Jackalope shed its horns

The jackalope rut must be over, because this buck is no longer wearing his headgear. He has that alarmed and bug-eyed look that many bucks get when they lose these weapons and status symbols that are so important for reproductive success in jackalope society.

Familiarity cures camera shyness

What is it and what does it mean? It's a closeup of the ear of a gray fox, and it means the fox isn't afraid of the camera. But it wasn't always that way.

I can't prove it, but I am pretty sure that most of my several hundred gray fox pictures are of the same animal. My first encounters with it were fruitless. The animal took the bait, but evaded the camera's shutter.



Then I discovered that the little red light on the passive infra-red sensor was scaring the animal away. I deactivated the light and started to get pictures. For a while the fox was leary, and the pictures were nothing to write home about.

In a few weeks it became bold enough to scent mark shamelessly in front of the camera (see "A flawed photo essay..." Jan 2005). But many pictures were of the fox with closed eyes. It seemed to have an uncanny ability to anticipate the flash.



Now, many months later, it is actually curious about "the thing that flashes". This week was the first time I photographed the fox sticking its face in the camera and sniffing it. On the night of Dec. 20, 6 out of 59 photos of the fox were point blank face flashes. Of course Br'er fox kept his eyes shut.

Br'er fox can climb

I put the bait on top of the snag, and it wasn't much of a challenge. Gray foxes are known to be good climbers, and there's even a report of one climbing 18 m into a tree. But their descent is not as surefooted as a squirrel or ringtail, because they can't rotate the ankles of their hindlegs and hang on by the claws.

Br'er fox can't find mousie

Br'er fox triggered 70 exposures last night, and not a single one was blank. Here he is looking for the elusive mousie which is in the hole on the side of the log. He finally found it, but he hung around afterwards looking for more goodies.

I'll have to try some new camera angles now that I know how he moves around on the log. Wonder if he can get to the top of that snag?

Ringtail exposes herself

The secret to getting these pictures of a ringtail might have been a crab dinner last week. The next morning Shirlee woke up saying, "Do I smell garbage?" Half asleep and not smelling anything, I assumed
the question was a gentle message. "No dear, that must be me."

When I started to brew the coffee I knew what she was talking about. A powerful stench was coming from under the sink. I moved the reeking crab shells to the garage, where I was doing a project, and the stink increased even more during the day. Something had to be done. We couldn’t wait until garbage collection day. That’s when I got the idea. I crushed the shells in a plastic bag, transforming them into a gooey paste. Crab potion #9.

Late that afternoon I spooned the potion into some holes in an old cedar log where one of the cameras is set. Up to now the only visitors to this log had been a spotted skunk and mice, and I expected more pictures of the same. I was mighty pleased 24 hours later when I found this charming critter in 8 out of nine images!

I cropped the first shot, but the second one shows the full frame as she sniffs the tangy potion in the hole. After that she ate a bait mouse, but the camera was a little too close, and her head was partly out of the frame. Dang!

By the way, the ringtail plucked the mouse. There was a little pile of mouse fur at the foot of the log. As far as I know, that's a trait shared by cats, but not members of the raccoon family. No evidence that she sampled the potion, but it was still
potent.

Love is in the air?

The striped skunk mates in the winter. In January and February, the males ramble about looking for mates and often meet with misadventure when they cross busy highways. I have never gotten a picture of a family group or a pair of striped skunks, so this picture is a little unusual. There are two possibilities. A couple of skunks just happened to meet, or we are seeing a prelude to courtship. I favor the latter. It looks to me like the skunk in the foreground (a female?) is looking over its shoulder at the pursuer (an amorous male?).

More recently researchers have shown that stripped skunks den together in the winter--one male with a group of females.

No poodles tonight

A mountain lion and her half grown cub visited the suburbs of rural Magalia last night. The two cats seen here must have reached the ridge by some other route, or maybe they just skirted the camera trap's sensor. Anyway, it seems they gave up on sububan hunting early in the evening. The picture was taken at 12:24AM as they passed our house--heading back down into Butte Creek Canyon. . .which leads me to conclude that there were no poodles or other pets to be found for dinner. Mom sat down to lick her breast as she waited for her youngster--8 seconds later junior joined her and they resumed their stroll down the road.