Mom's Day

Someone once said that the term "working mother" is redundant. 

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms in the world.

The struggle is real…..

 

A Half Dozen

A selection of critters from the trail camera trap line.

Coyote

Long beard gobblers

Curious doe

Raccoon

Velvet buck

And a possum

Variety

From the trail camera trap line I bring you a stringer of various critters who have had their images curated over the past month.

Key takeaways?  

Snow on the ground until just recently.

Plenty of variety.

Coyote

Check out the spurs on this gobbler

Striped skunk

Robin

Cranes

Possum

Deer

Crow

Chickadee

And a teeny, tiny Boreal or Saw Whet owl 

Happy Mother's Day

complete-wildlife.com

The staff here at The Platz raises a toast to all the hard-working moms out there.

Make it a terrific day.

Cheers!

Owl Bait

 I have blogged about this possibility before.  What are the odds of it occurring at the site of the same trail camera that inspired the hypothesis?

Not Mr. Bunny this time.

click on images to enlarge

 

But adolescent possum. 

Meet Mr. Great Horned Owl....

 Nature is a cruel mother.  
 
Door County, Wisconsin, USA - Where the strong survive and the weak are killed and eaten.
 

 

Playing Possum

Many years ago I walked out to a deer stand on a totally dark morning.  With a bow in one hand and a headlamp I climbed the ladder to the platform and just as I reached the top an exceedingly large and very ugly possum looked me right in the face!  I don't know for sure who was more startled.  It was miraculous that I didn't fall from the ladder and crash to the ground.  There is never a dull moment when bow hunting.

Didelphis virginiana - the Virginia opossum is the species found in Wisconsin and is the only marsupial found north of Mexico.  It's curious creature as it doesn't hibernate in winter, can hang by its tail from a tree branch, the young travel from place to place perched on mom's back and the possum can defend itself successfully against large predators.  In a pinch it will rollover an play dead.  This critter is resistant to plague and rabies and is immune to snake venom. 

They're also nocturnal.

click to enlarge and you will see his skinny naked tail