Chris Whittier

Extreme close-up of the eyes of a raccoon on a camera trap

OTD in '22: something a little different as we enter spooky season.

🦊🦝👀 #trailcam #cameratrap #NewEnglandWildlife #MAwildlife #photooftheday #ProcyonLotor

Night camera trap photo of a coyote.

White flash night camera trap photo of a coyote.

2023 & 24

🦊 #CanisLatrans

Daytime camera trap photo of a coyote

Daytime camera trap photo of a coyote

Daytime camera trap photo of a coyote

Twilight B&W camera trap photo of a coyote

OTD in each of the last 6 years: coyote.

Might be the same blond individual in '19 & '21.

🦊 #trailcam #cameratrap #NewEnglandWildlife #MAwildlife #photooftheday #CanisLatrans

Camera trap photo of woodchuck on cut stump.

OTD in '23: another well-posed woodchuck appreciation post

🦊 #trailcam #backyardwildlife
#NewEnglandWildlife #MAwildlife #cameratrap #photooftheday
#woodchuck #groundhog #whistlepig #groundpig #whistler #CanadaMarmot #moonack #weenusk #landbeaver

Camera trap photo of a NA river otter climbing over a beaver dam

OTD in '20: a fur slinky on the beaver dam.

🦊🦦 🦫 #trailcam #cameratrap #NewEnglandWildlife #MAwildlife #photooftheday #RiverOtter #NAriverOtter #LontraCanadensis

Camera trap night photo of a small owl on the ground in MA

OTD in '20: What might be the only (definitive?) eastern screech owl we've captured on camera on campus.

🪶🦉 👀 #trailcam #cameratrap #NewEnglandWildlife #MAwildlife #photooftheday #MegascopsAsio

Umm... "scaring?" Looks more like this:

[see CA news for squirrel attacks!]

Day time camera trap photo of a bobcat carrying a squirrel prey across a log near a swamp

OTD in '22: always fun to see bobcats in daylight, but mid lunch hour WITH lunch on-the-go is just plain showing off.

I guess bobcats be like that- right @natickbobcat.bsky.social?

🦊🐱🐿️🍽️ ☠️ 🥡
#trailcam #cameratrap #NewEnglandWildlife #MAwildlife #photooftheday #LynxRufus

Camera trap night photo of mink crossing a fallen log.

OTD last year: very rare sighting of a mink. We only see 2-3/year on campus.

🦊 #trailcam #cameratrap #NewEnglandWildlife #MAwildlife #photooftheday #NeogaleVison

Jane Goodall, renowned chimpanzee researcher and animal advocate, dies at 91 "Dr. Goodall's discoveries as an ethologist revolutionized science, and she was a tireless advocate for the protection and restoration of our natural world," the Jane Goodall Institute said in a Wedne...

😪💔

www.nbcnews.com/news/obituar...

Composite of white flash camera trap photos of an opossum and a gray fox

OTD in '19: October was ushered in with an early AM possum and an after dinner gray fox.

🦊🦘 #trailcam #cameratrap #NewEnglandWildlife #MAwildlife #photooftheday #DidelphisVirginiana #UrocyonCinereoargenteus

Black and white night camera trap photo of a large coyote looking very light colored.

White-flash color night photo of a backyard striped skunk with thick white patches.

OTD in '22 a ghost-like coyote and in '24 a mostly white striped skunk, to which we don't give enough love.

🦊🦨🐺 🤍 👻 #trailcam #cameratrap #backyardwildlife #NewEnglandWildlife #MAwildlife #photooftheday #CanisLatrans #MephitisMephitis

Camera trap photo of red tailed hawk close-up and view over it's shoulder

OTD in '22: Hawk's eye view of the brook.

🪶🐦 #trailcam #cameratrap #NewEnglandWildlife #MAwildlife #photooftheday #RTH #ButeoJamaicensis

Camera trap photo of an adult male bobcat staring at the camera

Camera trap photo of mother bobcat leading a large kitten across a fallen tree bridge over a stream

OTD in '22: Two fabulous appearances by 3 different bobcats. A late morning thic male at the dam & mid-afternoon mom + bobkitten downstream on a log bridge. These were Sep '23 & '25 CummingsCritterCam calendar shots.

🦊🐱 #trailcam #cameratrap #NewEnglandWildlife #MAwildlife #photooftheday #LynxRufus

Camera trap photo of deer with a crooked antler and tongue sticking out

OTD in '23: Actual photo of me stumbling home from happy hour.

🦊🦌👅🍺🥴
#trailcam #cameratrap #backyardwildlife #NewEnglandWildlife #MAwildlife #photooftheday #HappyHour

Collage of camera trap pictures of large snapping turtles crossing the remnant beaver dam.

