An Eastern Box Turtle was waiting to greet me....

When I checked on the camera Saturday, I was delighted to see this handsome turtle waiting patiently, enjoying the view. It didn't move all the while that I was adjusting the camera, and didn't even tuck inside its shell. That surprised me.

I might add that this turtle was pretty far from water. You may recall that I have the camera on the highest point in the park, on the top of a ridge about 260 feet above the Loch Raven Reservoir, and Minebank Run, where the beaver lived last year.


Also hanging around was this caterpillar. It was on the back of a small sign that I post next to the camera, explaining what it is. I'm bad at caterpillars, and would be happy to have one of you tell me what it is.

Please.












And what, you're probably asking, was caught on camera this week?

The usual, I dare say.



 I'm not sure what bird we have here.

 Right now, these two are getting along. But soon they will be fighting over the does, won't they?

 These are beautiful animals, aren't they?

 The Ridgelys of Hampton (www.nps.gov/hamp) used to keep squirrels as pets. They even put leashes on them.

And on the way back to me car, I happened to look over this bridge. See a brown squiggle on the right side of the pool? It looks like it could be a stick, perhaps. It isn't. It's a Northern water snake.


That makes the total for this week:

1. deer
2. fox
3. squirrel
4. bird
5. snake
6. caterpillar
7. raccoon
8. turtle

More later.

Cue Timon, Cue Simba, bring in Rafiki--it's the circle of life....

So, like the Car Talk Puzzler, the blog has been on summer vacation. But we are now back to work.

I have two things to offer with this entry. Some new pictures and an interesting beaver update.

After the beavers were flooded out, I decided to take the camera uphill to see what might be seen. Below are some pictures from that.

Meanwhile, new beavers were seen in the park. A small start of a dam was seen upstream from any earlier sightings. Today, I had a chance to explore, so I determined to go and see what that new dam looks like. I started about 50 yards upstream from the old dam and walked. I walked through water, and sand, and, and, and, found nothing.

That's not really true.

I found a turtle.

And a Great blue heron. (It's in the center background, trust me.)
















And a really cool looking dragonfly.


















And a deer.




















And proof that a fox has been around.



















And I found that my boots and socks and pants were very wet.












All in all, a good Thoreau kind 0f saunter.

But I did not find any sign of beaver. So, I turned around and went back upstream. I decided to go all the way upstream to where the beaver was firs seen about a year ago; just to see what was to be seen.

I saw the original beaver den. It was built pretty well and is still there. It's probably home to another animal.
















A few yards upstream, just where the old dam was--you'll never guess what I saw.

Wait for it.

Can you guess?

the dam. 21 August 2013.

Yep. The beginnings of a new dam, just where the old one was.

And just about a year after the old one started.

Another year--another cycle.

Fascinating.








Other notes. As you can see from the pictures below, the deer are forming new antlers. Fall, and the rut, are coming soon.

I don't plan to keep the camera on the beaver this time. I am looking to the hills this fall and winter, so have decided to keep the cameras at higher elevations. It'll be fun to see what is up there.

More later.

Activity at another watering hole

I decided to move the camera uphill to see what there is to see. I found a small stream that flows down to Minebank Run.  I placed the camera next to a small animal trail that crosses the stream.

Herewith, a review of the animals follow that trail.

The raccoon was a common sight. I found several pictures of it hunting for food.

It probably goes without saying that a deer walked in front of the camera. Sometime in the future, I hope to look at deer, and their effects on the environment.

The fox was another animal that came to the stream several times over the last few days. If you look closely at the first two photographs, you'll see an animal in this fox's mouth. Probably a dead rabbit. Perhaps being brought home to feed the children.

Birds also need to drink too, don't they?
Do you have a birdbath in your yard?









And, finally, people and their best friends. The park is for them too.

And we will  finish with an interesting tidbit. If you look at this last photo, you might notice that the camera switched to black and white. The forest floor is actually darker in the summer than the winter. This is due to the heavy leaf cover from the trees.

Where's Waldo?, the Cromwell Valley Park version

So, it appears than the beavers, like Elvis, have left the park. I expect that one will venture back sometime in the future, but for now the park is bereft of beavers.

I have decided to lift my camera up to the hills, and to explore what may be seen there. With the help of my son, I placed to camera along a deer trail. After about a week I had a chance to retrieve it a and check to photos.  Turns out some animals can be pretty hard to pick out of the background. It certainly was fun, though, looking closely to see what tripped the camera.

Take a look at the pictures below and see how you do. Each has a mammal in it. Some, though are pretty hard to identify. I really don't know for sure what a couple of them are. Do you?

More later.

Back in business

washed downstream.

Remember that flood? I had a a chance today to take a good look at Minebank Run. Among other
things, I found this tree. It used to be part of the beaver's den, but was washed about 30 meters downstream. Man, that was a lot of water.








I am happy to report that the ruined camera has been replaced as an early birthday present. I might also take the opportunity to compliment www.trailcampro.com. They are a great outfit, with splendid customer service.

The camera is in the park. Who knows what we might find? (Personally, I'm still hoping for sasquatch.)

More later.

Flash flood update--It's all gone

the former dam. 10 June 2013.

If you live in the Baltimore metro area, you may have noticed that it rained today.

The beaver family certainly noticed.

Everything is gone.

The beaver pond is gone.

The beaver den is gone.

The beaver dam is gone.

That must have been one spectacular flash flood.

the former dam and den. 10 June 2013.

can you tell when it all was swept away?

The camera is ruined too. But that's small potatoes, isn't it?

UPDATE: I have a birthday coming relatively soon. The critter cam will be back, in a new and improved version. New adventures await.

What do beavers have to do with Great Blue Herons? and an intriguing new question.

the dam. 8 Jun 2013.

I checked on the beaver pond today.
It appears that the recent heavy rains have done some damage to the dam.  You can see in the photograph that some of the dam in the foreground is missing. I also noticed that the water level in the pond is lower than it has been. And there is a lot of silt deposited on the shore of the pond. Given the heavy rain, though, I was expecting to see even more damage than this.






In my observations I have also seen two new things. An animal that hasn't been around before, and new behavior among the beavers. That behavior, especially has me curious.

a frog by the beaver pond.

You'll recall, perhaps, from earlier entries that beavers create habitat for other animals. The ponds they create are places of slower, deeper water that is attractive to other animals and fish. This probably explains the frogs that have been around the pond for the last few weeks.  And this may well explain the Great Blue Heron that I captured on camera recently Among other things, Great Blue Herons eat frogs. Indeed, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology says:

"Great Blue Herons in the northeastern U.S. and southern Canada have benefited from the recovery of beaver populations, which have created a patchwork of swamps and meadows well-suited to foraging and nesting." www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Great_Blue_Heron/lifehistory

Beavers create a lot more than they destroy, don't they?

The new behavior that I captured with the camera is what really has me intrigued.

I have two photographs of a beaver carrying a bunch of leaves toward its den. I have never observed this before, nor have I captured in on camera. What is going on? This isn't the usual caching of food for winter. Beavers usually just eat their greens where they find them.

hmm mm....

Is this perhaps the beaver father carrying food to the mother, or to a newly weaned baby? I haven't yet read of this behavior.

I'm open to suggestions.

There is confirmation that we still have two adults living in the pond. They were both seen by one of the park naturalists on the 2nd.

I'll leave you with a video I captured recently. Just one of the beavers being a beaver.

Life is good.

More later.