Wee Ones

Like most folks who run camera traps I’m usually interested in getting photos of predators, or photogenic things like big bucks or cute fawns, or something unusual. But camera traps can be used for getting photos of birds or mammals that aren’t very large or necessarily very photogenic, although some of those species certainly are.

In the past southern flying squirrels regularly used one of the nest boxes behind the house, but that box is now gone, decayed as all wood constructions will when subject to a variety of weather. For some reason the flying squirrels didn’t seem to find any of the other nest boxes suitable – or perhaps it’s that a number of woodpecker nest cavities are now available in the dead top of a large tulip-poplar or in several dead trees.

Having decided to try a baited homebrewed camera trap to see if the flying squirrels were still around, I mounted one so the lens was about a foot above the ground and 15 inches from a small maple tree. At the base of the tree was a small fallen branch and it was on and around this branch that I scattered some sunflower seeds.

The reward came after the first night when the camera trap had over 400 photographs, most of a flying squirrel –

The second night two flying squirrels appeared in several of the 500 plus photos taken in about 24 hours –

There were even a few photos of the flying squirrels in action -

Flying squirrels comprised the bulk of the night shift, but the camera trap also caught several photos of a short-tailed shrew –

And white-footed mice –

After daylight eastern chipmunks came to stuff their cheeks with sunflower seeds to store for the winter –

Gray squirrels also feasted on sunflower seeds –

And there were a few birds, dark-eyed juncos –

And a white-breasted nuthatch

The resident Carolina wren - 

And a black-capped chickadee -

So the question of whether southern flying squirrels are still residents in the neighborhood has definitely been answered –

These little ones may not be large, but they sure are photogenic and charismatic and the camera trap will continue to be in place and baited until I’m sure there aren’t any other species of wee ones around.