Mystery Animal on Game Camera
This showed up on the game camera when we checked it this afternoon.
Horrible quality (probably from rain on lens) - 1:44AM Friday morning 04/24 - eastern NY just over the border from Great Barrington - hemlock woods near stream
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I have no idea, so looking forward to best guesses!
Re: Mystery Animal on Game Camera
Re: Mystery Animal on Game Camera
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Saab2000
That’s a chupacabra.
Not the easter bunny on a post-holiday bender then?
Re: Mystery Animal on Game Camera
Re: Mystery Animal on Game Camera
I would have said a marten, a mink or a fisher. Hard to really figure out the exact size.
Re: Mystery Animal on Game Camera
Looks like a mink. Too far south for fisher.
Re: Mystery Animal on Game Camera
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Saab2000
That’s a chupacabra.
Came here to say this but I'll guess pine marten.
Re: Mystery Animal on Game Camera
It looks like a turkey or pheasant maybe.
Re: Mystery Animal on Game Camera
How far from water? I think it'd be pretty unusual to see a mink up way away from the water.
I'd guess pine martin, or some sort of black tree weasel.
Re: Mystery Animal on Game Camera
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Diablo de Acero
It looks like a turkey or pheasant maybe.
Oh yeah, good call. Small hen turkey.
Re: Mystery Animal on Game Camera
Re: Mystery Animal on Game Camera
My money is on fisher- they're not as arboreal as commonly believed.
unless water is nearby, I doubt mink.
And the suspect birds definitely roost at night in the trees.
Re: Mystery Animal on Game Camera
Quote:
Originally Posted by
monadnocky
My money is on fisher- they're not as arboreal as commonly believed.
unless water is nearby, I doubt mink.
And the suspect birds definitely roost at night in the trees.
On second thought: fox perhaps, but they're mostly crepuscular, not dead-of-night 1:44 am nocturnal.
Re: Mystery Animal on Game Camera
Quote:
Originally Posted by
monadnocky
On second thought: fox perhaps, but they're mostly crepuscular, not dead-of-night 1:44 am nocturnal.
Bit early for Wordish Wednesday but I can't even draw what crepuscular might mean....is it a Campy thing?
Re: Mystery Animal on Game Camera
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Diablo de Acero
It looks like a turkey or pheasant maybe.
That was my first thought, but both almost non-functional in the dark - like chickens - so they really aren't nocturnal. But possible I guess.
The water is a stream about 10' to the left of where the critter is, and about 30 yards in the direction the animal is traveling, the stream flows out of a collapsed beaver pond that makes about a 10 acre wetlands.
We are right next to the South Taconics, and they have this strange connection to habitat further north. Like moose. And Fisher is possible. Mink I hadn't considered.
Marten would be Adirondacks though.
Too small for an otter. Maybe a beaver? But the tail isn't right, though it is hard to tell.
A skunk?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
monadnocky
On second thought: fox perhaps, but they're mostly crepuscular, not dead-of-night 1:44 am nocturnal.
Good idea. We have both red and gray fox. This would be more the size of a gray fox.
Re: Mystery Animal on Game Camera
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Colinmclelland
Bit early for Wordish Wednesday but I can't even draw what crepuscular might mean....is it a Campy thing?
Active at twilight.
Re: Mystery Animal on Game Camera
Re: Mystery Animal on Game Camera
That thing holding a staff or spear to the right looks like a wildling...
Re: Mystery Animal on Game Camera
Now that I'm looking at it with a fresh eye, I wonder owl.
Re: Mystery Animal on Game Camera
I'm liking the mink/fisher idea. It seems to move a few steps and raises its head, then head down for a few steps and head goes back up. That's pretty much how those guys move around.
The owl suggestion isn't bad though. There is a pair of barred owls nesting nearby. Owls really don't like walking, but if they've caught something and it is putting up a bit of a struggle, they might hop around. But I'd expect to see wings.
I'm going to go back today and see if there are tracks. And change a few settings on the camera to see if I can get a better shot the next time.