April 3rd, 2007
up in a tree
Saturday, Don and I spent about 3 hours hiking around at Mill Pond Conservation Area near Portland, Ontario. It’s one of our favourite places, and we’ve spent many long days spanning all four seasons, either hiking the trails, or paddling our canoe on Mill Pond.
A short way down the roadway leading to one of the trails that we like to hike, we noticed some new trail markers leading off into the woods. We decided to explore to see where they would lead. The trail descended down a fairly steep slope, to the tip of a large beaver pond and marsh. It’s a great little spot as some of the most dramatic rock formations may be seen once you’re down at pond level — these would normally be screened from view by the high trail that leads along the hillside up above. At the moment, the trail seems to terminate down by the pond. It will be interesting to see what happens next — whether the trail will continue further along, or if there will be some kind of observation platform built somewhere along the edge so that one can look out into the marsh and beaverpond.
Right next to the bottom section of trail, there’s a large tree with a great knothole in one side. As we drew near, I raised my hand — our mutual code that means stop and stay still and don’t make a sound. We’re both so used to seeing each other do it that we automatically make an immediate halt if we see the other beginning to raise a hand. I was quite sure there was something inside the knothole, so I shot a photo and then slowly advanced.
Sure enough, there was a very large porcupine sitting in the opening, enjoying the bright sunlight. I’ve photoshopped this photo a little so that you can see the porcupine better — the faces of most porcupines are so jet black that they can barely be seen against the darkness of a hiding spot (click on this image to see a larger view). I took a photo and then we continued on our way, leaving the porcupine to its own musing — probably pondering over whether this tree is such a good hiding spot now that there’s a trail leading right by its doorstep.
We left the lower trail and continued on along the ridge trail that overlooks the beaverpond and marsh. The pond and the nearby lake (Mill Pond) were still covered with a thin layer of ice. A few more warm days, and it will surely be gone. As we reached the far end of the pond, we came upon a strange sight — a deer skeleton hanging up in a tree about six feet above the ground. The rib cage was tangled up in the branches so that it was held in place quite securely. This is the tree (click on thumbnail photo on left to see larger view). Below is a photo of the skeleton. The bones looked rather fresh, although I suppose the recent cold weather could have kept them looking that way for awhile. The rib cage looked like it had been gnawed on. I checked around the base of the tree, but didn’t find any other bones nearby. Despite the appearance, the tree isn’t very large — about 4 inches in diameter – but solid enough to support a bit of weight. The surrounding area is a slope that ascends to a section of maple sugar bush that’s being tapped with pails. Downslope is a bit more forest and the edge of the beaver pond. We saw no signs to indicate who or what might have put the skeleton up in the tree. I shot a few photos and Don wrote up some notes to go with our GPS reading.
On Sunday, I posted the photos and sent an email to our local nature listserve and received several suggestions of possible explanations for the skeleton. Most suggested human intervention of some kind. Perhaps a hunter hanging up the deer while cutting parts away (except that I believe there’s no hunting allowed at Mill Pond due to the hiking trails, etc..), or maybe a biologist setting out some roadkill to study scavenger feeding (possible, but it would be quite a long walk to carry it in to that particular spot). I thought of someone walking along the trail and finding the skeleton and possibly tossing it to the side, but why not just kick it off to the downslope side, instead of tossing it up into a tree (rather more work than necessary – and also kind of messy looking). I also considered someone from the maple bush tapping operation finding it up above and tossing it down the slope, but the way the skeleton is hooked in the tree makes that seem a bit unlikely (it’s hooked into the downhill facing side of the tree). A couple of people wondered if it might have been dragged above the ground by an animal, but which one? In our area, there is always the question of whether there are any eastern Cougars around — but something I read this morning mentioned that eastern Cougar sightings are often rated as being about as likely as UFO sightings. Also, the tree was pretty small and didn’t seem like the best place to drag a carcass. So, what do you think — April Fool’s Day joke by another hiker, someone doing some clean-up, a flying deer that got caught up in a tree, or perhaps elusive predator? Interesting puzzle in any case.
