Monday Morning Stretch

After a family filled weekend it is time to get back to normal. What better way than a stretch, although walking might be a little slippery. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Weasel and Rabbit

 

It's camera trapping season again! This location was good for skunks and rabbits last spring so I thought I would try it again. No skunks so far but the weasel was a real surprise. This a summary of a week's worth of activity. Hope to have more when I check it again. I usually wait at least a week between visits to minimize my scent.

Technical: slow motion at 50% was used for a couple short intervals of weasel activity

Skunks and Rabbits

Most of the skunks I have seen have been odoriferous road-kills or scavenging skunks around farm buildings. This camera trap gives us a glimpse of their behavior in the wild. Before seeing this I have thought of skunks as omnivorous scavengers but never as predators, especially rabbits. 

Technical: Scenes recorded over about 3 weeks. 

Midnight Meeting

I put a trail camera in the backyard a couple weeks ago and recorded this interesting behavior. I think it shows two bucks dueling for dominance. The fight has been slowed to 50% of normal speed.

Curious Cottontail

Curiosity is not a good thing for those at the low end of the food chain. Rabbits are the toughest subjects for me to photograph. Adults remain motionless seemingly forever, then bound off. The result is a lot of empty footage or a very boring portrait.  Several have been on the paths after sunset in Flandrau State Park during the last month

Technical: Taken with iPhone6 using 2X extender (80 mm equivalent 35 mm focal length) made by iPro Lens. Final Cut used to adjust contrast and edit

Busted!

I'm usually the one who gets busted in the field. This cottontail passed in front of the camera I set up in our rudimentary to check minimum focus distances and sensitivities to small birds. This passing cottontail looks guilty of something. The only thing edible we have uncaged are rhubarb, perhaps the cages need to go back on.

Night Walkers

The variety of animals that come out at night is amazing. It reminds me how little time we spend in the wild where these animals live their entire lives. This is an older version of a Bushnell trail cam and the animals see the red "near IR" light that is emitted during the recording, hence their awareness of the camera. Newer models also have much better picture quality.