An opossum walking along the edge of my backyard. Opossums are nomadic, and so may not appear in the same area for more than a few days or weeks at a time. Homemade camera trap (Canon 60D, 2 Nikon SB28 flashes)

Old Didelphis virginiana is the only marsupial in the US, which sets it apart from the other mammals in the region, but like many of them (raccoon, coyote, skunk, black bear), it is an opportunistic omnivore. That means it can thrive…almost anywhere, including in cities. Its preference is for swamps and stream-side habitats in the wilderness, but it does extremely well in urban and suburban areas – so well, in fact, that it grows larger and uses a smaller home range in the human dominated landscape. Not surprisingly, it is easier to camera trap in developed areas than in the wilderness.

If you do want to catch it on trail camera, it’s important to realize that the Virginian opossum is nomadic. So while it might enjoy your compost pile, bird seed, garbage, etc., it might hang around your backyard for just a few days or weeks before moving on to sample the cuisine in the neighbor’s yard.

This video is what brought that nomadic nature to my attention. One day I found the rotting remains of a cottontail in a tree cavity/crotch so I set up the camera hoping to see who came for dinner. Among some smaller animals you can see in the video, an opossum came, but neither it nor the smaller animals appeared to feed on the rabbit. I don’t know if the opossum’s appearance had anything at all to do with the rabbit – maybe the smell attracted it – but the camera never caught it chewing on the rabbit. The opossum simply used this as a resting spot. And it only came 3 nights (within a week, but not consecutive) before disappearing. I’ve since used this spot as a test site for new cameras but never again has an opossum paid a visit.