porcupine update

The porcupine climbed up inside the tree so that I barely had time to catch this shot of his tail before he disappeared. Since it has been a while since I've walked this way with the dogs, I noticed big changes -- the porcupines have been busy -- assuming there are still two of them. This upper opening on the south-east side of the tree is much larger, as is the lower opening on the north-west side of the tree. The pile of porcupine droppings has also increased;

plus there is a new pile on the south-east side, under the upper opening in the tree:

Another porcupine has been busy here, near the maple, oak and hawthorn I mentioned before. I think this is a stand of wild cherry, minus large patches of porcupine-chewed bark.

The culprit is probably the little fellow I once spotted, clinging to the smallest uppermost branches of the oak, swaying in the breeze. Molly is ignoring the porcupines today in favour of chasing the raccoons that are so wildly exciting to Misty. The porcupine has hollowed out a large fallen tree trunk just to the left of these cherries. See all the droppings at his door?