2013 Camera Trapping Workshop

Top (l to r): Mick Bondello, Lisa Close, Arvid Ekenberg, Thea Cooper, John Adragna, Antony Shadbolt;
Sitting: Kolby Olson, Cindy Roessler, the Codger, Bill Wilson (photo by Mick Bondello)

The Codger delivered the 5th camera trapping workshop in mid-July to an assemblage of eight curious naturalists.

Most were Californians, but two came from New York, and one Kiwi attended from far-away New Zealand.

This was the 5th workshop I have given at the Sierra Nevada Field Campus, and the days rolled by quickly.

The resident colony of mountain beaver continues to be a red-letter attraction, and most everyone was game to climb Deadman Scree for bushy-tailed wood rats.

To our ever-growing species list we added two new species.

The elusive yellow-bellied marmot.

Bill's trail camera snapped a yellow-bellied marmot, which is a little embarrassing because marmots are anything but rare in the Sierra Nevada.

Participant John Adragna gave us an image of a montane vole on the second morning.

The class probably thought my enthusiasm overdone, but new species records energize the codger like a triple espresso.

Until now, we've only gotten long-tailed voles; so now we know the two species coexist right on campus.

Pouring through hundred of images. 

Other highlights were a sighting of the local family of otters, and an experiment on mirror image recognition in chipmunks.

Indeed, the chipmunks paused briefly to gape at their images, but it didn't stop them from stuffing sunflower seeds.

But now I want to send you to Cindy Roessler's Dipper Ranch Blog for another view of the workshop.

It features a metaphysical trilogy on previsualizing camera trap sets.

"Set theory" is of course a topic I touch upon, but her treatment will give you a first hand perspective.

Start with "Thinking backwards, the camera", and then read "Thinking backwards, the animal". She informs me that the third and final piece is on its way.

Last but not least was the hands-on workshop for local Sierra County school kids.

It happened on the last day (after the camtrapping class dispersed) and started with Bill's slide show, which thoroughly engaged the kids  -- who piped out the names of the critters.

Then it was snack time (graham crackers and milk are now passe).

While the kids stoked calories we instructed the parents on how to set the cameras on stumps around camp.

When kids and parents had set their cameras we sent them all off to play in the Yuba River.

By now (5 days into the bargain) Bill and I were dragging butt, but the kids were even more fired up to view the video clips.

Its nice to see such rousing enthusiasm over chipmunks.

Finally a postscript: The class always gives me new ideas, and this time I learned the secret of finding the furtive but charismatic mountain king snake.

My teacher prefers to remain anonymous, but while walking Fred this week I put her counsel to practice.

Obviously you've got to be in the right place at the right time, but the mantra seemed to help.

Thanks guys . . .

I am grateful to "alumni" Ken, Jake, Sean, and Bill who set cameras in our old camtrapping haunts in June in preparation for the workshop. 

RandomTruth's camera magic, from that log set he made in June will inspire you. Be sure to check it out.

And many thanks to Bill who stayed on to assist the full week, which was a great help.

2012 Camera Trapping Workshop

2012 Camera trapping class:
Top row: Greg MacDonald, Hannah Stewart, Patti ten Boom Byrnes, Natalie Fenner, Timothy Fenner, Sam Dailey.
Bottom Row: Joshua Fenner, Bill Wilson, Gwen Dailey, Chris Wemmer, Doug Overman, Lance Milbrand, Caitlin Ott-Conn.  

Thunder showers and an electrical outage got us off to a slow start, but otherwise, the 4th camera trapping workshop at SF State University's Sierra Nevada Field Campus came off well.

Participants of past workshops helped the codger by setting their own cams in the Yuba country a month beforehand, and when the job was done we had a total of 15 in the field.

We were confident we'd have a few photos of Bruin. Large piles of bear scat seemed to litter one meadow where we set two cameras. 

But when we went to collect those cameras we found ourselves in the midst of a logging operation. The bears left us empty-handed.

The field campus provided ample opportunities for camera trapping, and back at camp, however, Patty ten Boom Byrnes captured video of a cub exploring a log. (Sorry I can't upload it.)

Doug Overman with his pre-Galileo
all purpose cam mount.   

Just down river from the tents Bill Wilson added a new species to our Sierra County mammal list -- an incomplete but unmistakable image of a river otter.

