Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Getting Down with the Munks

Time for another installment of the Cuteness Chronicles...

Two of the many delights at the SFSU Sierra Nevada Field Campus are the carpets of Brewer's Mat Lupine, Lupinus breweri, and the multitudes of Long-eared Chipmunks, Neotamias quadrimaculatus.

During this year's camera trapping workshop by the Codger, I thought I'd combine both by setting a 16 mega pixel, continuously-auto-focusing (down to 4") homebrew cam trap on the ground in a patch of lupine, with a sprinkle of seeds in front.

Here are the results...

long-eared chipmunk

long-eared chipmunk

long-eared chipmunk

long-eared chipmunk

long-eared chipmunk

long-eared chipmunk

long-eared chipmunk

long-eared chipmunk

long-eared chipmunk

long-eared chipmunk

long-eared chipmunk

long-eared chipmunk

Another reason I think this mix so fitting - chipmunks and lupines can both be a serious pain to sort to species. In California there are 13 chipmunk species, often with 2-3 in an area, and 73 lupine species, often with a dozen in an area, and covering 4-1/2 pages of keys in Jepson.

I guess cute works in many niches.

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5 comments:

  1. I may pass out from all the cute.

    wow. This is 100% a therapy page. Having a bad day? Look at these PHOTOS!

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  2. Love the full-cheeked munk.

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  3. These are amazing! #5 all the way.

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  4. Thanks y'all. I fully agree that the full-cheeked stare-down shot is the best. "Yah, I'm taking these seeds - whaddya going to do about it?"

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