April 3rd, 2007 at 1:56 pm
Hi Bev! This really does look like a cougar-hung deer. The bones look like how the bones looked when we found a carcass on our property(which was pulled apart and stached various places, moved around…). Y’all may be lucky and the coug is back. I’m just saying it really does look like what a cougar does(at least in my two carcs I’ve found). The legs are pulled off, the head is pulled off. Did you find any bones at the base of the tree that had dropped off? Did you poke around the immediate area, cougs will also cover theur lunch with duff n’ dirt for later–you’d find radiating scratches around the pile. Do you have bears? Cute porcuine!
On a side note, I read your Burning Silo story. Fun story! A long time ago a house in the neighborhood was given to the fire department to burn for training(start it up, put it out, start it up, put it out). It was a big party, a bbq picnic, boomboxes, waterfights, “let’s see how far we can roll a fireman with the hose”, neighbors set out in lawn chairs watching and talking. Probably against the law today, though(to have the neighborhood watch). Kinda made me think that firemen are really controlled pyromaniacs;0). I know I enjoy a good bonfire!!
April 3rd, 2007 at 1:57 pm
oops, sorry, I reread and see that you did check the base of the tree;0) Happy Mystery!!
April 3rd, 2007 at 3:15 pm
Yup I agree. Cougar. This is their M.O.
April 3rd, 2007 at 4:47 pm
I immediately thought of cougar as well. I did also think of some human prank, but not sure why anyone would do such a thing. A very interesting find. I love that porcupine pic. A perfect little hiding place with a flash of sunlight.
April 3rd, 2007 at 4:58 pm
Are there bobcats or lynx in your area? That would be my guess. They eat carrion and also occasionally kill deer. There’s an amazing slideshow on the Cuddeback website of a bobcat taking down a deer right in front of the camera! However, if cougars are known to live in the area, then I wouldn’t rule one out. Since it’s not a big tree, perhaps it was a small cougar? Creepy, nonetheless!
Therese
April 3rd, 2007 at 6:29 pm
Witches?
April 3rd, 2007 at 8:39 pm
I’m not even going to guess…I’d only embarrass myself! Bev, I watched a television program the other night that made me think of you all; I think you’d enjoy it. It was a look at the life and contributions of Roy Bedicek, a naturalist in Texas whose greatest contributions were in the late 1950s through until his death. It gave me an even greater sense of appreciation for people like you and your readers.
April 4th, 2007 at 7:16 am
I think somehow you’ve gotten one of our Pennsylvania whitetails. It slipped and got caught while climbing the tree to eat the tender young twigs.
April 4th, 2007 at 7:43 am
Celeste & Magnus – What size of tree would a cougar use when it drags a carcass up into the branches? I was thinking the tree would need to be quite large.
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robin – I was wondering how much weight a Bald Eagle could carry. We saw an eagle at Mill Pond about a year ago, so I know they’re in the vicinity. My brother, who lived at a house on the ocean in Halifax, used to see Eagles catching quite large fish — in fact, one dropped a very large fish on his lawn right beside his greenhouse (another couple of yards and it would have come down right through the roof — not a nice thought). Anyhow, I wondered about a Bald Eagle trying to carry the spine and then dropping it from the air so that it got tangled in a tree.
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Therese – Cougar once did live in this area, but were pretty much extirpated. However, there are occasional reports of sightings. Bobcat and Lynx are both found in Ontario – I’m not sure about local sightings, but they have been found in other areas. I do know someone local who had what was probably a bobcat get trapped in a chicken house about 15 or so years ago. I think there are a lot of animals around that go unnoticed.
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pablo – Yes, the Witches of Mill Pond. (-:
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John – I’ll have to check around for info on Roy Bedicek. I always like to read about naturalists who have contributed information over a long period of time. It’s always quite fascinating.
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Dave – That’s about the best explanation yet — I think your Pennsylvania deer just picked up that art from our Ontario whitetails as they’ve been doing that for awhile now! (-:
April 4th, 2007 at 8:04 am
Dave’s explanation amuses me: I occasionally see whitetails perched on their back legs trying to get japanese honeysuckle down from trees. With our population, that’s the only real positive aspect I can see of having them around, which is of course *why* they’re around in such a high population density, and so if the occasional one strangled itself on a branch, well, kudos and goodbye!
