Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Beaver swimming on the pond


I originally set this camera for otter pictures as they played on the far log and maybe swimming on the pond. Both beaver and otter swim with only a small portion of their head above the water line so I knew it would be a challenge, plus their fur holds the heat in and worse yet they would be almost the same temperature as the water which reduces the effect of the motion sensor.

I used my quickest and most sensitive camera setup and everything worked as planned by getting 10 pictures of beaver swimming in both directions at night.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Politics in the animal world


I can't believe that the beaver has hired a porcupine to finish falling the tree. This is going too far and I'm going to find out if this porky is qualified to fall timber and make sure that all the paper work has been filed to be a sub-contractor. It must be some type of watershed rebuilding project established for the under-employed because this tree will take years to fall by a porky.

On another note, you might notice the better quality of this photo compared to the last picture for the same location as I changed the ISO to 100 and the flash on low. This took the glare and brightness away from the white wood.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Part albino elk




These photos were taken with an owl PF 35mm game camera by my brother Milt. I scanned them so I could put them on my blog, he hasn't gone digital yet but gets lots of great photos.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Looks like I might have an Albino deer


I had to crop this photo a lot for the deer to show up well, but it sure looks like an albino to me, I have several other photos taken in the past of albinos in the same area. The only time the sun came out in a week was when this picture was taken, plus it was walking away from the camera, but under the raised tail the hair looks like it is all white. Will try a better location, maybe on a creek crossing in the shade would work better if the deer doesn't move too far away.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

How many tail feathers on a Red Tail Hawk?


This photo answers the question of the tail feathers on the hawk, although I'm no expert on birds and maybe all Red Tail Hawks could have more or less, but 12 looks like the normal count.


Tuesday, February 17, 2009

My first test using the Nikon D100


I built this camera in 06 and wanted to do some testing for day and night pictures to double check the settings. It's very difficult to do good testing if the camera is set on a trail that gets action once every week from animals. So I decided to place some apples in an old stump thinking this would attract either birds, raccoons or maybe a possum, just any animal for some photos.

To my suprise this bear came along and solved my problem by giving me 85 pictures in 30 minutes as it tried to reach the apples deep in the stump. It tried down from the top and both paws through a hole in the bottom, but it finally got the apples. The camera worked well and has been a workhorse for 3 years.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Oh, for the green foliage of spring and summer


This photo was taken in the summer of 06 and shows what green foliage, ferns and moss will add to a simple doe crossing a creek bed. Things have been slow lately with all the work around the house, so it was a good time to look through some of my older photos. I almost forgot what the rain forest looks like in July.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Porcupine up close


And no, it wasn't chewing on the tree. Had this camera set for a beaver to finish falling the tree when this Porky decided to wander by, got 4 pictures of it passing through. They can run if they choose but most of the time they waddle down the trails rather slowly.

Monday, February 09, 2009

Challenge for trail camera: Porcupine feeding on tree bark


This is a photo I have been after for years now, and refuse to admit defeat. Getting a photo of a porcupine feeding on the bark of a young fir tree, not on the bottom, but almost at the top. I can't seem to predict which tree the porky is going to climb, don't even have a clue why they choose one tree over another. I have found 4 good areas where they seem to be working but it's not an easy task to set up a camera and I always seem to pick the wrong tree.

Saturday, February 07, 2009

Otter on the mink log by the pond




I knew it was about time for the otter to leave the river and head to a pond where they will have their young and teach them to swim. I wanted to get ahead of them, so I set a camera in the pond area while they were still on the river, mink also are moving now to mate so I had a good chance of an animal on this log. The camera was aimed at the log for only one week before the otter arrived, I ended up with 12 pictures of otters running the log and some stopping to look at the camera.

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Elk by my stump camera


Still no owls on the stump, but I think every other animal has had it's photo taken. This small herd of last years calves are like a gang of hoodlums so glad the camera was out of reach. Seems every year these little guys try to find some way to ruin a few pictures.