January On The Sudbury River (Trail Cam Results)

 I took a walk to the Sudbury River on the last day I was out of school. A Sunday. I was out of school because my brother tested positive for COVID-19. It was raining and cold, and I put the camera on a peninsula that extended out toward the Mass-pike. I saw plenty of waterfowl including the Mute Swan Family, who almost a full year later, are still together. I guess cygnets have a long childhood compared to for example a Mallard Duck or Canada Goose who like like adults after just a month of life. I also saw a flock of 18 Mallards, and the whole time I was walking, there were Canada Geese flying overhead. I think some had gotten lost and were trying to re-unite with the flock. I also saw a group of Common Mergansers diving  for food under the bridge. They flew off as I frantically tried to pull my phone out. They were out of sight by the time i had opened the camera app.

I checked my camera on my walk home from school on Wednesday (January 19th). At first, I just quickly clicked through the pictures on the camera. I saw a Grey Squirrel, a Common Raccoon, and a Cottontail. Pretty much what I had expected. "Rodents and a Raccoon".

This is probably the best raccoon video out of the maybe 3-4 I got of it. Little guy just comes right up and smells the cam. You can hear the sniffing with your volume up. I think iv'e got videos and pics of the same individual on my old blog in the month of November. It tends to hang out under Wickford Bridge every night, probably looks for frogs, crayfish, or mollusks to eat along the riverbank. The mud under the bridge is always absolutely covered in raccoon tracks. It sniffed the cam under the bridge, too, so it knows the scent. It dosent look scared like most animals do when they find the camera. The whole time, you can hear the spooked Canada Geese nearby. Canada Geese have night vision, so they can probably see the raccoon waddling along the riverbank.

In that one, There are two Eastern Grey Squirrels which both run by the camera. The second squirrel (near the end of the video) actually pauses running to investigate the camera. The second squirrel is probably following the first. It is the middle of Grey Squirrel breeding season right now, so it's probably a male chasing a female. I thought you guys might like to see the kind of videos I usually just delete of rodents. Their boring, because we see them so often but add realism to the post and are sometimes cute.

Another rodent shows up. Eastern Cottontail. We get these in our yard all the time. I wonder what the rabbit's doing in a little wooded peninsula, away from it's food source. Maybe it's a female looking for a place to make a nest. Maybe it's just confused. Rabbits are nocturnal, so it makes sense at least that it's ou at night.

...As I was looking through the photos on my computer, I found a video I hadn't noticed before. Something I thought was a mouse runs up a tree. I paused the video at the start. An Assapan. Also called the Southern Flying Squirrel. This is the first Flying Squirrel my camera has ever gotten. It runs up the tree, out of frame, and then jumps and lands on top of the camera. What a cool little animal. The only time iv'e ever seen one was when my Grandpa's Havaheart trap caught one, and my and my cousins took it to the woods nearby and released it. I didnt know we had flying squirrels in Framingham. They always seemed like an exotic animal to me. After doing a bit of research, I now know they are a native, nocturnal animal which inhabit from Florida to Quebec.

...So just another rodent.

...This massive oak tree was standing about 10 feet behind the camera. The stripped bark is the hard work of American Beavers. You can see the tooth marks in the bark. This tree looks like it is still in the process of being toppled. I'm actually not completely sure if there are still beavers here or not. Ive found plenty of evidence of them, but never any new evidence, and never any dams, lodges, or castor mounds. There are definitely muskrats though.

...A battle between the invasive Common Reeds (Phragmites) and the native Cattails. Cattails are on the right, and Reeds are on the left. Sadly, this plant has conquered most freshwater marshes in Framingham, including Carol Getchell Reservation, and the big swamp by the Natick Mall.

...I hope you enjoyed my videos and photos. Thank you for reading.