I’m adhering to the hunter theory, myself, although it’s still pretty bizarre.
The porcupine is just great. We don’t have those down here. It’s a good photo of the face – and a good sense of compensating for the lack of contrast between the dark hole and the black face, too.
April 4th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
What a sweet porcupine pix. Yep, there I go anthropomorphizing.
Curious about your posting a skeleton. For philosophical rather than scientific reasons I’ve mulled over posting a picture I took recently of a dead possum. It’s not grisly, but crocus it ain’t. It’s all tied in with some late-winter, early-Spring musings that perhaps we all encounter this time of year as once again life is renewed. Still, I don’t want to ambush those who drop in for squirrels and sunsets (-:
April 4th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
Hi Bev! Yes, cougars do hang them in larger trees, but it looks like that tree is “average” for the area. And that is just like how they hang them(yup, saw it on teevee–to use Ed Abbey’s spelling–we have a great local show “Oregon Field Guide”). It looks like the kind of tree crotch they use too. So, I think it’s safe to say “It looks JUST LIKE a cougar cache”. ;0)
April 4th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
Wonderful porcupine photo. I just saw one high in a tulip poplar today eating tree buds. As for the skeleton, I won’t hazard a guess, but I hope it’s a cougar cache.
April 4th, 2007 at 11:47 pm
hi bev… your mystery compels me to share a personal story reminicent of an oddly similar situation friends and i experienced while wintering many years ago in bridgeton, maine… and it conveniently incorporates the subject matter of both your images… how’s that for stephen jay gouldian synthesis!
we had gathered a large collection of dropped antlers over the course of a year while teaching at an environmental school there and we stored the antlers and random bones in one of our unoccupied cabins… (well, unoccupied except by a porcupine or two it turns out)… the little buggers dragged antlers and bones around the cabin and managed to stash them in the strangest places… all of them gnawed away to nubs in many places… now this marine biologist knows not a bit of the supplemental dietary needs of porcupines, but i wouldn’t put it past one of these stubborn, persistent critters to drag a chew toy up a tree…
April 5th, 2007 at 6:07 am
Wayne – Although there are many whitetails around here too, I don’t see too much damage around this place, but I think it’s because of the type of vegetation we have — very dense throughout much of the farm. I think they spend time grazing on the remnants of alfalfa, treefoil and also wild plants that grow in the fields. I’m always a bit surprised that they don’t show much interest in the trees in a small apple orchard that one of my younger brothers planted about 20 years ago. There’s virtually no protection around the trees, and yet the deer seem to walk through and ignore them. It may be that they have so much browse, including wild crab apples at the back of the farm, that they aren’t so interested in the cultivated trees. Anyhow, interesting to see how these deer behave depending on habitat. We would barely know they existed if we didn’t actually see them from time to time.
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Cathy – As you might guess, I wouldn’t have a problem with posting a dead possum on my blog. I did almost post part of a dead flying squirrel last week and may yet do so. I have a gallery on roadkill among the photos on my Pbase galleries and it occasionally provokes some angry comments from people who have come across it, presumably during Google image searches. However, most people seem to take it in stride. I think a lot depends on how a person feels about nature, the cycle of life, etc… Some people are more or less comfortable about it than others.
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Celeste – That’s a good way of putting it! Looks JUST LIKE a cougar cache. I like that! (-:
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Marcia – I usually see them high up in trees, but so far this year, not a one. I have seen a couple inside threes though, perhaps raising young.
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Rick – Great story about the antlers and bones! I do know that porcupine are supposed to like deer antlers a lot — that porcupine and even mice will make short work of them if they find them in the forest. I’ve been contemplating various possibilities for how the skeleton pieces may have gotten up into the tree, and porcupine had crossed my mind, along with a couple of other mammals and also a Bald Eagle. It’s an interesting mystery!
April 6th, 2007 at 10:17 pm
Hey – if we can have cougar here in Michigan, I suppose you can very well have them too! :-) Good find on that porqi! I am always looking in tree holes in my woods hoping to find something similar. It seems there are so many of them, but very few that are inhabited.
April 17th, 2007 at 10:34 am
The tree looks small to me- I would guess a hiker hung it up there.