January In A Scrub Swamp (Trail Cam Results)

 I mounted one of my trail cameras in a "Scrub Swamp". I have always wondered what the large, treeless area behind a few houses on Water St. was. I knew it was some kind of wetland, but had never actually found a legal way in, to explore. It is completely surrounded by private property. I finally found a place where the chain link fence near the aqueduct gets short enough that I can hop over it. I don't know who's land it is, to be honest, and nobody ever goes there. After I made my way down to the water on the 19th, I mounted the camera low on a tree, facing a mossy patch which was right on the water's edge. I tossed two sausage links in front of it, and left to set my other one in the Pine Grove. 

The wetlands are surrounded by the usual oak-white pine woodlands that dominate Massachusetts. The water is very shallow and supports the thick, short growth of High Bush Blueberry, Pitch Pine, Sphagnum Moss, and Buckthorn. When I picked it up, there was a friendly note. As it turns out, It had been private property the whole time. He said he was fine with the camera being there. The camera happened to be dead.

I took it home and removed the SD card. My camera got photos of THREE new animals that my cameras have never once seen before. Scroll down to see what they are.

That video is the first footage/image that my cameras have ever gotten of a Raccoon during the day. Raccoons are primarily nocturnal, but a raccoon out during the day isn't uncommon. In a later, lower quality video, it actually eats the sausages, but this is the best raccoon video of the album. I got many videos of the raccoon returning nightly. At one point, the wetlands freeze over, and he is seen running out on the ice.

                                              ...Notice the coloration of the little guy's tail. 

The bird shown in the video above I at first thought was a Wren or Nuthatch. After a quick google search, I realized it was a Brown Creeper. This is one of the three new animals I mentioned. Like woodpeckers and nuthatches, they climb trees, feeding on insect larvae and carpenter ants. They are pretty rare in my area. Notice how well it camouflages in with the tree. I have never seen one of these in my whole life.

...Another one of the three animals is another bird. There are many images in the sequence of this barred owl perching on a fallen log. This is the best video of it by far because of the fact that it flies to the embankment and then turns around and flies back out into the swamp. It is patrolling the area for crayfish, mice, and other small wetland animals.

                  I had been looking for Minks by the Sudbury River using my trail cam, which only got squirrels. There had been a sighting there. Looks like there are also minks in the Scrub Swamp. I love how it hops around between the log and the water. I'm surprised it didnt come up to the cam for it's scent. That would've been really great. I know have found 2/3 of the mustelids (weasels) that are native in my area. I have media of a Mink, and Fishers. The only one left is the American River Otter.