Bill Wilson's river otter visited a log jam below camp.

Not far away RandomTruth's cam snapped a bobcat.

Above camp Caitlin Ott-Conn got a photo of an upright showtl -- not a pose commonly caught on our cameras.

The class harvested the usual assemblage of cute rodent pictures.

We added the long-eared chipmunk to the species list -- and you can see here one of its distinguishing marks -- long almost unchipmunkly ears.

The Douglas squirrel or chickaree

Chickarees were the usual early morning and late afternoon camp visitors, but our subterranean video cam once again caught them doing mysterious things in mountain beaver burrows.

Golden mantled ground squirrel.

Golden mantled ground squirrels were already plumping up for hibernation. If the bitter cherries are any indication, there will be heavy mast crop this fall.




Jake's cam also got an image of a Wandering shrew (Sorex vagrans).  See if you can find it.

To celebrate the "strenuous life", we forded the Yuba's north fork and climbed Deadman Scree.  Everyone marveled (I hope) at this geological phenomenon and savored a habitat that cooks in the midday sun but hides an ice age climate in the underworld beneath the rubble.  

On the Deadman talus slope with Lance in video-documention mode.  

We had a couple of camera failures, but still managed to capture some portraits of bushy-tailed wood rats in various stages of development.

A heartfelt thank you to the "alumni" who helped me out on Tuesday night by making presentations about their own camera trapping discoveries.

Jake and Christian compared still pictures with video clips, their message being that if one relies entirely on still pictures one gets snapshots of a much bigger story. Video clips contain much more information. 

Random Truth presented his ideas about close-ups and serendipitous sets with gorgeous examples of woodrat activities in the coastal range and critters from the eastern Sierra.

A serendipitous mountain beaver set -- no "Aplodon,
but a handsome Western tanager (Sam Dailey's photo).

My subterranean cam yielded some chickaree and showtl footage, but a bear cub curtailed that set when it uprooted the cam and turned it on its back. (More about the challenges and risks of subterranean cam-trapping soon.)

I'll be heading back in another week or two -- as soon as I get some special mounts made for some odd sets.

Many thanks to the "alumni" from previous courses, Jake, Christian, Sean, and Random Truth, and to Bill Wilson for assisting with local logistics during the full week.

Last but not least, thanks to the class for enthusiasm and hard work.

One of a series of time lapse photos taken at lunch with a Canon A630. The camera was hacked with the Canon Hack Development Kit (CHDK). We also demonstrated motion detection.

2010 Workshop

Top: RandomTruth, Aviva, Jake, Christian, Sean, Richard. Middle row: Theresa, JoEllen. Front Row Kneelers: Bill, the Codger

(photo by Bill Wilson)

A few words about last week's camera trapping workshop.

The venue was the Sierra Nevada Field Campus, San Francisco State's hideaway among the red firs . . . . on the North branch of the Yuba River . . . where the skies are clear, and tumbling water and pine-scented air lulls you to sleep in the starry night.

Adjusting the camera for a full frame shot. 

We started on Sunday evening with introductions, goals, and a powerpoint presentation on the history of camera trapping.

The next morning I introduced the students to "set theory" -- otherwise known as staging wildlife photos.

I wanted the class to become familiar with the strengths and limitations of their own cameras as well as the home-brews I put at their disposal.

As you know, young folk are vulnerable to cravings, and wild places like this feed that understandable craving to camera trap big charismatic animals.

Large mammals usually play hard to get with camera traps and thus spawn disappointment.

So I encouraged the class to target rodents whose squirrelly ways can be highly entertaining.

They are also more cooperative than mountain lions, bears and coyotes. 

For a few sunflower seeds on a stump countless photo ops are the reward, and by varying the camera's height, distance and angle to the "stage" the greenhorn can appreciate the photographic effects and learn about optimal camera placement.

So we started by setting cams for chipmunks, golden-mantled ground squirrels, and chickarees near camp, and the class captured them all in pixels, as well as an acrobatic long-tailed meadow mouse.

We also devoted two mornings to collecting the cams I had set in June, and I am pleased to report that aplodon generously supplied self portraits which you'll see in the next post. 

My annual fix of aplodon reassures me that some things in this state aren't going to hell in a handbag, and seeing the little buggers was a relief.

