Short Set Surprises

As readers know, I like short sets (both in height and duration). 2 nights and days, and a few seeds, and you can get a good sense of the local Rodentia.

But, sometimes these shorties yield interesting surprises that aren't the usual micro-furries.

Here's 3 not-what-I-expected-to-gets, from my Mono Basin summer short sets...

Sage Thrasher
On a burrow set in big sagebrush, that was targeting night time foraging voles, k-rats and like, this charming Sage Thrasher, Oreoscoptes montanus, showed up. First time I've "seen" one.



Pinyon Jay Family
At a similar set to the one above, but on a gravelly pinyon pine slope with expectations of chipmunks, desert woodrats, and kangaroo mice, this family of Pinyon Jays, Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus, stopped by to enjoy the sunflower seeds:









The Velvet Buck
On a muddy pond bank, where I was hoping for micro-mammals, such as shrews, this big boy mulie wandered through to smell the set and check out the cam:







Gotta love curious and cooperative animals.

And short set surprises.

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References:

• Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on cam trapping the Mono Basin
• Nature of a Man (this blog) - Counting Toes
• Nature of a Man (this blog) - Deer vs. Kangaroo
• Nature of a Man (this blog) - Cirque de No Soleil

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