Wednesday, January 11, 2023

Six Months at a Mossy Log

Fallen logs are great spots for a camera trap. This log fell quite a few years ago and is now covered with moss, it’s gradually decaying and will eventually be gone. For now it provides wildlife with a travel lane, a place to hunt for food, a spot to scent mark, a scratching post and an obstacle for easy movement.

A camera trap was at this log for all of 2022, but camera traps lead a hard life as they’re exposed to a myriad of hazards – black bears and raccoons bite and maul them, batteries go dead in cold weather, the cases leak, the electronics in the cameras and their controls go bad, … The camera at this spot didn’t get any usable videos in the first six months of the year thanks to dead batteries and user error – the videos from the second six months were dominated by black bears until the coming of winter sent them to their dens.


Early in the winter high winds snapped a large aspen tree which fell next to the mossy log; unfortunately, the camera trap didn’t get a video of the tree as it fell, but fortunately it missed the camera. Here are the best of the videos from the camera trap

Forests are dynamic places – every living thing in them is born, lives and dies. As the mossy log continues to decay the fallen aspen will replace it as a travel lane, an obstacle and a place to find food.

2 comments:

eileeninmd said...

Hello,
Love the bear photo and the video. It is a great spot to capture the critters walking by. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Take care, have a happy weekend.

Shiju Sugunan said...

Love all the stars acting in the video!

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