We went to the first annual Highland County Old Time Fiddlers' Convention last weekend, and left our cherry trees unattended. When we got home, we found the trail camera dangling upside down from its tree. Fortunately, we were able to reconstruct what happened. Bear sees camera....
Bear investigates camera....
Camera gets a tree bark closeup.
This bear visited earlier, but caught wind of the ripe cherries instead of the digital camera.
I think this is the solution to our Bigfoot game camera puzzle. Our cherries are ripe, and along with foxes, scarlet tanagers, raccoons, ravens, possums, cedar waxwings, and orchard orioles, bears are dropping by for chow time. This year, we have a sow with a very small, very cute cub. (No photos...yet.)
Check the bad hair day on this fellow's hindquarters, as he bolts past the salt lick.
The deer show no interest in cherries, but this gal seems ready for her close-up.
Our game camera pictures have been plentiful, and much alike. These deer visit regularly. However, Monday morning, the camera caught this:
Seconds later, whatever it was, it was gone.
Was it a bear having a bad hair day? Was it the the Mothman? (If so, he's a long way from Point Pleasant.) We decided it was probably Bigfoot. After all, the BFRO's 2006 sighting on the Greenbrier River Trail was so convincing that they mounted a return expedition in 2008. Of course, we can't rule out the possibility that it was the Yayho, as described by Burl Hammons.
Yesterday, I needed to make a label for a hat I'd knitted from some 1980's-vintage silk yarn. The search engines showed me this excellent (but not new) article: Silk is the Bomb[yx] (Knitty, Spring 2006) by Michael Cook. Here's what I needed to know:
Species silks, or "wild" (actually semi-domesticated) silks, used to be very hard to find. Nowadays, hand knitters and spinners can get Tussah fibers and yarns in a wide range of colors and preparations, and some vendors even offer Eri and Muga yarns and fibers. Each of these is produced by a different species of moth. In India, which is where most of the wild silks are produced, they are called "vanya" silks; these silks each have a distinctive feel and color, and they are a treat for the hand spinner.
I was equally charmed by Michael's website, where his blog features wonderful chickens as well as all the giant silk moths a gal could wish for. I guess eggs are the common denominator.
The ravens have visited us regularly all winter. This isn't surprising, but this is the first year they've spent so much time here since we started spending time here. We've had bluebirds all winter, which is also unusual. Birds of opposing omens?
Here are some better pictures of one of our fox visitors.
A barred owl has been a regular visitor to the deer carcass for several weeks.
This gray fox visited late last night, but didn't come closer to the camera this time.
Just before dawn, this much larger guy showed up. Coyote?
Garden seeds came in the mail today, and, because the ground is bare and workable, I raked some damp soil loose and planted beets and radishes. That's where I found this guy.
This is shockingly early for little grasshoppers here. He was not only hatched and growing, but warm-blooded, quick, and hard to photograph. I foresee a good year for garden pests (but not for gardeners).
It's a rabbit, showing a border collie how to herd sheep. The blogpost is in Swedish, but you don't really need any more explanation: Gardsbacken: Champis, den vallande kaninen :)). Strangely enough, I found this link on an Alaskan quilting blog I follow: For My Rabbit Loving Friends | Crazy Shortcut Quilts. And to think I wasted all that time with LOLcats.
A New Stalked Filter-Feeder from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale, British Columbia, Canada. 2012. L. J. O'Brien and J.-B. Caron. PLoS ONE 7(1): e29233.
This is a new member of the "Problematica," those strange Cambrian animals not assigned to any known phylum. And because it's published in PLoS ONE, the entire article (including many beautiful photos of fossils and some ecological notes) is freely-available on line. What a treat! Via Paleoblog.
My wild New Year's Eve activity was watching Netflix's streaming video of Werner Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams. I was expecting something soothing and low-key, and, indeed, there were beautiful landscapes, expert interviews, and hushed voices. However, the effect was astounding, and I've been thinking about the amazing prehistoric artwork ever since. This April, 2011 interview with Hezog is from Scientific American's Youtube channel.
A mouse built a summer nest in my box of Christmas ornaments and stuffed the stable full of chew-able ornament pieces. Once I picked the bits of paper from behind the Holy Family and glued the middle King back in place, things were nearly good as new--provided you overlook how I broke two little lambs off and glued them back before Mom got home when I was eight.
Cold, wind, and snow make this another good day for indoor activities (such as packing up Christmas decorations), and Princess seems to agree. Certainly there will be no mice in the manger in this setting.
Yesterday's cold rain has given way to icy wind and dry snowflakes. Princess wisely has chosen to join me in the sewing room.
Was Valentine's Day disappointing? Could Kitty be responsible? "Single White Feline."
Just about the time we got the game camera aimed well, the flash developed problems. This is probably the last night-time bobcat picture we'll get. Oh well--it was fun while it lasted.
We continue to experiment with positioning the gamecamera for flash on snow. Saturday and Sunday nights saw some interesting activity. On Saturday, a raccoon and skunk visited early in the evening. Around 9:45, this Barred Owl dropped in and stayed for more than half an hour. It was too far away from the camera for a good picture, but I included these because I didn't know owls scavenged on carrion, and I wanted to show proof.
A gray fox passed through around 3 am.
Sunday, we tried half-covering the flash with electrical tape, and this gave better pictures. We had a possum, a gray fox, and two different racoons, but the bobcat really obliged us with some close passes by the camera. This is probably why Princess has been staying on the porch in the evenings.
The racoon didn't linger long under the bobcat's spooky gaze. Sherry's racoon had a more pleasant evening, I think.
Last night, we tried moving the camera farther away from the carcass to avoid wash-out effect of too much flash. The color is a little better, and you can see in our kitchen window.
"Red-eye removal" isn't an option here.
We don't have the knack for game camera pictures in the snow yet, but we're working on it. This bobcat is last night's visitor to deer season's leftovers.
There's a little pale spot at the base of a tree in the second photo. It's of the same quality as a Bigfoot picture, but I think I see a pair of eyes:
Bobcat number two?
Proper Opossum Massage:
Because you wouldn't want to do it wrong.
via Southern Rockies Nature Blog, who usually is much more serious than this.
