2008 annual report

A few words to wrap up camera trapping in '08.

First, I expanded my home range, which means I made 75 camera trap sets in three states.

Most were in California (Butte, Napa, Yuba, San Mateo, and San Luis Obispo Counties), several were in New Mexico (Mora County), and one was in Virginia (Arlington County).

The yield was 2488 animal photos. The majority (2371 photos) were of  32 species of mammals. (I am not certain about my identifications of mice and shrews, so the species estimate is conservative.)



These statistics have nothing to do with relative abundance, and if anything, have more to do with the habitats I have chosen to set the cameras.

I added several new mammals to my species list: desert cottontail, white-throated wood rat, Douglas squirrel, Allen chipmunk, northern flying squirrel, Heermann's kangaroo rat, beaver, American marten, elk and feral pigs.

Bigfoot continues to elude and play tricks on me, like running in front of the camera and giving me blank images. I am convinced they have a sense of humor, but one of these days I am going to trick their butts.  

Two observations got me jumping: gray foxes carrying recently caught wood rats at Rich and my cams in Napa County, and black bears dragging nesting material into their den at the Wind River Ranch.

The 21 species of birds were incidentals. I wasn't looking for them.

It's hard to get good pictures of small birds with these cameras, and I just haven't spent enough looking for raptor roosts. 

Nonetheless, little birds just show up, and their variety makes camera trapping more interesting.

The bird thrills were the pileated woodpecker, blue grouse, and the bathing Cooper's hawk and screech owl.

My new MO was camera trapping with fellow codgers. This was the upshot of a little workshop with some old college buddies I did here a year ago.

As a result, Reno Taini reintroduced me to the wilds of the coast range in San Mateo county, while Rich Tenaza opened the gates to the Cleary Reserve in Napa County.  

Brian Miller led me to the bears den at the Wind River Ranch in New Mexico. I can't say enough to thank Brian and Carina for their hospitality to Dave Rentz and me last September.   

In June we visited Greg McMillan on his splendid ranch in San Luis Obispo County. Greg  treated us just like family. Not only did he cart us to the springs on his property to set cams, but he secured permission to camera trap on his neighbor's spread.  When we couldn't align our schedules he collected the cams and mailed them to me. I photographed more species there than any other locations. Thanks, Greg.

I also want to thank Etienne Benson, Mickie Enkoji, and Douglas Fox for three popular articles on my camera trapping activities. The articles generated food for thought about ethics and interpretation of animal behavior. 

Plus the publicity boosted blog readership. I'm self motivated when it comes to camera trapping, but I can't deny that its nice to hear from folks too.   

Thanks for your interest.

Several whacky new projects are cooking, so stay tuned. One of these days you will see the Sonoma Tree Mouse disporting itself on its arboreal midden of food scraps or a tree climbing mountain beaver pruning alder twigs in the high Sierra.