Happy Anniversary / Birthday USeeWildlife! That's right, USeeWildlife's official launch was December 30th, 2008. Wow, what a year! We started off last year watching huge bucks, Eagles, Trumpeter Swans, and much more right out of the gate. We were quickly blown away by the things we witnessed. Every corner we turned, there was something new. Just when we'd start to get settled watching, we'd see something new or unusual. We just kept saying all year "what's next?" and we were never disappointed.

It's hard to even remember all of the amazing things we saw throughout the year. It is not until you start going through all of the photos and videos we've captured that we really begin to fathom it. A fraction of the highlights include watching a coyote laying down in the middle of 7 deer and then being chased off by one of the Does, 27 eagles at one time on cam and 21 Trumpeter Swans each day in January of last year, watching 3 sets of triplet 1st year bear cubs, 2 sets of twins, and a host of other individual 2nd and 3rd year cubs as well as many other adult bears, 4 different Timber Rattlesnakes,... ok, the snake one really blew us away.

We knew there were rattle snakes in the area and we even talked about the possibility of seeing a snake on cam, but we all thought the chances might be as slim as picking winning numbers for the powerball. We really did not think we'd ever see one, let alone 4 of them and watching them hunt for days on end. Who would have thought we would have witnessed so many strikes on cam? At one point witnessing a snake strike & miss a chipmunk and less than 2 minutes later, having a bear almost step on it. That day was so wild. The staff members get so excited when something new, interesting, or unusual is spotted. Needless to say, we've had too many moments followed by excited phone calls to each other to even begin to count them this past year.

Ok, back to the highlights..., catching some awesome and rare sightings of bobcats, including one that was hunting until his cover was blown by the crows. It was kind of comical to see the look of disgust on its face when it happened. We all know the crows can get a little annoying. :) We saw 2 coyotes run down a Doe. That was a National Geographic moment. Ok, that reminds me of a truly memorable comment made by one of our members. The comment was "USeeWildlife is like National Geographic, Discovery Channel, and Animal Planet LIVE". Of course another one of the many we truly enjoyed was "I love USeeWildlife. The best $20 I've spent since I bought my marriage license. It's like facebook for animals". There are so many more that it could take up a 2 page blog to cover them all. What we would like to say to each of you is THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Ok, once again back to the highlights...., setting a record for the latest sighting of a Golden Eagle in the state mid-April, the introduction of the soon to be new World Record Bird Feeder, 100s of Turkeys strutting their stuff, an amazing close-up of a Coopers Hawk, bears swimming in the pond, tons of brilliantly colored Blue Grosbeaks and Indigo Buntings, watching Does give birth and seeing the fawns take their very first steps, the huge bucks in full velvet followed by gentle sparring and then leading to ruthless fights.

Ok, I continue to think of amazing sightings but the blog sadly has to end at some point. All of the USW staff members want to say to each and every one of you, thank you for helping USW make its first year. We are so glad you are here and we are honored to be a part of bringing this to your home. We are also truly excited about where things are headed. There are so many plans in the works that will make year 2 even better.

Wishing all of you a Happy New Year! - USW Staff

Did I tell ya or did I tell ya?  The swans are coming! We have one mute swan now guys, but that is how it all started last year.  We had one mute swan for a week or two and then it left for a couple of days.  I think it went to tell it's friends because next thing we knew, it was back with 5 or 6 of it's friends!  Within a week or two the trumpeters were here and we had swans for several months.  They are sooo beautiful and graceful.  Amazing to watch.  The next few weeks will be great so keep on watching.

What I promised for this week was a view into the life of a camera operator.  Since Thanksgiving is just next week here in the U.S., I thought it would be a good time to tell you all about the camera operators job and offer a great big THANKS FOR ALL YOU DO to them.  After all, they deserve it!

