Pix Controller had another female turkey, a hen, with a beard appear on the main camera several weeks ago. The male, or Tom’s, have a “beard” consisting of modified feathers that show out from the breast, and also rear spurs on their lower legs used for fighting. The hen seen this month had both a beard and spurs on her legs. Seeing a female bird with these features is extremely uncommon. They showed this video clip to the PA Game Commission and received this comment; “with the right amount of hormones and DNA anything is possible”. Here is the video clip:
On New Years Eve they had a real treat. In the evening when they typically have a lot of whitetail deer activity on the main camera they had a trophy class whitetail buck make an appearance. Seeing a buck like this in the wild is a once in a life time sighting for most people. It was thrilling that he showed up in the early evening when so many people were tuned into the webcam to see him live. Video clip here:
Up until recently they have been seeing a Great-Horned Owl feeding on the carcass camera. However, when a rather cold spell hit them the carcass camera became rather quiet. When the owl has been feeding he’s been on the carcass for 2-3 hours in the late evening until early morning. They expect to start seeing a lot of activity from Red Fox on the carcass camera when they start to den up next month. Last year the red fox were often seen every night on the carcass camera once they were paired up and in their dens.
The picture at the top is the staff at Pix Controller at work in the work shop and the picture below is the man behind Pix Controller – Bill Powers. Bill provided the audio and streaming equipment for Lily the Bear.