There were so few burrows back in June that I was sure the population had crashed.

We also added two new species to the list -- Nuttall's cottontail and a bobcat, not to mention a hermit thrush feeding its fledgling.

Viewing results of camera trap sets

Post-prandial powerpoint presentations treated set theory, use of attractants ("To use or not to use"), animal psychology for camera trappers, and survey methods.

To keep the class jazzed about camera trapping possibilities, I showed the work of two fellow camera trappers from Minnesota.

Sean Hall provided images from the north woods, and Chuck Gackstetter covered the prairies of SW Minnesota. (Thanks a lot, guys.)

RandomTruth sets a camera unaware of 
encroaching man-eating ferns.

Sean by the way is the maestro who orchestrates Camtrapper.com.

It's a camera trapping forum full of useful hints, advice, and inspirational pictures of wildlife and sets, and is definitely worth bookmarking.

Thanks to the class for a great week, and to RandomTruth for enthusiastic assistance and splendid photo-documentation of the botanical wonders of the northern Sierra.

I'll talk about the outings and recces next time.

Camera Trapping Workshop

[near the Sierra Nevada Field Campus, photo by Lisa Ware, '08 workshop]

My camera trapping workshop is being offered again at SF State University's Sierra Nevada Field Campus. You can get registration and other details here.

If you are interested, you might want to check out the posts from last year's workshop here and here. And here is a list of the mammals in the area.

I'm looking forward to instructing the workshop again.

It is a chance for camera trappers of all stripes to share experiences and learn new tricks.

[Allen's chipmunk (Tamias senex), the common species on campus, 

workshop of '08, taken with a homebrew camera]

You'll meet interesting people, get a lot of exercise, enjoy tasty food, and learn a lot while having fun.

The Sierra Nevada had a magical effect on John Muir, and it'll affect you the same way. The field campus is located only a few miles from the crest of the Sierra at Yuba Pass. And it's beautiful in July.

[camera trap photo by Kim Hastings, '08 workshop]

I'll be updating and expanding the manual, and we'll have a list of camera trapping sites where various species can be expected.

I'll also have a few extra camera traps for experimental sets, and I'll be challenging myself to get a picture of an Aplodon climbing and pruning alders.

I'll set a few cams out a few weeks ahead of time, so we can hit the ground running.

If you are interested, go to the Sierra Nevada Field campus web page and sign up now!

The camera trapping workshop

Top (left to right): Patrick Kobernus (Coast Range Ecology, SF), Kim Hastings (US Fish & Wildlife Service, Juneau, Alaska), Bill Levinson (Alpha Spectrum Productions, Oakland, CA), Karen Carter (San Bernardino County Museum, California ), Bill Wilson (ret'd, Modesto Junior College, CA),
Bottom (left to right): Craig Fiehler (Endangered Species Recovery Program, Bakersfield, CA), Lisa Ware (National Zoological Park, Washington DC), Chris Wemmer (Codgers Anonymous), Mike Rathbun (San Bernardino County Museum, California), Lorna Dobrovolny (California Fish and Game, Newcastle, CA)



In case you are wondering (or not wondering) what happened at the workshop, well, . . .

most of the 9 participants arrived Sunday afternoon and pitched camp in anonymity. When the mess hall's triangle rang out at 6:00 that evening we assembled for dinner and started to mingle. Afterwards we introduced ourselves formally, and broke the ice by sharing whacky stories (limited to one per participant). Late comers joined us for breakfast the next morning.

The daily routine was to rise in time for breakfast and lunch-making at 7:00AM. After that we met for lectures and discussion. I brought several boxes of gear, books, and eight extra cameras, so the class had ample opportunity to use additional cams and equipment.

After morning lecture on the first two days, we checked my cameras (the ones set a month earlier), and the prizes were aplodon and pine marten. Mike Rathbun and Karen Carter were also rewarded with a marten picture. Apparently the animal made the rounds on Monday night, a full month after I had set my camera.



It was just good fortune that Sacramento Bee writer Mickie Enkoji's research on camera trapping coincided with the course. She and staff photographer Bryan Patrick dropped in on day 1 to see us in action. I failed to get her to reach into an aplodon burrow to appreciate the subterranean microclimate. Nonetheless, the result was a lot of good publicity (2600 blog hits over two days, mind you).