3/3 We didn't consistently detect them so started obsessively running cams on 30 s timelapse. They (& other small turtles, snakes, etc.) pass OFTEN, from Mar to Nov, of course both up & down, but almost never trigger anymore. I think the hot, sun-soaked dam/ramp (now remnant) was the key (IR diff).🐢

Collage of camera trap photos of snapping turtles that triggered the camera

2/3 within a year we had 8 more snapper triggers- ALL others with turtles going DOWNhill. Presumably they are moving faster/fast enough to trigger unlike when they move up (they're certainly going both ways). Plus one other of a snapper swimming away (poss triggered by another animal?).
🐢

OTD in '19: Our 1st case of a snapping turtle triggering a cam. This isn't SUPPOSED to happen bc they are ecto-/poikilothermic ("cold-blooded") & cameras trigger from motion + "heat." But "heat" is really thermal (IR) difference, in this case = COLDER than surroundings. 1/3

🐢🦕🐉 #trailcam #wildlife

I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA

10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)

Camera trap image of a raccoon approaching the camera with a pair of "ghost eyes" in the background, which are actually just an internal reflection of its eyes inside the camera.

This is the same reason we often capture 'ghost eyes' in images of animals with strong eyeshine...and the reason they HAVE that eyeshine. Their eyes have a reflective layer that basically allows them to see the light twice- coming in and reflecting out! 3/3

🦝🦊👀👁️👁️😵‍💫🙃😶📸

Diagram of the reflection

Composite of the image flipped and reversed overlying itself

What's happening is the light is so bright it's reflecting within the camera and being captured inside the outer lens (upside down and backwards). 2/3

🦌🪞📷

Camera trap photo of a deer in the morning with an overlying reflection of the deer created within the camera

OTD in '20: A morning deer offers great example demonstrating a camera trap internal reflection artifact.

See the upside down and backwards deer head overlying its body? 1/3

🦊🦌🪞 📷 #trailcam #cameratrap #backyardwildlife #NewEnglandWildlife #MAwildlife #photooftheday #WTD #Odocoileus

Daytime camera trap photo of bobcat carrying a gray squirrel kill with inset blow-up.

OTD in '22: a coincident follow-up to yesterday's hunter...afternoon bobcat with a squirrel meal.

🦊🐱🐿️ 🍽️☠️ #trailcam #cameratrap #NewEnglandWildlife #MAwildlife #photooftheday #LynxRufus #SciurisCarolinensis #EGS #WhoEatsWhom

Signs Referencing Climate Change Along with Web Pages Removed from Acadia National Park The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by The Witham Family Hotels Charitable Fund.

The federal government has censored the work of dozens of scientists, including work by my lab, on the impacts of climate change on Acadia National Park. Signs have been removed from Cadillac and Great Meadow. They’re also removing signs about the Wabanaki’s sacred connections to Cadillac.

Camera trap photo of bobcat hunting near the Tufts farm in the sunrise lighting

Crop of camera trap photo of a bobcat

OTD in '20: Nice early AM sunrise lighting on hunting bobcat on the farm.

🦊🐱 #trailcam #cameratrap #NewEnglandWildlife #MAwildlife #photooftheday #LynxRufus

Camera trap photo of a hawk in flight carrying a snake.

Camera trap photo close-up of a hawk in flight carrying a snake.

OTD in '22: Another amazing moment of raptor predation with a young red-tailed hawk (I think?) picking off a snake in the backyard.

🪶🐦🦅🐍🍽️☠️
#trailcam #cameratrap #backyardwildlife #NewEnglandWildlife #MAwildlife #photooftheday #ButeoJamaicensis #RTH #WhoEatsWhom

Camera trap night photo of a coyote observing some cows- and vice versa- at the Tufts farm.

OTD in '20: A coyote visits some cows in their pasture.

🦊🐮🐄 #trailcam #cameratrap #backyardwildlife #NewEnglandWildlife #MAwildlife #photooftheday #CanisLatrans #BosTaurus

Camera trap photo of an eastern gray squirrel posing on top of a fallen log.

OTD in '22: Finally an EGS looking epic.

🦊🐿️ #trailcam #cameratrap #backyardwildlife #NewEnglandWildlife #MAwildlife #photooftheday #EasternGraySquirrel #squirrel #SciurisCarolinensis

OMG! Actual GOOD news!!!!!

OTD in '20: A couple young raccoons learned what lurks in the depths of a beaver pond art night.

🦊🦝🦫🌕 #trailcam #cameratrap #backyardwildlife #NewEnglandWildlife #MAwildlife #photooftheday