Thursday, March 22, 2018

From a Fallen White Pine



Fallen trees or logs are some of the best places to put a camera trap. At times I’ve set a camera trap at a long-fallen white pine; and sometimes place a “chirper” between the forks of the fallen tree. The chirper, which only operates at night, at random intervals produces a sound that mimics a small bird’s chirp. The chirper was used in hope of luring predators in front of the camera. Sometimes the camera trap has been positioned to look down the length of the log, other times at a right angle to the log. 


The first photos from the fallen white pine were of a barred owl –



Followed a few days later by a raccoon –



Squirrels were the animals most frequently photographed, both an occasional red squirrel –



And the ubiquitous gray squirrels –


 

Both species of squirrel must regularly gnaw on something to keep their incisor teeth, which grow continuously, at a proper length. Hard nut hulls are frequently adequate for gnawing purposes, but often other items are the subject of the gnawing. One of the things the gray squirrels picked to gnaw was my chirper. The white areas on the chirper are where squirrels have chewed away at the hardened construction adhesive used to help camouflage it from human eyes. 





Early one evening in January a group of white-tailed deer wandered past the log and its attending camera trap –















For anyone who thinks the white flash of a camera trap would scare deer, consider this – the camera (and its flash) took 31 photographs of this group of deer over a span of four minutes.

By far the prize of this location was the bobcat that walked the log and looked back when it heard the camera’s lens extending – 
That's a sampling of the photos from the fallen white pine, we’ll see what the future brings.

8 comments:

  1. These are great! What brand camera do you use? We've used a variety of cameras and haven't been thrilled with any of them. Definitely need to get a chirper too. I love the bobcat photo.

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  2. Wow! Great to see all these critters! Loved the surprised look on that bobcat's face.

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  3. These are all awesome captures. I love the Owl, all the deer images and the cool Bobcat. Great critter post. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend!

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  4. Wonderful captures, especially the bobcat! You've inspired me to get a camera trap of my own.

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  5. This is just incredible! My husband and I both looked at your photos tonight. I love the owl best but we both loved the bobcat too. How amazing that they look right at the camera. You really live in a beautiful place!

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  6. Oh how I love these!!! What an amazing array of wildlife visitors to the log. I really adored that bobcat!

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  7. OK - I really need to understand your 'tricks' - how DO you get such a variety of animals in your camera trap pictures? Perhaps it is the time of year here - we have only had deer in our photos ... Fantastic pictures!!!

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  8. I just LOVE what you captured on the camera! The bobcat is stunning, and it's so nice that his eyes didn't glow red for the shot. Those deer sure are curious. The barred owl is stunning as well, a bird I have seen only once in the woods. Isn't it amazing the activity just around this fallen log. Makes you really appreciate what goes on in the forest when no humans are around.
    Wendy

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Woody