When I sent this first photo to my friend Paul, he replied: "That bobcat looks like it was showing up to have its portrait taken!"
Unfortunately, the bob didn't leave me an email address.
"See these eyes so green? I can stare for a thousand years..."
The cam trap was set under a big overhanging boulder by the creek, which was just drying up for the year. This afforded several interesting opportunities:
- to see what might go under the rock to get out of the sun
- to see what might come to the last of the summer mud puddles
- to do so with a 24-hour per day set, without worries of false triggers
That last point alone made the set. If not for the well-shaded sanctuary, I would have programmed the cam for night only, and we would have missed that beauty bob, and more.
The big boulder by the creek - plus mulefat, goldenbush, foothill pine and Tucker oak
The studio under the big boulder - note the camera trap on the left
Aside from the bobcat, the 3 local squirrel species also came by the studio for daytime portraits.
California Ground Squirrel trying to look tough (and not tasty)
Merriam's Chipmunk trying to look cute and coy (and succeeding)
Western Gray Squirrel with face full of mud: "What? It's picture day???"
At night, the woodrats and bats came out to play...
Ready...
Jump!
Big-eared, dusky-footed woodrat poses for a portrait
Woodrat spots bat - likely Myotis evotis, the Long-eared Bat
Another bat swoops through - could be Myotis ciliolabrum, the Small-footed Bat
And then...
Uh oh. The local muscle.
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References:
- David Bowie - Putting Out The Fire (Cat People)
- Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on cam trapping the Tehachapis
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