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Native Californian, biologist, wildlife conservation consultant, retired Smithsonian scientist, father of two daughters, grandfather of 4 small primates. INTJ. Believes nature is infinitely more interesting than shopping malls. Born 100 years too late.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

The Nones of March


The goose pen on the Nones of March at 1607 hr.


Buoyed by the speciosity of the goose pen's visitors, I was seized by a creative impulse.

I would try for some portraits of the visitors framed in one of the goose pen's portals.

There were 8 or 9 of these openings, but we didn't know which were used by critters as entrances and exits.

I had settled on a small portal when I noticed Terry's countenance looking down at me within the chamber.

"I think you should put it over here", he said with gravitas.

He was right. The larger opening would admit larger animals, and maybe the bear would come back and peer inside.

If it entered, of course, it would knock the camera down, but what the heck.

I staked the camera at an angle looking up through the charred window,  but the bear didn't come back.

Instead, there was a celestial event.


On the Nones of March the setting sun aligned itself with this particular portal.

According to the Naval Oceanography Portal my camera recorded the position at an azimuth of 242 degrees.



That was perhaps the most interesting event recorded by the two cameras we had set in the goose pen.

The striped skunk, gray squirrels, and wood rats that made a showing were not as cooperative at this gray fox.





I pulled both cameras and made new sets elsewhere, hoping they are properly aligned for a zoological rather than a celestial event. 

7 comments:

JK said...

Yea but I like that gray fox photo a lot.

owlman said...

The Gray Fox's curiosity and the rodents behind would be good enough for me. The next time around will be more interesting Codger.

randomtruth said...

Ah, the great expectations of cam trapping. Outside of those cute cabin shots, my last round in the Tehachapis was pretty sad too. I even forgot to put a memory card in one of the cams. D'oh!

Christopher Moore said...

So I was thinking about doing this with a field course I will be teaching this summer in the Sierra Nevada. I have the cameras and I was initially only going to c-trap for rodents. Do you have recommendations for c-trapping for other mammals? I.e., do you use meat or other scented bait?

Thank you X 10^6!

Chris

Haddock said...

I wonder what will happen if a bigger animal "attacks" the camera?

Camera Trap Codger said...

Christopher and Haddock, read on in the blog and search for subjects of interest. Theres's a good chance you'll find what you are looking for. Christopher, you may be interested in my camera trapping workshop, where among other things we talk about various kinds of attractants and techniques. See the workshop pages on the blog's front page (upper left).

Christopher Moore said...

Thanks! But, I am teaching for the month of June. Also, I will be traveling during July.

I have found some information on the c-trapping, but I have been following your results and some other blogs, so I thought i would go to the direct source of those whose work I have closely evaluated and enjoyed.