Wednesday - September 7, 2005
Stealth Camera
Have I’ve mentioned that
Catherine is the more adventurous person in our relationship? A couple of
weeks ago while backpacking in the northern sierras she noticed dead
chickens hanging from trees. (Sounds like a scene out of The Blair Witch
Project.) The chickens were being used as bait to lure animals within range
of motion detecting cameras. Later she bumped into the person maintaining
the cameras and he explained that they are part of a study being done by
Davis University. These three are some of the photos they have gotten so far.
Motion detecting photography is a technique that has become much simpler
with the predominance of digital cameras and I’ve decided to set one up here on the ranch. For
years neighbors have been reporting cougar sightings but I never seem to be
in the right place to see one. It won’t be quite the same as a live contact
but I’ll take what I can get. It’s also my way of verifying that cougars
really do come to our area. I’ve always been suspicious that people were
really seeing stray dogs and letting their imaginations take over. It’s also
common for people to confuse dog tracks with cougar tracks. (OK, I’m the one
who was confused.) I had to have Catherine explain the difference after I
got all excited and dragged her out to see what I thought were mountain lion tracks. Turned out they belonged to a big friendly dog
named Popeye who lives down the road.
Rob's first sighting
(I have no idea who that fat guy with the skinny legs is)
