Trail Cam

Hey all, been a busy couple weeks with cat sitting for some friends. Now that's done until their humans next vacation, I've got time to blog.

I hinted about this in my last blog and here it is. For my 50th birthday, a couple close friends of ours floored me with a trail cam as a birthday gift. I'd been pondering getting one for a while now but I'm slow about doing things that can be costly, especially when I don't know much about them.

We know what goes through our backyard after dark for the most part. Raccoons, Skunks and Opossums. Oh, and we always figured there was a cat or two. What really is surprising some nights is the frequency of the visits, like hourly! Here's a few shots from the last couple weeks.

One of my first and favourite captures with the cam.

This has happened a few nights where all 3 night mammals have appeared in such a short time frame.

Skunk at 1:41 am

9 minutes later an Opossum comes through.

4 minutes pass and here is a Raccoon.

I've set the cam up in various spots. The most action seems to happen at the very back of the yard, behind the shed. Six backyards all touch here and there is a greasy fast food place just over the next door's back fence.

A couple years ago one of the neighbours gave me his old dog house. I stuffed it full of straw last fall and put a burlap curtain up. I had seen one Raccoon in it and there was random visits from an Opossum as well. The curtain did not last the winter and I think the entrance was too big to have any wild animal want to sleep the day away inside.

This fall I cut up a piece of plywood, reducing the entry hole to a 6 inch diameter. I researched the size recommended by others. It has been my goal to make this a safe haven for an Opossum. Let's see what happens in the coming months.

The action starts not long after set up. As I mentioned, some nights the visits are hourly. They've gone on into the morning light as well.

I'd be okay if that Skunk made a home of the dog house if not an Opossum. A few nights I've had teasing shots like this. He knows it is there.

Right now I think the Skunk sleeps under our shed. We had two of them for a number of weeks but one has either moved on or something happened to it.

I've seen so many dead Skunks and Raccoons on the roads the last month, it's sickening. It is like this every fall. Ugh!

Obviously this fellow lives very nearby, look at the time.

In the coming weeks and months I plan on pointing the cam at my Owl boxes. A Screech Owl was in one of them a few years back. I've heard Screeches since and have found a few Owl pellets on the roof of the shed. Squirrels got into one of the boxes again but the other I've done everything to keep them out, so fingers crossed.

I experimented one night, attaching the cam to one of my feeder poles. A Raccoon passing by the shed triggered it.

The captures are entertaining to view the morning after. An Opossum is quickly darting by the Skunk.

The cam has caught some neighbourhood cats over the last few weeks. I'm up to 4 of them now. It's to be expected although I don't like it.

I figure these night captures will make for some easy blogs in the future, providing there is something interesting to share. Like how many Raccoons can I capture? Five is the current record.

I'd like to know who is out there in the dead of winter too, when I rarely see any of them.

Thanks for looking. This blog is over.

Back again soon!

WILD Birthday Bits

I've been wanting to blog ever since we ended our 9 day vacation but I seem to have some sort of writer's block. I don't know why. It was a fantastic week off and we did things that I was thrilled to do, things I loved doing. Everything should just flow out with a blog but it's not...

We did a private raptor encounter at Mountsberg Raptor Centre. We do these pretty much yearly and this is the second year in a row where we've done it right around my birthday. Having a Great Horned Owl on the glove is always fun. Meet Octavius. You can read about his background story here that I did some years ago.

I got a little extra love with Shadow the Barn Owl. He's such a character.

I don't advise anyone to just go and stick their face in that of any of these birds they may meet; or any animal out there anywhere. Let them set the boundaries and just enjoy the time with them. Animals are individuals. They have their own moods and personalities. Some people don't understand that for some reason.

I highly recommend these raptor encounters to everyone. To be face to face with these birds, having one of their educational birds on the glove or just admiring them from their homes. It's a great way to set off a spark in a young person who may become an advocate for birds and wildlife in the future.

This was a great way to start the vacation week, or as Angie put it "your birthday week". She said for the next 9 days, I would have a present each day, not always something big and grand, but there would be something. The Mountsberg Raptor Encounter was the first gift. I don't need to list all the gifts here as this is Rob and the Animals, right? Angie did a nice recap of our week off which you can see here. Give her a little love over there, she worked hard at surprising and spoiling me.

