Rhebok Running Wild

Earlier this month I found myself driving back home on the highway and approaching an off-ramp which could take me home, but via a longer slightly more scenic road. The road passes through the Tygerberg foothills and is mostly covered by crop fields and quarries. Even though "that special human touch" is present throughout the route it still provides a feeling of "open skies" and beats traveling on the highway. So I took the off-ramp and went on my merry way.

A few kilometers down the road something caught the corner of my eye, it was an animal...

A pair of Grey Rhebok (Vaalribbok - Pelea capreolus) on the greater Tygerberg hills

There standing on the slope of one of the undulating hills was a Grey Rhebok! What a pleasant surprise! I pulled over at the first safe spot, got out of the car and started walking back to get a closer look.

The animal was very skittish and I couldn't get close at all. I only had my mobile phone with me and managed to snap some "for the record" photographs.

The Tygerberg Nature Reserve is home to a herd of Grey Rhebok and there are plenty of camera trap photographs of them on this blog. However, the nature reserve is only very small part of the greater Tygerberg Hills area and is fully fenced off. Thus, at least to some extent, the Tygerberg herd isn't fully wild. It is a managed population.

Other hand, these two Grey Rhebok on the slope seem truly wild and appear to roam the small patches of natural vegetation and crop land that still exist along the foothills.

The reason I'm particularly excited about this sighting is because I've heard rumors about the presence of wild Grey Rhebok, but I wasn't sure how true or recent the reports were.

I contacted the reserve manager about this sighting and she said that they are aware of the presence of a herd just north-east of the reserve. This sighting was still further north-west and I'm tempted to think it might be a second herd, but I'm not sure how large their territories are.

I'm definitely putting these "wild herds" on my list of possible future camera trapping projects. It will be tricky to get access to good camera trap locations, but it might yield interesting results...

The Grey Rhebok quickly disappeared over the ridge

I really wish these animals the best of luck. They will need it as they try to scratch out a living in an ever changing, and shrinking, world.

Lunch Time At Tygerberg

I've been sitting on these photographs for a long time and just couldn't decide what to do the post about. So, here goes...

I first noticed this male Grey Rhebok with a broken horn in June 2011. I don't know if this is still the same male I've camera trapped for the first time in February 2010, or whether this is a new male. Nor can I be sure how he broke the horn, but one would expect it happened during a fight of some sort.

Ever since June 2011, this fellow has been the only male to be seen with the females in the small herd at Tygerberg Nature Reserve.

Grey Rhebok (Vaalribbok - Pelea capreolus) closing in for the kill

The Grey Rhebok in particular seems to have a hard time with flies during the summer months, but that does not seem to hamper their appetite much.

Munch munch munch, the plant had no chance against this experienced plant-predator

I made an animated GIF of another predation event. Look at this sap-thirsty Grey Rhebok tearing a limb from this innocent plant. At least a carnivore's prey has a chance to escape! These vegetarians are a merciless and viscous bunch!



Back In July

Grey Rhebok (Vaalribbok - Pelea capreolus) walking up the slope at Tygerberg with Cape Town in the background

I've finally gotten around to capturing all of my Tygerberg camera trapping photographs into WildLog. As I was processing the last set of images this Grey Rhebok caught my eye.

This is the resident male, easily identified thanks to his broken horn. Short on his tale was one of the females, stopping briefly to have a bite.

Munch munch munch...

Another fun visitor was the Leopard Tortoise. These guys are big enough and warm enough to easily trigger the camera when they are on the move.

Leopard Tortoise (Bergskilpad - Stigmochelys pardalis) cruizin' by

And to wrap things up a Helmeted Guineafowl in full stride.

A sprinting Helmeted Guineafowl (Tarentaal - Numida meleagris)

We're going to be in Gauteng over Christmas and I'm taking some camera traps along. Its been a while since I did any real camera trapping. I only have about 5 days to photograph anything, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed :)

First Images From New Cameras

I've been saving up some money for two new cameras and this month I finally bought them.

The first one is another Bushnell Trophy Cam, but this time it is the 2010 Viewer model with (obviously) a built in viewer and printed at the bottom of each photo is the temperature (in Fahrenheit) and the current phase of the moon. The reason for buying another Bushnell Trophy Cam was because I'm, in general, very pleased with my old model. It has great battery life, its trigger speed is fast and its sensor range is very broad. It has proven useful at photographing a wide range of animals from big to small and the night time videos are fun and compensates for the lack of a natural flash.

Caracal (Rooikat - Caracal caracal) walking down the hill, past the Bushnell Trophy Cam 2010

However, the Bushnell Trophy Cams aren't without their flaws. As with many other trail cameras, they tend to over expose under tricky lighting conditions. This is clearly visible in the above picture from my new camera.

These Bushnell cameras are also not entirely water tight. I found that both the old and new models will tend to get damp inside during severe rainy and misty weather. This is particularly common to see water droplets on the batteries when I open the cameras to switch the SD cards after windy rain and mist. Under severe and prolonged conditions the moisture even manages to penetrate into the sealed compartment that contains the electronics, lens and digital display. The old camera was so badly "moisturised" yesterday that I needed to bring it home and dry it out. The electronics stopped working correctly, but hopefully the camera isn't damaged permanently and seems to be behaving better now that it is somewhat dryer...

