Coyote Meets Camera

I hope you enjoy this video showing coyotes encountering trail cameras. You'll see they don't all act in the same way. Sometimes they don't see the camera, or at least they act like they don't see it. At other times their body language screams "get me out of here". As I edited and studied these clips I always thought there's more here than meets the eye. Deciphering behavior is an enlightening part of our addictive hobby. As our subjects ponder their camera encounters we have to wonder about their thoughts. Sometimes their actions tell us exactly how they feel.

Snooping on Acorn Woodpeckers

Ever since the Paradise Fire in 2018 my neighbors and I have been cutting down trees to make our property more "fire-safe". Some of those trees contained cavities, which are often a limited commodity for hole-nesting birds and small mammals. My neighbor Ted and I rehabilitated a fallen nest cavity in December 2021. Getting a 20 lb chunk of log up into a tree is not a big deal if have a front-end loader and a master heavy equipment operator like Ted, and a camera trapper who isn't acrophobic, like yours truly. We bolted that nest hole log 16 feet up on a live oak tree and set a couple of trail cameras. After 3 years we had accumulated 2,221 video clips of animals. Acorn woodpeckers were the undisputed camera hogs, but there were cameo appearances by flying squirrels, western gray squirrels, and several species of birds. This video shows how the project got sidetracked, and gave me an excuse to snoop on woodpeckers using a homemade nest cavity with a built-in camera.

Camera Curious Bears

At last a new video. I have wanted to make this movie for a long time. Ever since I started camera trapping here "on the ridge", black bears have toyed with my cameras. The clips have accumulated over the years. The film is a record of the ways bears have photo-bombed my videos.

The Deer and Puma

At the moment five deer are pawing snow looking for acorns next to the house. Not far from the bird feeders. I can watch them from the kitchen window. They also enjoy browsing the herb garden, but that's under a snow drift.

Of course, there are no pumas in sight, but I know they're around too, as you'll soon see. 

Occasionally female pumas make forays into our community on "the ridge" in search of Mr Right. The caterwauling of a lovesick lady puma is a wonderful sound, but it rouses the dogs to bark up a storm, and it makes the neighbors a little testy. 

My advice to my neighbors is step out the back door and enjoy the dogs sounding off in sequence as Ms Lonely Heart moves away. Rest assured that an estrous pussy cat isn't interested in eating.      

 

Within a junk pile

What goes on in a junk pile of old fence posts, broken gates, wire, and corrugated tin roofing overgrown with willows? We got a glimpse when we set a camera inside.

  

Bears at Play

Herewith,  the best play sequences I got of bears in 2021. 

To view the 4 minute video copy the following link to your browser:

https://vimeo.com/649686204.

Or click below for the YouTube version.

Happy T'Giving.

  

A very clean bear

I didn't want to post this. The camera was askew. 

I changed my mind. Happy New Year.

Copy and paste the link to your browser to view the movie (It lasts a minute and 45 sec).

https://vimeo.com/496250466