from a predator to prey and a sizable meal for the Garden Spider. I stopped my mowing to take a few pictures and release the preying mantis from the spider's web.

Bear in the Neighborhood

One of our neighbors told Mary he had a bear encounter during his morning walk on Joyce Rd., about 200 yards from our house. The bear came up over the bank and circled him before continuing up the hill. He also said another neighbor almost hit the bear with their car.

After hearing this news about a bear, I decided to check the game camera at my deer stand. As I was driving along the access road to the deer stand the bear crossed the road and headed toward our cabin. I circled the cabin area with the ATV, but no sign of the bear. I retrieved the game camera memory card and found the bear had been in the area 3 days before.

The bear smelling a dead woodchuck I had dropped off the day before.

The bear must not like the taste of woodchuck and left it. The coyotes also passed on a meal of woodchuck...

These buzzards thought the woodchuck was delicious.

Bats

I went to retrieve a 2x4 from a pile of scrap wood at our barn and this bat fell out. Bats routinely roost in rafters of our barn. I guess it's time to build a bat house.

Woodchucks

I drove over to our garden with the ATV to retreive a cabbage and noticed movement of the leaves in the pumpkin patch. As I watched the leaves move I assumed the movement was caused by a rabbit, what emerged was this woodchuck. This woodchuck was taking a leisurely stroll through the garden checking the produce. Once the woodchuck noticed me, it made a speedy retreat to an outbuilding. I've seen this woodchuck around our barn area and now I know its current home address. Time to set a trap.

With the trap set and baited with fresh cabbage leaves, it only took a couple of hours before this vegetable thief was in the trap. Unfortunately this woodchuck suffered a tragic accident while being transported away from the garden area.

Blueberries

Our early season blueberry crop didn't amount to much this year due to a late killing frost followed by weeks of hot/dry weather. The late season blueberry crop is starting to produce a bumper crop. This first picking produced 8 quarts of berries from just a couple of bushes.