Kingfisher Chatter
(a blog about Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge)
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2 Feb 2014
Trail Cam Update
As reported in the last post, a motion-sensor Trail Cam with night-vision capability was deployed adjacent to White Pond Road Trail and focused on a White-tail Deer carcass which was found on the trail and moved off-trail by Bob K. In the previous post the last observation was from January 17th. Many hundreds of photos have been downloaded from the Trail Cam since.
First, take a look at the progression of deer carcass from January 15th to February 1st:
Here are some of the most interesting images from the last Trail Cam downloads:
It could be that the two coyotes working in tandem could pull the carcass apart more efficiently. The picture above was taken just before the carcass disappeared. Since nothing remains of the carcass, the Trail Cam at this site has been decommissioned and redeployed. Live beaver is next, hopefully.
Trail Cam sightings were cataloged. Its interesting that most feeding only takes place for a few minutes at a time. Here are the data. Note times have been rounded up or down as appropriate
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| Feeding on the carcass chronologically |
Sorted by animal with average feeding time. Note that the average is statistically crude but gives the picture of feeding habits.
Very often the feeding animals would disappear for a few minutes and then return. It is suspected, in most cases, that there is general nervousness about other predators or scavengers in the area. Raccoon wins, feeding for an average of 24 minutes with one session lasting almost an hour.
While deployed, the Trail Cam was strapped to a tree with nylon webbing and secured to the tree with a locking cable. Before being dismounted, it was noted that the camera was significantly crooked as compared to how it was originally positioned. There was a blurred picture in one of the last frames on the Trail Cam. A clump of dark, almost black fur was found on the locking cable. A fisher probably dashed up the tree and used the camera a step causing it to skew. Although fishers spend more time on the ground than in the trees, fishers are excellent tree climbers and will use the trees for safety and escape.
Other
Birding on February 1st
Although the Refuge has been quiet lately, birds are still about if you stop, listen and watch. Here are some that were seen last Saturday:
- American Robin
- American Crow
- Northern Cardinal
- Blue Jay
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Tufted Titmouse
- Sparrow (sp.)
- Red-tailed Hawk
- Yellow-rumped Warbler (M)
- Golden-crowned Kinglet
- Brown Creeper
- White-breasted Nuthatch
- Dark-eyed Junco (slate-colored variant)
- Pileated Woodpecker (heard only)
Come to the Assabet River Wildlife Refuge and enjoy!
-Kingfisher
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