There is alot of attention to detail that must be paid when you are a camera operator for USeeWildlife.  The first thing to know is a camera operator is not watching the same screen you are.  At the beginning and end of an operators day, they have to make sure they set the camera for daylight and dark.  Without our operators, our infrared lights would not get turned on in the evenings so we could take advantage of watching at night.  They actually login to a different area of the site and have a different view than you do. When you are watching the camera feed, and you ask the camera operator to move the camera, they can't see your request. They do not have the comments section on their screen. They have a "control pad" that allows them to move the camera.  They are watching through the camera and looking for wildlife at the same time.  There are no retakes, there are no second chances, they are watching, operating the camera, and producing the show all at the same time.  And let's not forget that we are talking about wildlife in the wild.  There is no way to predict what will happen, where the animal(s) will go next or where they will come from to begin with, the operators must be able to make decisions immediately and change their minds at the drop of a hat!  Wow, that makes me tired just thinking about it. 

The second thing you need to know about being a camera operator is, you must love wildlife!  Let's face it, if you watch wildlife everyday as your job, you have to love it or you would get bored.  Our camera operators are on the hunt for wildlife.  They not only watch the feeder, but when there is no action on the feeders they move the cameras all around looking for wildlife that might not be seen otherwise.  So, think about it.  It's Arkansas wilderness in the middle of summer.  All the leaves are in full bloom as well as the underbrush.  Can you imagine seeing a timber rattlesnake if you were walking through that?  I certainly can't, but our wonderful camera operators not only found 1 timber rattlesnake, they found 3 or 4 and watched them for days this summer!  That was a tremendous find.  We were able to watch and get a better understanding of the snake.  I had no idea that a snake would strike and miss more often than hit!  Who knew?  I actually started feeling bad for the snake, and I have to tell you, I'm not a huge fan.  But, I had to keep watching.  When I couldn't watch, I had to come back and read the comments so I would know what happened.  It was amazing to watch the snakes just live for days at a time.  I have a greater appreciation for what a snake has to go through to eat.  All because our camera operators are committed to finding the wildlife, following the wildlife and showing the viewers what they came to see, ACTION!

And last but not least, a camera operator has to be able to sit still and pay attention for long periods of time.  Many times a camera operator will be responsible for multiple cameras.  They will be sitting in their chair for hours on end running these cameras.  When the activity level is low, they need to focus on finding the wildlife for you to view.  When the activity is high, they need to focus on staying on the wildlife that you are viewing.  I know last winter/spring, we would have 10-12 eagles, ducks and swans on bird point cam while there were coyotes on lost field cam, lots of deer on deer run cam and turkey gallor at turkey hollow cam.  How do you manage all of that?  Well, you have to focus and watch many things at one time and give the best show possible.  It is both exhilarating and exhausting!  These camera operators love what they do, they love the wildlife and most of all they love showing you the wildlife!  So, let's say a great big thanks to the camera operators of USeeWildlife!  We appreciate all you do for us!

It is the goal of USeeWildlife to add camera operators as the business grows.    If you are interested in the camera operator role, send a note to us at support@useewildlife.com.

Swollen necks, locked antlers.....I think, if you sniff, you might actually smell the testosterone around USeeWildlife!  Wow, we have seen some buck action this week.  Big bucks fighting, little bucks fighting, medium bucks....well you get the picture.  Actually, on the Lost Field camera we watched 2 medium sized bucks sparring around by the feeder in the dark, when suddenly the BIG (and I do mean BIG) buck came running in and broke up the fight.  Well, apparently one of the meduim bucks didn't know that he was medium and challenged the big guy! They fought for a while in the shadows.  We caught glimpses of them, but you could really hear the antlers rattling.  According to the sounds we heard, this was the most aggressive fight we have ever witnessed on cam!  We don't know for sure, but we think the big guy won. We also had a very large buck trying to rub the camera tower at Deer Run camera. Now, you have to know that this tower is bear/buck proofed with metal sheeting, so the deer was really rubbing this metal sheeting.  He was having a great time and tearing that tower up!  It's my understanding that he actually managed to tear the metal sheeting off last year and it had to be replaced.   So far today he has managed to bump the camera and has affected the ability to zoom and move.  Still operational, but an engineer will have to have a look at it soon.  And tonight we watched two little 4 points sparring on the Deer Run cam.  They were so cute.  Just looked like they were walking toward each other and then they put their heads together and tried to lock horns.  They didn't have enough horn to lock!  But they sure tried....Told you, the testosterone is so thick I believe you can smell it.

