The Rain

I haven't been able to check my cameras this month, until today. My father passed away the first week of August, so I had some things to attend to back home with the rest of the family...

Flowers at Tygerberg Nature Reserve

I decided to brave the weather this weekend to go check on the cameras. I ended up walking through one or two light showers as I made my way to the first two cameras, but after that the weather (temporarily) cleared up slightly and I managed to finish my trip without any more wetness.

The rain frogs where out and I crossed paths with one while working my way up the hill. It was a Cape Rain Frog (also known as the Giant Rain Frog), which is listed as vulnerable.

Cape Rain Frog (Kaapse Reënpadda - Breviceps gibbosus) inflating itself (not liking my company?)

Lynda from the Mainly Mongoose blog has an interesting post about Rain Frogs and I'll save myself the trouble and just point you over there.

These frogs can't jump and move about with a slow awkward walk

In general I prefer not to bother wild animals too much so I snapped a few photographs and then stepped back, at which point our little friend "hastily dashed" into the undergrowth.

I had a bad feeling about the one camera trap I set at the pond in the beginning of the month. We had some heavy rain last night, but luckily the camera was still high and dry.

At least it was still above water...

Luckily it didn't fall over as a result of the wet soil and strong wind

Below are two pictures taken by the camera. The one is the day I set it up and the other the day I checked it (today).

There is no water visible in this photo

There is definitely water visible in this photo

There where a couple of nice photographs taken in the time I was away, including a new species. I'll try and post them soon.

I decided to retire my Moultrie camera. It was my first trail camera and it served me well. My wife bought it for me and doing so introduced me to the world of camera trapping. I'll hang on to it and might even use it now and again, but I won't be using it extensively anymore. The image quality has been deteriorating steadily and the battery life has been going downhill for a long time. I finally decided to retire it after it didn't even last (what has recently become) the usual two weeks after new batteries where put in.