Showing posts with label Blue Jay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blue Jay. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Suet as camera trap bait

We were in the Dollar Store last week and I saw suet cakes for sale. On an impulse, I bought two -- one was a berry blend and the other nuts. I figured the price was right (FYI: I subsequently learned that the same suet cakes are 97 cents at Walmart -- six cent fail!) and it would make for interesting results. On Sunday I crumbled up half of the berry suet and put the pieces in front of the camera I have set in the back scrubby area. Today I checked and rebaited. All the suet was gone. I did not get many photos bit a nice diversity.

Species 1: Striped skunk (compare to the skunks in this post. Is it a new or known skunk?)
Striped skunk
(Seneca Falls, NY 2/12)

Species 2: Blue Jay. There are three in this photo. I obtained five photos of Blue Jays; one contained a Red-bellied Woodpecker as well.
Blue Jays
(Seneca Falls, NY 2/12)
Species 4 (remember the Red-bellied not shown): Opossum
Opossum foraging
(Seneca Falls, NY 2/12)
Species 5: Red fox
Red fox
(Seneca Falls, NY 2/12)
Species 6: Gray Squirrel. I expected more squirrel photos
Gray squirrel
(Seneca Falls, NY 2/12)
A fun two days of results. I found it unusual that each mammal species appeared only once -- and each individual stayed only long enough to be photographed once. Only the Blue Jays stayed long enough for multiple photos.

I rebaited so I should have more results in a few days....