Coyotes have decided to come closer to the camera but we believe they must be camera shy because they won't stay long - more like run throughs.  You must watch closely or you will miss them!  A bald eagle also made an appearance on the Bird Point cam this week.  He hung out on the log in the lake for a while and then back to the tree to watch for lunch.  They are awesome birds to watch!  So graceful and self assured, truly amazing.

Another animal that seems to be camera shy is the beaver.  We have seen him a couple of times this week also.  Just when we post on twitter (follow us at twitter.com/useewildlife) that he's here, he goes under the water and disappears!  Sorry if you missed him.  Are you starting to see a theme this week?  Bucks fighting in the shadows, coyotes running through in the blink of an eye, and beavers playing hide and seek.  It's like they are all scared of something.  Hmmmm, wonder if that would be the something that was screaming/crying/making a horrible noise on the Dogwood Mountain camera tonight.  We were just sitting there watching deer feed and hang out, and then this noise from we don't even know where sliced through the night air and all other noise stopped.  The deer immediately popped their head and ears to attention and turned tail and ran!  Luckily our camera operator caught it on a recording and we are working to create a clip for you to view/hear on our YouTube channel.  Check for the clip on youtube.com/useewildlife.  We should have it there in the next day or two.  If anyone has an idea what that noise is, we would like to know.  I'm not sure guys, I think maybe Halloween has arrived early at USeeWildlife. 

***update - engineers could not locate the sound on the recording. We'll have to keep an ear out for it again.

As the season changes, so does the scenery around USeeWildlife.com. You may have noticed that there hasn't been a blog in a while.  Debbie has been great to keep us up to date for all this time, unfortunately she will no longer be writing the blogs for us.  Thanks for all the great stories Debbie, we will miss you.  My name is Kassandra and I'm the new blogger for USeeWildlife.com.  Debbie has left big shoes to fill, but I'll do my best to bring you the excitement and action on a weekly basis.

 The bears we have watched all summer long have gone into hiding.  They have been gone a couple of weeks now, however, we did see one run from the tree line and grab a piece of deer that some coyotes were feeding on a few days ago.  We have also had several night time sightings.  Maybe they are trying to get fat for the winter!  At USeeWildlife.com the changing of the season brings sadness for the animals that will be missed for the next season or two, and excitement for the animals that will be seen in abundance.  Saying goodbye to the black bears and cubs means that we will be saying hello to the eagles, turkeys, swans, migratory birds, and the list goes on.  We look forward to all seasons and the animals that come along with it.  Lately we have been watching the big bucks.  Wow!  We have some really nice antlers out there guys!  Hope you have been watching these guys.  And now they are starting to chase the doe's around.  Won't be long and they will be sparing for us on camera!  That will be exciting.  All the little wood ducks have been enjoying the rain.  It doesn't seem to bother them or ruin their day like it does ours!  Maybe we could learn a thing or two from these little guys....  All the creeks are rolling because of all the rain we have had.  We're just praying that we don't eventually float away!  As fall settles in, so will the animals.  By Thanksgiving, we will have a very active bird point camera.  There will be more birds than we can count.  Turkey's are coming out of the woodwork, or maybe that should be wood line.  Almost all cameras are reporting turkey sightings.  As it gets cooler, we will begin to see more and more until there are too many to count on one camera.  We can't wait to see what happens at the biggest bird feeder in the world.  It is the first fall for that feeder - so check back often and let us know what you see.  The bald eagles and golden eagles should be making appearances soon.  We love to watch them feed, bathe and call to each other.  They are early birds, so check the cameras early to catch them.  And the swans usually show up in November.  Last year we had several that were banded.  Wonder if they will be back this year.  Wow, I've gotten excited just thinking about all the animals that are on the way!  Stay tuned folks, I think it's going to be a great Fall!