Autumn Action at Beaver Bank Lodge

I set up my camera at a nearby beaver pond for a few days. Besides a couple of pictures of a neighborhood cat, I got several shots of a handsome buck, one of an inquisitive coyote, and a good number of the hard-working beaver himself. I've posted the more interesting ones ... showing him with a muddy mouth, positioning some rotten-looking vegetation on the lodge and finally, mooning the camera (such a rare tail shot, I couldn't resist).

Spike Buck working a scrape at Delaney

Dan set out the group's camera to take night video at a deer scrape at
the Delaney Wildlife Management Area in Stow. A young buck visited the
scrape each night, freshening and sniffing the scraped earth, checking
for does, and leaving his scent on the overhanging branch above the
scrape. At one point he notices the red glow from the IR LEDs on the
camera, and stamps the ground, frightening himself in the process.

A few hours later he returns, and while he's at the scrape a second set
of eyes appear in the woods. A doe? He rushes off to investigate!

Here's a direct link to the video on YouTube, if the embedded video
below doesn't work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huJcbGDIpkg

Tracking Bears in Western Virginia

Dan writes:

I spent Labor Day weekend camping with friends at a PATC cabin outside
Shenandoah National Park in western Virginia. The cabin logbook had
many reports of black bear sightings on the roads and trails around the
area. I spent some time exploring the trails around the cabin, and was
able to photograph several types of bear sign. Once I figured out the
food preferences of the local bears, and their marking habits, it became
fairly easy to predict where to look for sign.

All apple trees showed climbing scars and broken branches. I never
found a classic "bear nest", but did find apple and black cherry trees
with broken limbs that had been bent back toward the center of the crown.

Cedars along the trail were usually swiped and showed diagonal claw marks.

Bear scat consisted of black cherry seeds, or a smaller seed from a
fruit I was not able to identify.

Painted wooden sign posts on trails away from the cabins were massively
scarred with significant bite marks - I found cheek hair on several of
these posts. In one photo, I've placed sticks into the dot-dash pattern
caused by the bear's canine teeth (thanks, Sue Morse!)

Smaller diameter trees (3-5" diameter) with painted blazes usually
showed an old bite mark directly on the painted blaze. It took a while
to notice this pattern, but once I started looking for it, EVERY blazed
tree of a certain diameter had an old bite scar right on the blaze.

I examined many mature beech trees, and never found climb marks. I
found one old black cherry that had been climbed, and a mature maple
that showed clear climb marks all the way up the trunk.

Based on the sign I observed, I'll concentrate my future bear tracking
on fruit trees (apple and cherry), on easily-markable cedar, and on
human markings (sign posts and blazed saplings) along the trail.

Tropical Track

...For anyone who cares to do a bit of research and take a stab at what
this is.

A Threever of Beaver or a Romp of Otter?

Dan writes:
We recently learned that three raccoons is called a gaze or nursery. So
what do you call three beaver? I propose that this be called a threever
of beaver.

My initial reaction when I saw this photo on my camera's screen was that
I was seeing otter. The animal in the rear has that sleek otter form.
But the heads look more like beaver, and the lead tail looks flat and
hairless.

I've never seen beaver slinking along all flattened down like this. It
looks like #2 went under the log, while his friend decided to go over
the top. In the second photo, you can see a new wet spot on the log -
was there a fourth member of the party?

I didn't notice it until now, but the second photo (taken 50 seconds
later) also shows two glistening piles (one in dead center, the other by
the pinecone in lower left). What's up with that?

Sadly, I had another camera aimed at this spot, but it triggered off the
water (to the right of these photos) and filled its card by the second day.

Let's hear some opinions. What's going on in these photos?

Raccoons emerging from Elizabeth Brook, Stow, Delaney WMA

Dan's camera trap captured these raccoons foraging along the bank of
Elizabeth Brook at the Delaney WMA in Stow, MA. This is the same
"Beaver Crossing" location where I photographed beaver and otter last
winter:
http://nashaway.blogspot.com/2009/11/beaver-crossing-photos.html
http://nashaway.blogspot.com/2009/12/beaver-at-work.html
http://nashaway.blogspot.com/2009/12/otter.html

Raccoons made appearances every four nights, always between 9PM and
midnight.

Walkingstick

Saw this critter on my back door the other day and took a few photos. Check out its head; it looks like blades of grass. And its butt ... what's that all about? Even after some research, I'm not sure exactly what kind of walkingstick this is. Anyone?