Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Rock n Roll Roadies

Now for the other 10 species that visited that Mono Basin corner cam set.

First up, 3 squirrels:

least chipmunk
Least chipmunk, Tamias minimus, with cheeks-full

golden-mantled grnd squirrel
Golden-mantled ground squirrel, Spermophilus lateralis

grnd squirrel
California ground squirrel, Spermophilus beecheyi

2 rodents:

desert woodrat
Desert woodrat, Neotoma lepida

deer mouse
Deer mouse, Peromyscus maniculatus (pretty sure)

A lizardo:

fence lizard
Great Basin fence lizard, Sceloporus occidentalis longipes

And a couple of cool birds:

rock wren
Rock wren, Salpinctes obsoletus

pinyon jay
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.

jackrabbit
A juvie black-tailed jack, Lepus californicus, stopped to one-eye the camera

mtn cottontail
And a mountain cottontail, Sylvilagus nuttallii, also tip-toed through

mtn cottontail
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

mtn cottontail
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:
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9 comments:

  1. This is a pretty informative page on the differences between the cottontails, plus some cool Monterey/Santa Cruz County natural history.

    http://creagrus.home.montereybay.com/MTYrabbits.html

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    1. 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.

      I 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...

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  2. Great shots and well worth the effort Nice to see healthy California wildlife.
    D

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  3. Love the early morning light on BT Jack. A nice productive set, that one.

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  4. Gorgeous. Neat size difference betweent the woodrat and the mouse!

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    Replies
    1. Good eye. The Least chipmunk is the same crop size as the woodrat and mouse. Crazy mini chip is smaller than the woodrat.

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  5. Those baby thumpers are cute as buttons.

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  6. Cool! I'd be happy with batteries lasting 8 weeks any day-nice pictures.

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    Replies
    1. Peter - 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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