WESTFORD—The Wildlife of Westford Facebook group got its start because of a large pile of animal scat.
Its founder, Mark Thomas, discovered a big heap of poop in his backyard and heard from his neighbor that in the early morning hours, she had spotted a bear. That explained the scat, but Thomas didn’t just want to solve the mystery. He wanted to see the bear for himself.
“This is cool,” the Westford resident recalled thinking. “A little scary, but cool.”
So, he set up a trail camera. The very first night the camera was up, it captured images of a black bear. “That was about ten to twelve years ago,” Thomas said.
The photographs made the television news. He also knew people in Westford who had captured images of bobcats. That got him wondering: What animals live in Westford?
What animals live in Westford?
Thomas said he founded the Wildlife of Westford Facebook group about six or seven years ago to help people share images. Now, it has about 3,300 members. On a typical day, posts can include photos and video of bucks, birds, bees, turkey, bobcats, and, of course, black bears.
“Some of the pictures look so professional, like right out of National Geographic,” he said, adding newer camera technology has helped capture these “elusive” animals. He used an iPhone this summer to catch an image of a bobcat near the shed in his backyard.
As people started posting, Thomas remembers being “kind of shocked” by how much wildlife there was. “To find a picture of a bear 12 years ago was few and far between and now I know people who see bears in Westford every day,” Thomas said.
“A calm way to connect with your neighbors”
Wildlife of Westford Facebook Group Member Laura Granato visits the site on most days and posts when she sees something.
“People just want to see what’s out there and it doesn’t matter the level of photography that you take,” said Granato, who uses an iPhone.
Granato lives at the top of Providence Hill. Her location is a good spot because a lot of animals move through her yard after traveling through the Drew Farm apple orchards. Recently, she took an image of a “massive buck” with antlers. “For whatever reason, people loved it,” she said. She said she enjoys seeing the photography that others contribute.
“It’s a nice, calm way to connect with your neighbors,” Granato said, explaining she finds the Facebook group, a controversy-free place to frequent online.
“The most amazing thing I have ever seen”
Westford resident Jim Kay regularly contributes images to the Facebook group. Before he retired, Kay was a professional photographer, taking photographs of products for Amazon and for companies. “Wildlife photography is a hobby,” Kay said.
(The photo at the top of this article of the bobcat was taken by Jim Kay around Westford Academy in August 2025. Photo credit: Jim Kay).
“For me, photography is kind of the second part of it,” Kay said. “I just love being in nature, and I love all of the wildlife and the animals, and I like to study them and learn about their different habitats and what they do. If I happen to get a good picture, that’s just a bonus for me.”
The other week, Kay captured a Pileated woodpecker mid-flight. “I literally had three or four seconds to get that shot,” he said.
A couple of years ago, he saw a bobcat climb a tree and catch a squirrel, but not kill it. He watched and photographed as the scene unfolded: A young bobcat emerged from the woods. The mother took the squirrel and threw it. The young bobcat chased after it and brought it back. Then, a second young bobcat appeared.
He said he was watching a mother train her young in how to hunt. “It was probably the most amazing thing I have ever seen,” Kay said.
“We’re the ones on the inside and the bears are out there.”
Terry Stader of Westford, a Wildlife of Westford group member, said he likes the humorous photos. He has captured and posted video of a squirrel stuck in his bird feeder and raccoons knocking over his garbage cans.
However, when the bears come for his bird feeder, Stader and his wife, stay inside and pound on the windows if they go for the garden. “I think it’s kind of funny. We’re the ones inside and the bears are out there, which is opposite of the way the zoo works,” he said.
(Terry Stader captured video of bears getting into a bird feeder in his backyard in May 2025. Photo credit: Terry Stader).
For Stader, seeing the bears is so exciting. Growing up near Toledo, Ohio, he said he never saw bears. In Westford, he sees cubs, adolescents and the mothers. “I got the one that knocked the camera off the tree. He reached up, decided to investigate it and I got a picture of his nose, right up close,” Stader said.
He recently captured a red-tailed hawk and posted the image. The springtime brings turkeys and their little babies, called poults. Sometimes, 15 to 20 poults will follow their mother around his yard.
“Nature is all around us,” Stader said. “We might as well enjoy it and be part of it.”
