This trail cam capture was a fun surprise, a band of white-nosed coati foraging in a creek-bed. I set up the cameras about two weeks earlier, hoping to catch bears or mountain lions. I was happily surprised to see the cameras had captured the action of this band of coati as they worked their way down the creek. Pay close attention to the youngsters as they climb up and down trees and explore:
Tag: Camera trap
Desert Bighorn Sheep & A Bear
I don’t want to mislead everyone that my blog is all about trail camera captures. It is much more than that, given time. Currently, however, trail cameras have been a focus of my outdoor life (I’m not a hunter, but rather want to protect wildlife). I have other adventures in mind that will not involve trail cameras. I hope you’ll stick with me to see those adventures. In the mean time, I have more trail camera action to share with you. First, is a video of scouting a new location to set up a couple trail cameras:
Second are two videos that represent patience and luck when choosing a trail camera location.
A Desert Bighorn Sheep:
A Juvenile Black Bear:
Of Mountain Lions …
When I first learned about game cameras I was immediately interested in how such camera traps could catch activities of wildlife undisturbed by human presence. I was also excited by the possibility of catching images or video of large predators in action, specifically mountain lions. I am no hunter and do not support trophy hunting or predator hunting and abhor these practices for many reasons. That said, so-called ‘game cameras’ are an essential tool for wildlife research and monitoring.
It took me several years to learn how to find the right place to set a camera trap that would catch large predators like mountain lions, but I finally caught on and learned to see their activity by tracks and associated preferred haunts.
Here are a few mountain lion videos that my camera traps have captured this year.
Mountain Lion & Fawn:
Mountain Lion in the Desert Heat:
Bear, Skunk, Bobcat and Mountain Lion:
Mountain Lion on the Move:
First Mountain Lion of 2018:
Lots of Mountain Lions
The camera traps I’ve set up have captured some very nice mountain lion activity. The following two videos show two different mountain lion families some 20 miles apart.
The first video is from Cat Canyon:
The second video is from Lion Wash, which I have had camera stationed on and off for over two years:
Mountain Lion Family
Yesterday I made the hike out to check on two camera traps I have set up in a wash in the Sonoran Desert. This is the same wash where my cameras captured three mountain lions when the cubs were nearing a year old (Second video below).
The following video was captured just last week. I’m so happy to see they are alive and well!
nectar feeding bats
It’s that special time of year in the Sonoran Desert when the Lesser Long-nosed bats return to the region. If you live where the bats forage and you leave hummingbird feeders up at night, you will know these bats have arrived by the evidence of empty feeders and sticky sugar water left on the ground in the morning. They are sloppy eaters. The Lesser Long-nosed bat is a nectarivore and feeds on the blooms of Saguaros, cardón cactus, agave and other night-blooming cacti.
I recently set up one of my motion-activated wildlife cameras to catch these endangered mammals in action. First, here’s a video of the bats feeding from a flower on a night blooming cactus in my yard:
And here is a video of them feeding from a hummingbird feeder I set in my yard just for the bats:
Camera Trap Action
I recently set up a white-flash camera trap on the waterhole in my backyard. The difference between this camera and other traditional camera traps is that it uses a white-flash, just like your camera flash, to capture the photo or video of the animals when the motion sensor is triggered. Many camera traps, including several of mine, use IR, or infrared light to capture the action of the animals. Infrared light is not visible to you and me or wildlife. Because of this the camera can be triggered and the action captured without the animal being startled by seeing white light. The risk of using a white-light flash with a camera trap is that the animal will see it and run away.
Here is an example of a non-visible IR camera trap capture:
In this case, the animals were revealed by the infrared light, but they did not see any light and everything remained dark for them.
In the following video my camera used a white-light flash to capture the action. This is the same as using a flash on a DSLR in low light to catch everyone’s smiles. Since the animals can see this, it often startles them thus changing their behavior.
In my back yard it seems the animals are adjusting to the white light when they approach the waterhole:
