A bear as seen on Dave Anderson's wildlife camera.
Fallen apples in late summer attract wildlife from surrounding forests to many NH backyard orchards and individual apple trees. By day, visitors tend most often to be birds: crows, ravens and wild turkeys feasting on the fruit windfall. The five common nocturnal mammal species are: deer, raccoons, porcupines, coyotes and bears.
Bears attract more human attention – both on camera and in social media posts. I’ve read posts from homeowners puzzled when apples disappear seemingly overnight and also people thrilled with wildlife camera images showing visiting bears at night.
Climbing bears sometimes damage smaller apple trees, bending branches to reach the fruit. Larger standard-size apple trees have fallen out of favor because they are harder to prune and pick fruit.
Emboldened by hunger and the large supply and relatively short window of time fallen fruit remains on the ground before rotting, bears also visit during the daytime where they feel safe: few people and no domestic dogs. Wildlife most active at dawn and dusk are termed “crepuscular” species – as opposed to exclusively daytime (diurnal) or nighttime (nocturnal) active species.
The bear cubs born in dens last January are now-weaned and learning to find food during this first summer and early autumn with mom. Bears typically give birth to 2-3 cubs every other year.
By next summer, yearling cubs are on their own. Apples and other fruits including wild grapes provide autumn carbohydrates. Oak acorns and beech nuts provide fats. Insect larvae – ground hornet nests packed with grubs – also provide fat for winter hibernation. Bears forage actively in summer and autumn and find refuge by climbing trees if threatened. Seeing triplet bear cubs on camera is a treat.
Fallen apples also attract other families of tree-climbers: five raccoons spent several recent nights feasting. The broad-chested climbers (bears and raccoons) easily scale trees and readily climb over fences around gardens and backyard orchards. Porcupines are excellent tree climbers. Porcupines particularly enjoy pears. However. porcupines also eat leaves and bark and cause damage to dwarf and semi-dwarf fruit trees by girdling trunks and defoliating and removing branches. Most fruit growers and gardeners are not fond of porcupines. Porcupine mating season occurs in September. Q: How do porcupines mate? A: Very carefully.
Orchard “night visitors” also include deer and coyotes which do not coexist at our own equivalent of “The Red Apple Buffet.” In my experience, coyotes and deer seem tolerant of porcupines and skunks but give them a wide berth. Coyotes are rarely seen in the orchard in daylight hours and tend to dine alone while remaining wary of the “click” of the game camera shutter. Rarer visitors have included skunks, gray foxes and fishers.
This seasonal abundance of fallen fruit is short-lived yet remains the MOST reliable location to obtain images of wildlife we would rarely get to see otherwise.