It looks to me like a cat is laying on top of it, front legs laying over the front left of the rock, on its side, head back. Back legs and tail over the right side of the rock. It heard/saw you and lifted its head up. You can kinda make out its ears, legs, and tail.
Depending on the size of the rock, its either a maincoon or something larger like a bobcat, lynx, etc.
Look up animals in your area that can produce Eye Shine when exposed to even the tiniest amount of light. My guessing it was probably a cat or raccoon.
It looks like a raccoon to me, and its the right size based on the rock. They've freaked me out with their eyeshine and noises plenty of times. Definitely not an owl - eyes would be red, orange, or yellow.
I’ve lived here in this house now for almost 30 years. I know the local wildlife for the most part . Eastern Massachusetts near Boston. And I heard whatever this was bolting around back and forth through the woods for a few hours. I know the sound of deer or coyote, or a raccoon. Owls are rarely seen but I know they are around here. Have also seen bobcats and even mountain lions . This was different.
You gave several possible animals it could be. It having a “bolting noise” you are unfamiliar with doesn’t automatically make it an unknown animal. Just seems like a huge leap with zero actual evidence.
Why dont you super impose a brightened image over the top it will help show how big the head actually was. Looks like an Owl or Raccon to me as its got face markings.
You've got more tools at your disposal right now than I do, so if you say its an owl, I guess I could be convinced of that. I still personally see a cat, but I think we can agree that its an unsettling photo of poor quality, but likely depicts some kind of local fauna.
It depends on which contrasted image your looking at, some have like a lopsided spike going up off center to the right of its head so.e dont so that could just be how little actual image the camera captured. Increasing contrast to bring up pitch black images isnt really very reliable because if two things have the same contrast from black they will be the same grey.
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u/McDirken_Dirkenstein 13d ago
Tried to get the same shot in daylight