We spent the rest of the week exploring the terrain up and down State routes 49 and 89, making new sets, and discussing results.



Most everyone took off in small groups during the day to set their cams, and some creative sets, like the one below held great promise, but damn if time didn't run out.



My friends Marshall and Kate Reed kindly made arrangements for us to watch northern flying squirrels at a bird feeder on their neighbor's deck. The big-eyed rodents were only 4 feet away so the photo frenzy yielded quite a few full frame shots. Only the codger did it the hard way -- setting a camera trap 12 feet up the tree the next day. Many thanks to the Reeds and Tom & Julie Castro for the consideration.

Wednesday night we called owls. A California spotted owl responded lustily to playback of several different species.



The class was enthusiastic and seemed to be pleased with the experience. Though I harbored ambivalent thoughts beforehand, I'll definitely do it again. In the meantime I am revisiting the area and compiling mammal locations for next year's course.

Here are the species we photographed with our camera traps:

MAMMALS

Insectivora*

Water shrew (Sorex palustris)
Vagrant shrew (Sorex vagrans)

Rodents

Long-tailed meadow mouse (Microtus longicaudus)
Brush deer mouse (Peromyscus boylii)
Shadow chipmunk (Tamias senex)
Golden-mantled ground squirrel (Spermophilus lateralis)
Western gray squirrel (Sciurus griseus)
Douglas’s squirrel (Tamiasciurus douglasii)
Northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus)
Showtl (Aplodontia rufa californica)

Artiodactyla

Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus)

Carnivora

Gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus)
American marten (Martes americana)

BIRDS

Song sparrow (Melospiza melodia)
Dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis)
American robin (Turdus migratorius)
Hermit thrush (Catharus guttatus)
Yellow-rumped warbler (female)(Dendroica coronata)

*/ shrew identifications are based on color, relative length of tail, and color of tail, but are not certain.

TOTAL: 13 mammals, 5 birds = 18 species

Many thanks to Lisa Ware for photos of the activities and the flying squirrel.

Camera Trapping Workshop : schedule (draft)

Here's a draft schedule of topics and activities for enrollees and prospective takers of my camera trapping workshop at SF State University's Sierra Nevada Field Campus.


Sunday, July 20:
PM:
arrival and check-in.
After dinner:
introductions, goals, program for the week.

Monday, July 21:
AM:
Activity: camera trapping plan (what are we after and where do we look?); reconnaissance and deployment of cams.

Topics covered:
camera trap sets (ground versus arboreal)
camera attachment (trees versus posts, telescoping poles, bungies, cables, special attachments)
camera security (people and bears)
PIR sensors (strengths and weaknesses, compensations)
GPSing locations

PM:
Discussion:
of today's activities and topics
demonstration of GPS and topographic map downloading (aids to finding your cameras)

Tuesday, July 22:
AM:
Activity:
(1) collect early morning cams; re-bait or re-set
(2) mobbing experiment (use of a raptor model to compare camera traps with hand-held cameras)
(3) predator caller demonstration

Topics covered:
(1) what camera traps can and can't do
(2) use of scent and sound lures
(3) anticipating behavior at the set and pre-visualizing pictures

PM:
Activity:
(1) Collect pre-set cam B (hike); return and download photos
(2) owl calling (after discussion when it's dark)

Discussion:
(1) keeping records (to do it or not to do it?);
(2) camera trapping databases (inventory of set locations, spreadsheet of camera trapping results); photo index files;
(3) digital photo processing
(4) continued discussion of today's topics

Wednesday, July 23:
AM:
Activity:
(1) collect early morning cams; re-bait or re-set;

Topics covered:
(1) camera trapping kits
(2) survival and safety in the wilderness

PM:
Activity:
(2) collect pre-set cam C (hike); return and download photos

Discussion:
(1) batteries (alkalines vs. rechargeables)
(2) ecology and camera trapping (home range size and trophic relations; habitats and species).

Thursday, July 24:

AM:
Activity:
(1) collect cams.

Topics covered:
(1) night-time photography (flash versus IR; supplemental external flash); fill flash

PM:
Activity:
Collect pre-set cam D (hike); return and download photos.

