Tag: Wildlife Steward
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Mustelid Musing
Willing unfamiliars into focus so that we may photograph Ermine, Marten, and Weasel…
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Coyote or Coywolf?
There’s something stunning if slightly startling about spotting (or hearing the howl of) our ubiquitous Adirondack canid. Agile and attentive, swift and stealthy, this familiar predator is a familiar and important part of our ecosystem. And yet much mystery and misunderstanding collects around this handsome neighbor, not the least of which is disagreement over whether…
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Busy Bobcat Byway
Kudos to John Davis (@wildwaystrekker), and Tony Foster (@anthonyfoster335) for mapping out and building Rosslyn’s newest nature trail. It’s become a bustling bobcat byway, well trafficked night and day by many wildlife including a population of wild felines. Hurrah! Just over one month ago I acknowledged the scarcity of native wildcat images on our wildlife cameras. It’s…
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Gray Fox or Eastern Coyote?
John Davis, our good friend and Rosslyn’s conscientious wildlife steward, contacted me this weekend with an excited update. Good photos on your cell cam last few days, including a Gray Fox, I think, January 11. We rarely see those. I’d just been reviewing recent images from the camera he referenced, a Reconyx, cellular-enabled camera that…
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Northern Cardinal
It’s fair to call it midwinter, I think, and yet snow has been intermittent and sparse. But it’s plenty cold, so we’ll trust the calendar. The Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) photographed by one of our wildlife cameras tells a different story. It could be autumn. Or spring. The male Northern Cardinal is perhaps responsible for…
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Bobcat Blurring
I spy a bobcat blurring brookside, loping contentedly across a path padded with pine needles. Do you see what I see? S/he’s pretty well camouflaged in the range of rusty hues filling the majority of this image. But look for the lean, well muscled legs, the bobbed tail, and the pointy ears with a spray…
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Homestead Haikus
I often refer to Rosslyn as a homestead, but I’m aware that might mislead some of you. No livestock. That’s probably the biggest deviation from most self proclaimed homesteads. No chickens. No pigs, sheep, or goats. No milk cow. No 160 acre land grant (though we’ve slowly grown Rosslyn’s acreage to more than a third…
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Bye-bye, Bats
It’s time to evict our friendly nocturnal neighbors from Rosslyn’s cozy attic and soffits. We bid fond farewell for now. Bye-bye, bats.
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Friend or Foe: Eastern Coyote
The Eastern Coyote (Canis latrans var) is an omnipresent wild neighbor at Rosslyn. The tracks, the songs, and the holistic balance that the Eastern Coyote brings to our +/-70 acres are an everyday reminder that the wildway is healthy and that wild flora and fauna are thriving in our small slice of the Adirondack Coast.…