Codger encounters Highway Patrol

  

 

 

We were driving up the slope from Chico yesterday when I informed my wife that I was going to pull over at the next turn. 

"I think I saw a dead badger here yesterday, and I wanna check it out. I saw it out of the corner of my eye, but if IS a badger, it'll be an interesting record."

She is used to this sort of thing.

I slowed down, and when the "badger" came into view I had a momentary decision dilemma. A highway patrol car was parked only a few yards away. The officer was my oldest granddaughter's age, and I could read her mind.

"What the hell is this old bugger up to?"

"No problem officer", says the bugger, "I just wanna check that dead animal for the UC Davis roadkill database".

A moment later I was looking at a black-tailed deer fawn. Boy had I been wrong.

It was not an occasion for a jocular remark about finding free taco meat, so I snapped a photo as an official act.  

It was a close call, but she smiled when I said, "I'll bet this doesn't happen very often."

If you want to know more about California's roadkill database check out the link.

 

Happenings at a coyote den

  

 

Big sister with her mom's brood of nine pups.

In the fall of 2022 our foursome of camera trap enthusiasts set a camera at a coyote den in Sierra Valley. It wasn't an active den at the time, but setting a camera there in October gave the coyotes a few months to adjust to it. We lucked out. The local breeding pair settled into this den to give birth and raise their litter. 

The camera recorded over fifteen hundred clips, and it took a couple of weeks to review them. Our YouTube video below chronicles the main happenings at the den over six months. See it HERE

 

We found a Wickiup!

Several years ago we found a strange structure in a large willow thicket in the northern Sierra Nevada. It looked like a derelict wickiup or wigwam -- one of those Native American dwellings I learned about in grade school. Several dead willows had fortuitously collapsed and formed a natural dome shaped shelter. Which begged the question, did wild animals use this "wickiup" as a lair? 

We set trail cameras there in the fall of 2020 and 2021 and waited until the spring thaw to find out. This movie tells the story.

A CAMERA TRAPPER'S COMPANION -- a new book

 

One of the reasons I disappeared a few years ago was to find the time to finish this book. It's been finished for several months now. I've been too busy having fun to make a fuss about it. So here it is, my humble contribution to the science and practice of camera trapping. It is largely based on the lectures and exercises of my camera trapping workshop which was given for several years at San Francisco State University's Nevada field campus. Along the way, I had many camera trapping adventures, and these stories are contained in the sidebars (or text boxes, as some call them).

If you want to read some reviews or order a copy, here is the Amazon link.  You can also order directly from the printer, BRG Scientific.

Rocky Flying Squirrel takes on the Acorn Pecker Gang

 

Many years ago the late Robert T Orr told me he had trapped flying squirrels at Sonora Pass in the Sierra Nevada. "I was trying to trap martens," he said, "but I kept getting flying squirrels. They were attracted to the meat I was using as bait." [Dr Orr was the curator of birds and mammals at the California Academy of Sciences and I was a teenager who hung around the museum.] 

It is not uncommon for herbivores to deviate from their diet, especially when plant protein is low or pregnancy demands it. That's when innocent vegetarians like deer and rabbits shock us by dabbling in carnivory. 

Carnivory probably also explains why Acorn Woodpeckers raise hell when adorable big-eyed Northern Flying Squirrels show up at their nest cavities. The squirrels are known to feed on eggs and nestling birds. 

My goal to film acorn woodpeckers at their nest cavity was sidetracked when my trail camera recorded visiting flying squirrels. Rocky is such a photogenic charmer! I filmed "the pecker gang" for a year and a half on my neighbors' property, and eventually I recorded three hostile encounters with the inquisitive "Rocky". Such are the rewards of camera trapping! Have a look!

I am grateful to neighbors Ted and Judy -- the indulging hosts who made possible this little film and "Bruin Ate the Hornets' Nest".   

Bears Just Wanna Have Fun

This short video is Part 2 of the "The Hanging Jug". When I realized that this title may disappoint YouTubers seeking a different genre of entertainment, I gave this sequel a different title. 

If you haven't seen Part 1, you missed out on the different ways various species reacted to the jug, and you don't know that bears won the curiosity contest. That is why I devoted this video just to bears. 

Bruin eats the Hornets' Nest

With this video, I can scratch one  camera trapping project from my bucket list. Some years ago I figured out that black bears hit the hornets' nests rather hard in late summer. The few nests that I found were a little too lively for camera trapping. I owe this adventure to my neighbor Ted seems to have a knack finding tame nests. Anyway, the video tells the story, and I hope you enjoy it.