Grey Rhebok (Vaalribbok - Pelea capreolus) enjoying the sunrise from Tygerberg Hills next to the Bushnell Trophy Cam 2010

It is normal for all cameras to sometimes take blurry pictures if there is water on the lens, but the Bushnells seem to be extra sensitive for this under severe conditions. The interesting thing is that I didn't experience this to such a great degree last year at Kirstenbosch (where it rains even more). This leads me to think that it is not the rain as such that might be causing the problem, but rather the mist. Kirstenbosch doesn't get a lot of mist, but the section of Tygerberg where the cameras are now gets a lot of very heavy mist. Lastly, I have noticed that the cameras are a lot better if I shelter them from the direct weather or if they get enough sun in between wet spells to dry out thoroughly.

Regardless of these drawbacks the Bushnells are still very nice cameras and a great deal for the price.

The other new camera is a Cuddeback Capture. My oldest camera, the Moultrie D40, is slowly but surely grinding to a halt and I was hoping that the Cuddeback might be a good replacement for it. I wanted another "white flash" camera, because the color night pictures are much prettier than the grey images from the infrared Bushnells.

Small Grey Mongoose (Kleingrysmuishond - Galerella pulverulenta) darting past the Cuddeback Capture

The interesting thing about the Cuddeback is that it has a very narrow sensor range, but a very fast trigger speed. This enables it to get pictures of animals traveling sideways across the photo, because the sensor only activates once the animal is in the centre of the photo and then it is very fast to react and take the photo. The down side is naturally that it will miss animals that don't walk into the middle of the frame.

So, what is next? Well, I think that maybe my next camera should be a hacked commercial digital camera and controller board like the ones used by The Camera Trap Codger and the like. The image quality of those cameras are awesome. I guess I'll have to start saving up again :)

Curious Cat

I got a nice video of a Caracal checking out the camera last week.

Video: Caracal (Rooikat) checking out the camera one evening at Tygerberg

One would expect that these cats would be mostly nocturnal, but my sightings (personal and camera traps) show that they are a lot more active during the day than some people might have expected.

I have more sightings of Caracal during the day than at night (only 3 of the sightings were not by a camera trap)

In comparison I have 25 sightings of Porcupines at Tygerberg and all of them are at night. One of the reasons for the Caracals to be active during the day might be the large number of Four-Striped Grass Mice which are active during the day and probably forms a large part of their diet.

While looking for new camera locations I stumbled upon some of the Bontebok enjoying the green grass.

Enjoying the short green grass on a part of the hill that was burnt a few months ago

I also saw the Grey Rhebok (Vaalribbok) herd in the distance. The Grey Rhebok are a lot more skittish than the Bontebok and it is hard to get close to them. The Bontebok on the other hand are very relaxed around people.

Four Grey Rhebok (Vaalribbokke) enjoying the morning sun

Grey Rhebok At The Pond

I decided to start moving my cameras away from the pond. The Moultrie's batteries where dead so I decided to bring it home for a little cleaning. It has been in the field for a long time now and it can do with some TLC. The Bushnell is still close to the pond, but I think I'll move it this weekend. One of the things I like about the Bushnell is the great battery live (and the batteries are cheaper).

Grey Rhebok (Vaalribbok) coming for a drink at the pond

These Grey Rhebok were photographed on 11 February 2010. There is a short article mentioning the release of two females to join the (back then very lonely) male during 2005 over here.

Female Grey Rhebok posing for the camera, it's a pity about the background 

I walk into them every now and again while I'm checking up on my cameras and I usually see 3-4 animals together
 

The male showing of his fluffy tail

More updates from Tygerberg

Tygerberg as seen from Google Earth

Tygerberg Nature Reserve is actually quite small, but it is big enough to support a hand full of large herbivores and tons and tons of Four-striped Grass Mice (Streepmuis).

(Here is another site with some more information about Tygerburg Nature Reserve.)

Four-striped Grass Mouse (Streepmous) checking out the camera

Making a run for cover

The two sets of dark-light-dark stripes on the back of the mouse gives them their name

I can't stop being astounded at how many mice there are! There is a constant scurrying of mice all around you as you walk along the roads.

I'm very pleased to have gotten a few pictures of some antelope this week. It has been a long time since I last photographed an antelope using a remote camera trap - a Duiker in the Magaliesberg.

Thanks Mr. Bontebok (Bontebok) for posing so nicely for the camera, it's greatly appreciated

The other two visitors to the camera set was a bit less polite and only gave us a glimpse of their rear ends...

A Caracal (Rooikat) passed by the camera one evening

Most of the action was at the Moultrie set, but unfortunately that camera has a very slow trigger speed. The Bushnell camera (with a much faster trigger speed) did not get many visitors, but it was fast enough to photograph the striped mice visiting. The Moultrie was to slow to get a full body shot of the passing Grey Rhebok (Vaalribbik).

A Grey Rhebok (Vaalribbok) also slipped by the camera without having the decency to even show it's face

In recent years two female Grey Rhebok where released at Tygerberg to keep the lonely male company - full story. The Bontebok was also reintroduced - full story.

I moved both cameras yesterday, and I'm hoping to identify some more animal species at Tygerberg. At the moment I'm not focusing on getting "pretty" pictures, but rather trying determine what animals are around and where to look for them. In months to come I will most likely try to get "prettier" pictures, but for now I'm happy with the but shots of Caracal and Grey Rhebok.