Building a DSLR Camera Trap: Part 1 – Design Elements
A camera trap based on a DSLR camera can take better photos than standard camera traps. This post describes the key elements in making one.
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Black Bear Marking Trails and Runs
Because clear foot prints are rarely present, the ability to recognize other bear sign is very helpful in tracking bears. A black bear marking trail, also called mark trail, stomp trail or ritual trail, is a series of worn ovals … Continue reading →
Moose and Ferns: Feeding Sign and Importance
Moose (Alces alces) are known to consume a wide variety of plants, favoring the leaves and twigs of trees and shrubs and aquatic vegetation where available. Ferns are mentioned only occasionally. In his 1934 study of moose diet on Isle … Continue reading →
Are My New Batteries Really New?
In a recent post on thermal runaway, I gave the advice of always using “well matched” batteries. One way to do this is to use new batteries, then continue to use these batteries as a set. But this assumes the … Continue reading →
Beaver Food and Feeding Habits
In my first post on this topic, Tree Preferences of the Beaver, I summarized the basics: that beavers (Castor canadensis) prefer most deciduous trees over conifers, that some hardwoods are more desirable than others, that aspen is the all time … Continue reading →
Ants in the Trail Camera
Trail Cameras seem to make great nesting spots for ants. How and why to they get in? And once they’re in, how can we get them out?
Continue reading →Kangaroo Rat Burrows
All 20 kangaroo rat species (Dipodomys spp.) den in ground burrows but there is surprising variation in the burrow system from species to species. Of course they differ in terms of entry hole size – larger species generally make larger … Continue reading →
Runaway Trail Cameras
We recently had several cameras runaway — that is, take thousands of photos, sometimes exhausting the SD card, at maximum rate, with no apparent trigger. Here is the likely culprit, and some ways to avoid this event in the future
Continue reading →Kangaroo Rat Tracks, Trails and Scat
Kangaroo rats are small burrowing, seed-eating rodents of the genus Dipodomys. Of the 20 species native to western North America, 17 or 18 of them are found in the US. All inhabit arid regions: desert, dunes, dry grassland, brushland, chaparral, … Continue reading →
Butt Shots in Camera Trapping: Causes and Fixes
We all put trail cameras up with hopes of capturing the perfectly framed face shot of a panther, or bobcat, or fox. With these great expectations, we download images from SD cards left months in the field, only to discover perfectly framed photos of the derrieres — the infamous “butt shot!”
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