Our other big animal adventure was visiting Soper Creek Wildlife Rescue. Angie got me a private tour for Christmas last year. We initially were going to go in the spring but with our Vegas trip and other things, we held off until our vacation week in September. We've known about Soper Creek for a little while now and have met them at a few public exhibitions the last 18 months.

What can be said about Soper that isn't said on their website? They are a caring bunch and have an impressive set up with large enclosures for the educational animals. They are a rehabilitation centre and visitors do not get to meet the patients, as it should be. The educational animals basically work, helping to raise money for the rehab centre.

We met a lot of animals on our tour. There were so many stories shared about the animals, like why they came to Soper. Sadly many are due to human interference. How is it that people think they can just take baby animals from outside and keep them as pets? Those animals never learn how to be true wild animals, self dependent and being able to take care of themselves. When people finally realize that it was a bad idea, or they get tired of caring for the animal and the work involved, or in other cases the animals are found out about and get confiscated... what then? Zoos and rescue centres if they have the space, or it's euthanasia.

Okay, let's meet a couple of their educational animals now, shall we?

Both Angie and I were floored when we got some real one on one, up close and personal time with a couple of their animals that we see in our backyard quite often.

Here I am with Persephone. What a lovely Skunk she is. She was more snuggly than our cats. She nuzzled into my neck, her face often getting lost in my hair. Angie had a mirror moment with her too. Some ask, did she stink? Did she claw us? No and no. Skunks can be de-scented. She was very gentle too.

Then there was Claire the Opossum. Of the 3 big night mammals to visit our backyard, the Opossum is the most elusive of them. So holding one was a real treat. We could never pat one in the wild. Their fur is softer than what it might appear. Claire also was a gentle creature, making her a great ambassador for her kind.

We met a handful of Foxes, some Porcupines and a Groundhog too. You read about some of the ambassador animals of Soper Creek by clicking here. Just a few photos of some of the creatures on our tour. I wish I could remember all their names and their stories to share.

A big friendly Porcupine who is named Vinnie.  He lives with a couple others named Leia and Chewie as well as two Skunks and three Crows.  If you click on Vinnie's link on the website, it says he came from the USA, living in harsh conditions.  I know we heard of someone having numerous animals, all living in small totes, and Vinnie may have been one of them to be taken from this person.

This Groundhog we have met on a few occasions.

He lives with a couple Pigeons.

One of two Red Foxes.  We weren't allowed to mingle with them in their enclosure as they aren't the friendliest.  Still something to see as I rarely find Fox on my walks.

Soper is home to two Bobcats.  Wow!  What lovely beasts they are to see.  I've never seen one in the wild. 

Chewie and Leia.

Some more Foxes we met...

It was a sunny day so it was tough photographing in the woods, inside these enclosures.  This one below probably looks intimidating due to the shadows and his coloring; but I assure you, he was not.

It was fun to be among these young ones.

Of all the animals we met, and the stories we heard, the one about this Crow has stuck with me. His name is Russell. Russell has an amazing story so far in his short life. Russell had come into a wildlife centre as a fledgling, and released to the wild when he was able to fly. A few weeks later, Russell came back to the wildlife centre he was released from, this time with a broken wing. He remembered where the wildlife rescue was, and that the people there could help him. Unfortunately his wing had to be amputated. Russell lives a fulfilling life at Soper Creek Wildlife Rescue now, and lives in a multi-species enclosure. This story just floors me, grabbing my heart strings. I know Crows are very intelligent to begin with but still...

If you are seriously interested in doing a private tour at Soper Creek, here is the link.

Also something wild that week was getting our confirmed backyard bird species #76. A Chestnut-sided Warbler paid us a visit two mornings in a row. It's fall migration, you just never know what might pop in a person's backyard.

Lastly, Angie got me another awesome perfect gift being this t-shirt. It's gotten lots of praise wherever we go and I have it on. Angie said "you'll probably live in it" and I said I would but don't want to wear it out that fast. I should get another one or two.

Oh, there is one more wild bit but that will be blog worthy on it's own and something you might want to follow in the coming months as it will give me reason just to do updates about it on here. Stay tuned for that...

Remember, give Angie some love and see what else we did on our week off. She rocks. I'm glad we share so many interests, yet still have our own too.

Thanks for stopping in.

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