Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Game Cam

Some recent game cam photos:


A sleek bobcat (Lynx rufus).


Murphy's law of game cameras:
You get mostly southern views of northbound animals. (Coyote, Canis latrans.)


Looks like she barely escaped that bicycle pump. (Virginia opossum, Didelphis virginiana.)


Finally, our first shot of a beaver in action. (Castor canadensis.) Click to embiggen!

We nearly ruined the game cam, trying to get a photo of a beaver. Positioned it too near the creek last spring. The heavy rains came, and... well, it's not meant to be an underwater camera. It still works, but not as well as it once did. The batteries used to last forever; now they need replacing every two weeks or so.

And this was the only beaver pic we got out of that sorry situation:



Smile!

If that's the miscreant who gnawed down the only white-blooming redbud in our woods, I wouldn't be too sad if that flash gave him a mild heart attack. I really miss that tree.

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Sirens from emergency vehicles screaming down the highway roused us in the wee hours last night. Jasmine howled, which she almost never does. It sounded so funny, I couldn't help but laugh, even as I was trying not to wake up too much. But then every coyote in the woods howled too. There are a lot more of them than I'd thought. I had imagined the population somewhat reduced, since our chicken flock has stayed intact for the past year. Now I'm worried.

14 comments:

Tonia said...

Your bobcats look different than ours. Around here they have little tufts of hair off of the side of their ears.
Cool pictures!

R.Powers said...

Perhaps that coyote was backing up to the camera to show off that amazingly fluffy tail.

Lucky opossum ... could have been an opoppum.

robin andrea said...

Excellent game cam shots. Your bobcat does look very different from the ones I've seen here out west.

You do have a lot of wildlife walking through your woods at night.

threecollie said...

Always delighted by the things you post when I stop by. Your game cam is just a delight! Sorry to read about your tree though...hope the darned beaver is still seeing spots.

elizabeth said...

Ack! That bobcat is scary! Great pictures though, that beaver reminds me of the crazed-eye beaver (guinea pig?) picture that was all over the web not too long ago.

Rurality said...

Tonia, yes, I have noticed a difference between our bobcats and those I've seen on more western blogs. Apparently there are quite a few subspecies.

FC, Opoppum! Snicker. :)

RA, You'll need a gamecam now too. :)

3C, thanks!

Elizabeth, I hadn't thought about it before, but I know exactly what you're talking about! I believe that was a prairie dog.

Ericka said...

neat pictures!

i can just hear that beaver saying, "oh sh*t!"

SantaBarbarian said...

That is one fluffy butt! :-)

countrypeapie said...

Great shots!

I attended an Alabama wildlife information thingy last weekend without understanding that it was going to be exclusively about hunting and fishing (still too city-girl, I guess, and I thought I was making so much progress...). The game warden said there were reports of more and more coyotes, and folks are worried that they will decrease the deer population, but he said the deer population has increased steadily over the past few years, too -- the coyotes are just following suit.

We've lost a number of chickens in the past, but the four we have now have survived despite the crazy lot of coyotes we hear yelping and howling *right next* to our house.

lisa said...

Terrific pics as always!

Maktaaq said...

That beaver is adorable - looks so happy despite the flash. And he does look like a guinea pig.

Pamela said...

the bob cat sure has a sleek coat -- I thought they had longer fur and tweeks on the ears?

robin charlotte humphrey said...

this is soooo cool i want a game cam!! though there would be nothing to spot in LA

Walter Jeffries said...

Yipes!