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WESTHAMPTON — Curious about the wildlife in our hilly corner of town, Gerri and I been running a pair of trail cams deep in the woods behind our home for about two years now.

The motion-activated cams, strapped to trees near the edge of a beaver swamp in a hemlock-shaded valley, have since picked up most of the major critters that Western Massachusetts has to offer, including: black bears, moose, deer, bobcats, coyotes, raccoons, porcupines – and just once so far, a fisher.

Gray squirrels, no surprise, are the most common triggers for images by far. They seem surprisingly at ease amid the dense thickets of mountain laurel surrounding the swamp, given they are prime prey for fisher, coyote and bobcat – the latter of which we pick up quite often. The cams work day and night, thanks to infrared technology and flash systems that are supposedly invisible, or nearly so, to human and animal eyes. They can be set for video, still photos or a combination of both.

We head down there once every week or so to swap out the memory cards and check out our latest visitors. That's the fun part because – like the proverbial box of chocolates – you never know what you are going to get.

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2015/10/westhampton_trail_cams_capture.html