We've recently moved to the little gold rush era town of Georgetown, CA. It's a beautiful spot, and our property is teeming with wildlife. We started filming critters at night and were amazed at the variety of visitors coming to our home! There's an apple orchard, a pond, and a stretch of forest with so many wonderful habitats, that we're constantly snapping pictures and taking videos.  I started posting them on Facebook, but not everyone is on that site, so I've set up a section here on my website. We started filming animals at night when we still lived in Healdsburg, but all of these on my website are from our new home in Georgetown, CA, which is why they start at #3. Animals are a lot more interesting here! Anyway, I figured this was as good a place to share them as anywhere. Enjoy!
(For some reason the date stamps aren't showing on the videos, so I've added dates,
​though some are compilations of more than one night.)
This was our very first critter cam recording after moving to Georgetown. It was done on September 21, 2018, shortly after we got the keys to the place. We knew we had a variety of critters on the place, but no idea how wide a variety! After this one night, we were both hooked. Some nights nothing trips the lens, but other nights are a total parade of critters. We've added some daytime shots of birds and such, but I doubt we'll ever see all of the wildlife that comes to visit. The notes were all written the day the videos were shot. 
 10/7/18 Doug set the Critter Cam up last night, and it appears the foxes are the stars tonight, but they appear to be gorging on the ripe blackberries if the amount of seeds in the fox poop near the vines is any indication! Blackberries are just thick out here and covered with ripe fruit. In the valley, they've been gone for a month or more, but up here the fruit is still really heavy on the vines. Plus, I've discovered a fig tree loaded with fruit. It's behind the house, but mostly covered in blackberry vines. Thinning them out is our next priority. AFTER I get all the boxes unpacked!
10/9/11 Not as much activity the past two nights, but the weather is changing and it's feeling more like fall. Apples falling are drawing deer and geese during the day--I think we need to set the camera up for some daytime shots to get an idea of what's going on while we're in the house unpacking MORE boxes (and we haven't even gotten to the books!) and figuring out where to put everything. 

I'm also curious as to whether or not we've had bears here, possibly coming in from the upper part of the property where the forest is real thick. I know we have bears, bobcats, and mountain lions in the area, but haven't seen them. We've heard the coyotes, but again, haven't seen them either.

There's a lot left to do inside, but it's so much fun to be outside that it's a struggle to get the work that needs doing, done!! Have a wonderful week. ❤️
​10/14/18 Things appear to have slowed down, though we have foxes! Not many apples left on the ground since the bear came for a visit, but there's still activity in the orchard. Typing fast, as PG&E is going to turn off power due to fire danger. The whole northern part of California appears to be on fire watch tonight. And no, there's no such thing as climate change, Mr. Trump. This is all just normal as can be....

Enjoy the video. Hopefully we'll have some other critters to show in a day or two.

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​​10/11/18  So, we've had foxes, deer, possums, skunks, raccoons, and the occasional cat, including one that's really big, but I think might be part Maine Coon. Last night we got our first bear, but it's autumn, the weather is changing, and the old orchard is filled with fallen fruit. It's been abandoned for a long time, so the fruit is wormy which is why we're not eating much or even cleaning it up at this point because we're too busy getting settled in here. But between the tree fruit and the berries, it's a veritable feast out here for the wildlife.

At least the bear went for the fresh fruit, rather than the garbage cans that were up on the road last night! We're still waiting to see our first mountain lion, or maybe even a bobcat. They're here. Somewhere!

Doug had a few shots of foxes on the camera, but said they were so brief he wasn't able to use them. It's definitely going back up tonight!
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10/22/18 My apologies for taking so long to check in or load anything...I've been without Internet much of the time. For some reason my Jetpack quit talking to me, but I think my phone was interrupting. We shall see, but even with that, it's much slower than I was on high speed cable (duh!) and takes forever to upload my videos. BUT, I've got a new one, a compilation of a few nights that Doug put together. No bears this time, but some beautiful foxes and really healthy looking raccoons. And skunks. A pair, which probably means little skunks come spring.

We're getting more settled every day. Husband is still cutting back cattails so we can see the pond. There was a great blue heron out there yesterday morning. My office is still a mess, but we've been concentrating on getting the kitchen in order. Ya gotta eat, right? I'm starting work on a newsletter and will have that out as soon as I have something to say.
10/28/18 This is another compilation--Doug said it's five days of shorts of critters coming and going. The most interesting visitors are a pair of deer--a young forked horn buck and a fawn just barely past its spots. They are always together, but we've never seen the fawn with a doe which makes us believe she might not be around anymore. There are two different days of their visits caught on camera, though we see them almost daily. If you look closely at one of the nightime deer visitors, you'll see a huge buck with a big rack. Hopefully he'll hang out around here for the next few weeks so he makes it safely through the hunting season! Enjoy!
10/29/18 This is a short clip we got a couple days ago--just at dawn, a doe spent about half an hour in one spot, taking her daily bath. It only ended when my spouse, walking out to get the camera, spooked her. He said he was looking down so he wouldn't trip on the rough ground, and didn't even know there was a critter out there until she ran off.