Maine wildlife videos: eagel, vulture, bobcat, fox, coyote and more

This week was a busy one on the mountain. I have still not been up to much in the studio given my continued recovery from surgeries on my arms and hands. The best, albeit brief, video of a juvenile eagle is my favorite.

This very brief appearance of a juvenile eagle is a real treat.

Instead, Chippy-Doo and I have been busy with our three game cams and tracking Maine wildlife sign. We found owl pellets even some pulled deer fur, and some great shots of Maine wildlife.

Maine wildlife on the game cams this week:

Bobcat
Red Fox
Coyote
Turkey Vulture
Juvenile Eagle
Deer
Raccoon
Raven
Turkey

This is likely a group of deer formed by the smaller two groups seen over the winter, and possibly a large solo doe who passed the cam in the meadow each night a few months back. There is less competition for food since the snow melted.

This deer visits nightly around the same time. It’s hard to tell the sex in the grainy photo and with it being the off-season they do not yet sport antlers.

The deer seem to be gathering in larger groups. Last months they were all in groups of two or three, with a brief encounter on video where they didn’t seem eager to get along. We are close to when the does give birth and I’m eager to see little spotted fawns on my cameras.

The cream colored underside of the vulture’s wings are an easy way to ID them even hundreds of feet overhead.

Turkey vultures are very large birds, which I find quite ugly. They only feed on dead carcasses and open their wings to look larger in order to scare off other scavengers, like ravens and crows. They are no match for the eagle which came on the camera only moments after the vultures departure.

This rafter of turkey consists of 9 hens and one tom. He is showcasing his tail feathers and long beard. Over the past few weeks, the loud gobble has become part of the soundscape here on the mountain, along with partridge.

We have never caught such a large group of turkey on camera. They are a fun Maine wildlife spectacle to watch. They seem awkward, and it often surprises people when they learn that these large birds can fly. And it’s always a treat to watch the tom display. I spooked one in the woods last week and it flew almost straight up into a giant pine near the meadow. I didn’t see if it was a tom or a hen, so didn’t bother to look for a nest. It was hard to see where it had come from.

This large bobcat is the first one caught on camera since last spring. It left behind paw impressions in the mud, helping to identify it.

I have not seen bobcat here in quite some time, and certainly never an eagle. We have had falcons in the past. The deer have been extremely active at all hours of the day on one cam, and occasionally on a second cam.

The coyote pair are easy to identify given the female has a hunched walk with a very slight limp as if she has hip problems, likely from age.

The carnivore cam has be very active with a coyote pair the past few months, only recently have they began visiting the most active deer and turkey areas in the meadow. They are scavengers, hunters of small Maine wildlife; including voles, rabbit and spring fawn.

Here is the male passing back through.

The shots of raccoon, bobcat and fox are rather blurry night shots. The raccoon one is so breif and grainy that I have not bothered to upload it. They are consistent in size, behavior, and often pass by only minutes after deer pass through. The stubby tail, short legs and long, stout body are a dead giveaway for bobcat–as is the hopping, awkward run is for raccoon.

A blurry shot of a red fox slipping by just before dawn.

The fox is the most blurry, but I had both coyote and our house cat taken in the same spot to compare the photo with to help identify by size and body shape. They hold their tails out, are quick in open spaces and keep their heads low.

The ravens enjoyed some fat presents I’d cut off some meat this weekend under the Christmas tree cam.

I just love the way ravens hop around, it seems so childlike and playful. They are larger than crows and that thick hackles and feathers extending further own the legs. That can be seen clearly in the close up photo below.

Over the next week I’ll be working on tree ID, pond life and other fun articles about the flora coming to life as spring in Maine comes to the front. The salamanders are breeding in vernal pools and the wood frogs and spring peepers have laid masses of eggs.