On The Move

Two months ago I had my Bushnell Trophy Cam XLT setup in part of the more forest-like sections of the Woody Cape. Reviewing the first moths images I noticed that a Blue Duiker was active in this area and I wanted to get some video of it. I moved the camera to a different tree and waited.

Below is a collection of the video clips I got. Although the Blue Duiker was active during the day, the forest is so dark that the flash kicked in on most occasions.

Video: A series of Blue Duiker (Blouduiker - Cephalophus monticola)  visits at the Woody Cape

I think in the last clip you can see it using its facial glads to scent mark.

For a long time I've been playing around to reduce the flash of my Bushnell camera traps. Most camera traps, especially the IR models, tend to have a very strong "spotlight" flash. This might be great in wide open areas where the target is fat away from the camera. However, almost all of my camera trap setups are in confined spaces and very close to the animals. This can cause severe whiteout.

In the past I used black isolation tape to reduce the flash, but after giving it some thought (and talking to some knowledgeable friends at work) I decided to try something new.

Two pieces of the textured glass that I'm currently using to improve the flash of my camera traps.

I got some textured glass cutoffs from our local hardware store. The idea is to get the glass with the roughest or most irregular surface.

I'm no expert, but in theory if I can't move the flash further away from the camera's lens to reduce the direct (harsh) reflection of the flash's light, then I can try to deflect the flash's light, thus creating a softer more natural spread. The idea is to diffuse the light, turning a spotlight into a more natural light and allowing the environment to reflect some light back onto the subject.

Since all of my cameras are in the field I haven't been able to do a direct comparison, but based on my observations in the field I do believe that this is making a noticeable difference. I've even put some glass over the new Cuddeback Attack (even though it comes with an "adjustable flash").

My old Cuddeback Capture and the Birdcam each take excellent white flash images. Interestingly, if you look at the flash covers of these cameras you'll notice that both of them don't have a clear smooth texture, but that they actually have different segments that deflect the flash into different directions.

This definitely isn't a magical fix to the flash problem but I think it does help.

Video: Large-Spotted Genet (Grootkolmuskeljaatkat - Genetta tigrina) catching something in the leave litter

I'm sure the above Large-Spotted Genet was in the neighbourhood for a dinner date with one of the regular visitors to the area, the Woodland Dormouse.

Video: A series of clips showing a Woodland Dormouse (Boswaaierstertmuis - Graphiurus murinus) zooming about

I love the way their eyes glow as they zoom around. It reminds me of the cat bus in My Neighbour Totoro...

Another well known species is the Bushbuck. One of the sequences was long enough and interesting enough to put together into one two minute segment.

Video: Bushbuck (Bosbok - Tragelaphus sylvaticus) out for lunch

 

I usually prefer photographs, but it is nice to switch over to video once in a while to capture some natural behaviour.



Adorable Mouse

I like to do some research before I start (and during) camera trapping in a new area. As a result I usually end up forming a "wish list" for the area. I tend to group species into some "loose" categories:

• Done deals
• Known to be present, common and easy to photograph.
• Good bets
• Not known to be present or difficult to photograph, but common and should be around if you know what or where to look for.
• I'll have a shot
• Known to be present, but uncommon or rare.
• If I'm lucky
• Not known to be present or was historically present and uncommon or rare now.
• Yeah right
• Myths and legends, either believed to be present and most likely not, or vice versa.

The Woodland Dormouse was on my "Good bets" list: They should be fairly common in the forests and thickets, but might be tricky to photograph and identify.

Woodland Dormouse (Boswaaierstertmuis - Graphiurus murinus) in the Woody Cape forest near the towns of Alexandria and Cannon Rocks

When I first got to this location I had a Cuddeback with me. Since I wasn't in the mood for mice, but instead had Blue Duiker on my mind I decided to strap the camera around the tree and point it towards the clearing. In the end I only photographed a couple of Bushbuck. (I've posted some of the pictures before over here, see the 3rd and 4th photographs.) When I went to collect the camera I noticed a big hole on the other side of the tree.

The hole in the back of the tree that caught my eye

It looked promising and since I had a Bushnell with me, which is much better at photographing small critters than a Cuddeback, I decided to strap it to an adjacent tree and see whether anything uses the hole or climbs up and down the tree. I wasn't disappointed. The tree was crawling with Dormice!

If this was a staring contest then the Dormouse won...

There was only one problem: Which species of Dormouse is this? Although the infrared Bushnell Trophy Cams are great at capturing anything, big or small, passing by the camera the grainy grey night time photos aren't pretty and makes identifying most rodent species very difficult. Luckily, back home, it was around this time that I took the plunge and bought my first Birdcam. This was going to be it's first field test. I pointed it to the tree and hoped for the best.

The Birdcam in action

I still don't know what to make of this camera. It seems to have a very good flash (for a commercial camera trap) that doesn't need to be dimmed even for very close shots. The strange thing is that it only has a manual focus. This allows it to take photographs of creatures very close to the camera. The problem is that if you have the setting wrong, or the animal isn't in the "sweet spot" then the animal will be out of focus. Thus the Birdcam can be set to focus much closer than normal commercial cameras. I'll keep you posted about this camera as I try it out in different situations, but my initial impression is that it is decent choice for some specialised camera setups.

On the hunt

I'm reasonably pleased with these initial results. Unfortunately all of the Woodland Dormouse images are slightly out of focus, but it is partly my own fault. I measured the focus point to be higher up on the tree, but almost all of the images has these little gray ninjas much lower and closer to the camera. I should have used a closer focus setting...

The camera had only one empty photograph, but in general it trigger far less often than the Bushnell did. But then again the Bushnell covered a larger part of the tree and has an excellent detection circuit.

Enough about the cameras, more about the animals!

Is he practicing his ninja-chop?

Woodland Dormice are rodents, however unlike most mice and rats they have very furry tails. They nocturnal and very good climbers. They are often found in houses and can become fairly tame. They eat insects, fruit and seeds. They are known to hibernate during winter and go into torpor during food shortage or cold spells.

Dormice live alone or in family groups that may share a nest. Nests are built in trees or amongst rocks from grass, lichen, etc. Family groups defend their territory fiercely from other Dormouse intruders and will even kill and eat the intruder! These sweet looking little mice are more like fierce ninjas that will take over another families home, eating any family members that get in their way.

I actually put some peanut butter and sunflower seeds on the tree in the hope that they will stick around longer, but they seemed to have ignored it completely

What predator would be brave enough to prey on such a fierce little rodent? Well, I'd put my money on this guy: The Large-Spotted Genet.

A wet Large-Spotted Genet (Grootkolmuskeljaatkat - Genetta tigrina), a wet tree and a wet camera

The Large-Spotted Genet payed a couple of visits to this Dormouse-highway.

"Mmmm, I think I'm going to jump onto that box-like-thing. I'm sure nobody will mind..."

A more curious visitor was this Small Grey Mongoose that dropped by one day.

Small Grey Mongoose (Kleingrysmuishond - Galerella pulverulenta) checking things out

The tree saw very little action during the day, so I have to wonder what this guy was thinking. Maybe, like me, he just wanted to have a look in the hole (you never know what might be down there). Maybe it was looking for some sleeping Dormouse to snack on?
All in all this has been a fun location and I might revisit it some time in the future. And with that it is the end my the tail.

Dormouse sending a clear message that it doesn't appreciate this intrusion on it's privacy