Bobcat Whiskers

I've gotten a number of bobcat images at this location, but they are all facing away from the camera, and most are at night.  I was thrilled this time, when this lovely critter came down the trail February 9 at 8:30 in the morning, came in for a close up, and even paused for effect.



This set covered much of January and half of February.  The previous few months there were a lot of deer images.  However, this set of images just had one deer trigger, and the deer was moving slowly, as though it may have an injury.  This set is in a suburban area, with lots of irrigated vegetation.  We have had a very dry fall and winter so far, and finally had a few days of rain in the past couple of weeks.  I wonder if the deer I've been seeing were hanging around the houses for the irrigated vegetation, then moved back to the open space areas when the rain brought up the natural vegetation.

More cute kitten videos (the bobcat kind)

This last month, the bobcat and her kitten returned up the trail together, this time during the day.  I love how rambunctious this kitten seems.

Although Bobcats can be born throughout the year in this area, most are born in the late spring to early summer.  The young begin accompanying their mother on hunting excursions at about 3 months, and remain with her until the next litter is born.  I imagine this young one has just a couple more months with Mom.

The adult came up the trail first, and from the looks of the "Bobcat Boogie" footshake, possibly stepped in something wet and/or unpleasant on the way.


References:
The American Society of Mammologists Species Account.  http://www.science.smith.edu/departments/Biology/VHAYSSEN/msi/pdf/i0076-3519-563-01-0001.pdf

Where the deer and the deer play

I have a new found love of the video on camera traps.  It is so fun to see behaviors when the critters are kind enough to demonstrate them in front of the camera.

These two young bucks play sparred in front of the camera for about 2 minutes, although they were in the area grazing from about 2:30 a.m.-3 a.m..  As they are leaving, 20 minutes after the first tussle seems to have ended, they start rough housing again near the outside range of the camera.



For me, the best part of getting these two on film, is that I have other photos of them together from earlier this year, but not from this set.  These are the same two deer as in the Odd Odocoileus post from June.  In the video, you can see that one of them is missing the right antler, and the other has distinctive ear injuries, visible in the thumbnail of the image below (although they seem to be healing).  The photos from May and June were taken about a mile away from Location B, through quite a bit of residential development and steep topography.  It is exciting to be able to document part of the range of these individual deer through their physical abnormalities.

The tarsal gland of the deer with both antlers is clearly visible in a few of the videos (one of which is below).  There is no similarly visible patch on the one antlered deer.  Apparently more dominant deer have larger and more active tarsal glands that subordinate deer, and I wonder if that is something we are seeing here.




References:
Lee Rue III, Leonard . The Deer of North America. 1997. 
http://www.fieldandstream.com/articles/hunting/2009/11/how-whitetail-glands-work

Bobkitten

I just checked the camera up at Location B. It had just been 4 weeks since the last check.  Overall, there has been a fairly consistent run of deer, raccoons, coyote, and occasionally a bobcat, so I was flipping through the images expecting more of the same.  We did get more of the same, but with a nice twist on all counts.  It is things like this that make watching the preceding 100 videos of trees-in-wind still so exciting from the anticipation!

The first video is a healthy looking coyote cruising the trail in broad daylight.  It is unusual for this location, the vast majority of triggers are after dark.  This was taken at about 8 a.m.. Lovely animal.




The next video is a sweet scene of a Bobcat kitten leading it's mother up the trail. Towards the end of the video, the adult cat turns and looks towards the camera, and there is a moment of eyeshine.  I would have loved to see them coming back down the trail also, for some face shots. However, this cat always seems to be heading this direction on this trail. It might be time to flip the camera.



More on the other visitors to come soon.

'Tis the season - young wildlife out and about

As summer starts to melt into fall, the young of the year are out and about.

This young family of raccoons is likely demonstrating how the knowledge of weekly raids of garbage cans is passed on from one generation to the next.  I do think it is adorable how the little one is always scampering to catch up with its older/bigger relatives.

Going to the Grocery Store


And Returning Home



There is also this brief video of a coyote, who looks quite a bit smaller than others filmed in the same spot.  I'm guessing this may be an older pup.  Any thoughts on that?

Camera Trapping in Marin

I'm finally getting to some camera trapping results!

After some serious inspiration by the Camera Trap Codger's class last year, I got permission to set some cameras up on a few local public and private local properties.  I've got a little over a year's worth of results, and there are some fun shots that I want to share.  

The first set is "Location B".  Location B is on a property in the middle of densely wooded suburban development.  There is a small adjacent open space parcel with a seasonal water source.  Most properties in the region are not fenced, and there is extensive open space within range of many species.  The habitat is dominantly oak woodland, grassland, and riparian.   

This is one of my first nice Bobcat images from that site from last year.

  I just pulled this video from the camera yesterday.  It was taken roughly 3 weeks ago.  Watch until the very end of the clip for a surprise.