Discussion:
(1) Topics of choice
(2) (activity) copy photos to CDs for participants

Friday, July 25:
AM:
Activity:
(1) collect cams and pack
(2) evaluation

Camera Trapping Workshop : mammal species list

Here's a list of some mammals for enrollees and prospective takers of my camera trapping workshop at SF State University's Sierra Nevada Field Campus. These species, from rare to common, are known to occur in the area. I didn't include the moles for obvious reasons (and gophers are almost as hard to photograph). Jim Steele, the station director says he is almost certain he saw a wolverine up there a few years ago.

We'll try to camera trap as many species as possible using two approaches. First, 3-4 weeks before the workshop I'll set 4 cams. That will give us about 100 camera-trap-days of effort, and we'll collect one cam per day during the workshop. Second, we'll use the other cameras to target specific species or groups of species. We'll make camera sets in specific habitats and microhabitats and check those daily too. I'll post a preliminary workshop schedule in a few days.

If you are interested in the topographic maps for the area the quads are: Gold Lake, Clio, Sierra City, and Haypress Valley. I have them on my laptop, but I'll also buy a set of hard copies.

Here are some references if you want to start researching any species of particular interest.

Mammalian Species" These excellent technical summaries published by the American Society of Mammalogists are downloadable as pdf files.

Verts, B.J. and L. Carraway. 1998. Land mammals of Oregon. University of California Press. Another excellent reference that also covers most of the California species.

Wilson, D.E. ad S Ruff. 1999. The Smithsonian Book of North American Mammals. Smithsonian Insititution Press, Washington DC. A comprehensive and outstanding treatment of all mammals in North America.

Ingles, L.G. 1965. Mammals of the Pacific States: California, Oregon, and Washington. Stanford University Press, Palo Alto. A bit out of date, but still a very useful reference.



Marsupial

Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana)

Carnivores

Coyote (Canis latrans)
Red fox (Vulpes fulva)
Bobcat (Lynx rufus)
Mountain lion (Felis concolor)
Black bear (Ursus americanus)
Marten (Martes americana)
Fisher (Martes pennanti)
Wolverine (Gulo luscus)
Badger (Taxidea taxus)
Long-tailed weasel (Mustela frenata)
Short-tailed weasel (Mustela erminea)
River otter (Lutra canadensis)
Striped skunk (Mephitus mephitus)
Spotted skunk (Spilogale gracilis)

Insectivores

Water shrew (Sorex palustris)
Marsh shrew (Sorex bendirei)
Vagrant shrew (Sorex vagrans)
Dusky shrew (Sorex obscurus)

Rodents

Porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum)
Mountain beaver (Aplodontia rufa)
Beaver (Castor canadensis)
Douglas squirrel (Tamiasciurus douglasi)
Northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus)
Golden-mantled ground squirrel (Spermophilus lateralus)
Yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris)
Long-tailed meadow mouse (Microtus longicaudus)
Montane meadow mouse (Microtus montanus)
Deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus)
Brush mouse (Peromyscus boylei)
Pinyon mouse (Peromyscus truei)
Pacific jumping mouse (Zapus pacificus)
Red-bellied harvest mouse (Reithrodontomys raviventris)
Bushy-tailed woodrat (Neotoma cinerea)
Townsend's chipmunk (Tamias townsendi)
Long-eared chipmunk (Tamias quadrimaculatus)
Lodgepole chipmunk (Tamias speciosus)
Yellow pine chipmunk (Tamias amoenus)
Botta pocket gopher (Thomomys bottae)
Montane pocket gopher (Thomomys monticola)
Beechey ground squirrel (Spermophilus beecheyi sierrae)
Belding ground squirrel (Spermophilus beldingi)

Lagomorphs

Pika (Ochotona princeps)
Brsh rabbit (Sylvilagis bachmanni)
Snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus)

Ungulate

Black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus)

Camera trapping grad student strikes gold

This is tremendous!

A graduate student studying carnivore ecology with the use of camera traps has photographed a wolverine in the Sierra Nevada. Read about it here.

This is about 40 miles south of where we'll be camera trapping this summer during the camera trapping workshop. (Who knows where I can get some wolverine scent?)

What a tremendous find!

Thanks to Nigel Rothfels (Wisconsin), Jim Steele (San Francisco), and Richard Lair (Thailand) for cluing the codger in.