Friendly Foragers

Montana Carl observed that the seasonal creek is a gold mine, and I have to agree.

I've been mining it since April and have been pleased with the performances of the creek critters if not the quality of the footage.

I first encountered the friendly foragers in a series of jpegs taken way down the ravine, and concluded their physical engagement was a fight.

Several weeks later I found footage of their shenanigans at another set and it was pretty clear they were getting physical in a friendly way.

No, not that. They were just playing, as you can see in the video. 

Bully Skunk of the water hole

I can always count on a few clips of a local striped skunk at the water holes on the creek.

This man-skunk tanks up at the same place practically every night, which makes for rather boring viewing.

Let's face it, striped skunks have neither the flair of raccoons nor the charisma of bears.

But they are amusing when their noses get out of joint.

Bat strafes owl

It's not unusual for a bat to glean insects buzzing a mammal.

Occasionally fellow camera trappers in Minnesota photograph bats very close to deer covered with mosquitos, and it's obvious what the bats are doing.

What you see in this video clip however is a little odd.

The pools in this creek are swarming with insects, so there's no reason for the bat, probably a species of Myotis, to hit the owl in the head.

That is, unless something else is going on.

Could the bat be mobbing the owl, the way songbirds mob owls?

Or did it's radar fail?

This is the kind of footage that reinforces my obsession with camera trapping.

If you are curious about nature, get yourself a camera trap.

You'll learn a lot while you are having fun.

Bears vs. the Squeaker

More bears from the pools of the seasonal creek.

I thought the jury-rigged squeaker might lead to the design of an effective bear deterrent.

Watch the video and learn what I learned.

PS: Just back from a pleasant week with camera trappers at the Sierra Nevada Field Campus. More on that later.

A modest bear

I have had to forego the pleasures of the blogosphere for the past 2 months because other duties have called.

I am now getting back into the blogging groove and have been busy finishing off preparation for the camera trapping workshop, which is next week.

I've also been plowing through a huge backlog of video clips, and couldn't resist posting this little sequence to YouTube.

It's part of a recent camera trapping story and lessons learned from Mother Nature . . .  I'll cover it all in the workshop.

Cub See, Cub Do

Brownie approaches a cam on a deer trail.
The white upper edge is spider web on the
spikes of the camera's bear guard.

Brownie is interested in cameras. Deconstructing cameras.

She took out four cams in the past month.

Here she perched on a log and peered at the mysterious source of wonderment before starting work.

She sniffed at it, tried to mouth it, and managed to dislodge it even though it was equipped with a spiked bear guard.

When she was finished the camera was 30 feet away.

It took ten minutes to find it, and I was one worried and sweaty codger in the interim.

The pictures told the same old story: bear finds camera, bear examines camera, etc.

Brownie seemed to be a lone agent.

But yesterday I collected the card from another camera (the "ringtail cam"), and discovered that Brownie has two apprentices.  

The clips could be better, but you can still see that one of the understudies is learning the trade well.

Ringtail on the beat

Here's some night action on a seasonal creek in Butte County, California.

Gray foxes, striped skunks, and raccoons use the creek bed as a thoroughfare, and are the most frequently filmed camera-trapped visitors.

Bears and bobcats stop to drink and then cross it and move on up the slope.

When I get better video of these common visitors I will post it.

This is the only footage of a ringtail I've gotten on this creek, but it is one of the more satisfying clips.

This ringtail didn't want to get its feet wet, unlike its relative the raccoon with its underwater hand-jive routine.

As you can see, it's a good rock-hopper.