Mainers and their camera captures didn’t disappoint this year.
From casual backyard observations to awesome up-close moments, there’s been plenty of activity caught on camera. These are the 10 most-watched trail camera and animal videos from the Bangor Daily News this year.
10) Watch these Maine deer play tag
Starting at number 10 was a whimsical video that could be a scene out of a Disney movie. Your cats and dogs aren’t the only animals to get “the zoomies,” as these deer showed.
9) Bull moose charges at Maine man
In a decidedly less whimsical video, this Maine man got a closer look at a moose than most sane people would be comfortable with.
8) Maine wildcats are on the prowl
A perennial hit with Mainers are wildcat videos. It’s not often that you see them out and about with your own eyes, given their territorial and relatively reclusive nature, so the opportunity to see them on a trail camera is welcome.
7) Beautiful golden eagles in Maine
Mainers also love a rare bird sighting. Golden eagles are protected under Maine’s Endangered Species Act, and a mating pair hasn’t been tracked in the state in nearly 30 years.
6) Fantastic felines in Maine woods
Trail cameras once again prove indispensable in capturing the secret lives of Maine cats. This peaceful footage shows just how graceful and lithe lynx can be.
5) Momma lynx defends her kittens
We already know that lynx can be territorial, so it’s no surprise that they put on quite a show when defending their kittens. This momma lynx is not giving an inch as she lets out hair-raising yowls that would likely scare your pants off if you heard them in person.
4) Off-duty Kittery police officer catches whale breach on camera
While some truly unforgettable moments have been captured in Maine’s woods, we can’t forget that the state has miles of coastline that offer spectacular opportunities to see wildlife. This video captures a once-in-a-lifetime experience that you aren’t likely to get during a typical Maine whale watching cruise.
3) Rare leucistic crow seen in Bangor, Maine
Crows are a dime a dozen throughout Maine and are often seen as a nuisance. But this footage captured what is likely a one-in-30,000 occurrence of a crow with a black head and white body feathers.
2) Hundreds — maybe even thousands — of crows flock near Oak Street in Bangor
These crows don’t have any odd patterns or markings, but they displayed some very strange behavior to ring in 2024. Captured on Jan. 2, this flock of crows may have been a harbinger of the tumultuous year.
1) Rare footage captures moose triplets with mom near Katahdin in Maine
Coming in as the most watched and shared video of 2024 was another rare sighting of a Maine moose — with triplets in tow. Because of the toll that it takes on the cow moose to carry and nourish triplets, it’s likely that moose triplets have only occurred once out of every 1,000 births in the past 14 years, according to state biologists.
