Pffzzzt - Glug, Glug

Our 3rd Tehachapi set was in a narrow, rocky side drainage, that's encrusted with buckeye, juniper, yucca, sage, and desert olive.

We set the post for the cam on a flat under a juniper, pointing up the craggy gauntlet.

Our mind's eyes could perfectly picture ringtails scaling the rocks for water and berries.


Cam pointing up a steep slot canyon

Weeks later, when the heavy rains and flooding hit the area, I thought: "Hmmm... I wonder how that cam under the juniper is doing??"

Come to find out, not well.


Glug, glug

But when we reviewed the photos on the dried-off card, we found that the camera had fritzed and taken 170 continuous flash shots soon after we had set it up. The deluge and drowning had not caused its demise. A short in the wiring had.

I.e., it wasn't mother nature to blame, but the nut at the end of the wrench - me.

Too bad too - couldn't you just see a ringtail climbing down those rocks?


1 of 170 perfect pics without ringtails

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References:

• The Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on cam trapping in the Tehachapis

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