First up, 3 squirrels:
Least chipmunk, Tamias minimus, with cheeks-full
Golden-mantled ground squirrel, Spermophilus lateralis
California ground squirrel, Spermophilus beecheyi
2 rodents:
Desert woodrat, Neotoma lepida
Deer mouse, Peromyscus maniculatus (pretty sure)
A lizardo:
Great Basin fence lizard, Sceloporus occidentalis longipes
And a couple of cool birds:
Rock wren, Salpinctes obsoletus
Pinyon jay, Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus
Which leaves us with the hares and rabbits. Both of which nicely came by during the day for clear color shots sans eye shine.
A juvie black-tailed jack, Lepus californicus, stopped to one-eye the camera
And a mountain cottontail, Sylvilagus nuttallii, also tip-toed through
In the day time light you can really see the stockier and furrier body, ears and feet that differentiates this species from the lanky desert cottontail, Sylvilagus audubonii
That's some serious fuzzy wuzzy bunny cuteness
So, nothing new, but a good set.
A striking scene.
24-hour coverage.
Batteries lasted 8 weeks and 354 shots.
Caught 11 species (including lizards).
Fun stills and behavioral series.
No bears tried to eat it.
Good set.
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References:
- California Herps - Great Basin Fence Lizard
- Wikipedia - Mountain cottontail
- Nature of a Man (this blog) - Rock n Roll Bobcat
- Nature of a Man (this blog) - posts on cam trapping the Mono Basin
This is a pretty informative page on the differences between the cottontails, plus some cool Monterey/Santa Cruz County natural history.
ReplyDeletehttp://creagrus.home.montereybay.com/MTYrabbits.html
That is good stuff. For me, the brushies are the easiest to separate out. They're just so small and "bunny" looking. Desert and mountain, audubonii and nuttallii, seem much more closely related, and separating them has been tougher for me. And both are occurring in the area around the ranch.
DeleteI actually just got bachmani in the Tehachapis. It's at the limit of their range, but there are records.
Now if I can just find some pygmy rabbit burrows...
Great shots and well worth the effort Nice to see healthy California wildlife.
ReplyDeleteD
Love the early morning light on BT Jack. A nice productive set, that one.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous. Neat size difference betweent the woodrat and the mouse!
ReplyDeleteGood eye. The Least chipmunk is the same crop size as the woodrat and mouse. Crazy mini chip is smaller than the woodrat.
DeleteThose baby thumpers are cute as buttons.
ReplyDeleteCool! I'd be happy with batteries lasting 8 weeks any day-nice pictures.
ReplyDeletePeter - if this is old hat to you, sorry for the nothing-new, but if not... Eneloop AAs give 50%+ longer life than alkaline AAs, and Lithium AAs give 50% longer life than Eneloops - which is how I'm getting 8 weeks with 2 AA batteries in these homebrews.
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