Monday, March 10, 2014

The Starlight Camera Update

The Starlight camera was our first sponsored camera.  It is a Bushnell "no flash" camera. This means that it has a dark screen over the LEDs so that no red glow flash is seen by animals or people.  

This camera got nearly 3200 images in burst mode.  We got 3 images every time the detector sensed motion.  We got a ton of great information about what went on at this particular location.

Despite the vast amounts of info, the quality is not the greatest.  However, that is the tradeoff for so many images on one set of batteries. 

This camera was so well hidden that it took us 3 extra days to recall exactly where we had placed it.  Starlight was in a great ocular void as far as humans were concerned.
About this place: The camera was strapped to the base of a small tree and faced a trail that had a slight decline.  The rock in the center of the trail was very popular with many of the animals.  Behind the rock is a little dip in the trail.

This is one of the first images we got.  A Tinamou to the right of the rock.
A beautiful pair of  wild turkey sized Great Curassows.  These are hens.
The Hens have found a meal of some sort.
The male Great Curassow strolls by.
An Agouti with young.

Agouti with 2 young.

Unidentified bird triggers the camera.

The Whitenosed Coati digs up a meal.

The coati pack arrives.

Agouti and a bird on the rock.

Tamandua or Anteater visits the rock

The Coati stops on the rock.

A Capuchin monkey checks out the rock.


The Tayra catches his breath on the rock.

A pair of Pacas pass by.

One of several ocelots that walked the trail.
Another of several ocelots that walked the trail.
 The most seen animal from the Starlight camera was the agouti.  It was also a hugely popular place for the Tayra as well.  It probably had one of its dens nearby.  We were able to get many images of he Tayra coming and going along this trail.
The Tayra
The Tayra stares at the rock.

The Tayra in living color.

 
I suggest that you enlarge this video to see it better.  



The Starlight camera suffered in the climate and stopped working when I changed the batteries. When I returned home, it was sent back to Bushnell and today a new replacement camera arrived from them.  

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them in the comment section below.

Keep an eye out for reports from the remaining cameras as I'll be posting them over the next few weeks.  You can subscribe to the blog and get notified when I post, or you can check back when it is convenient.


 
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Friday, March 7, 2014

Camera Trap Project Update- "Camera Gaea"

The Gaea Camera March 2014 Update

The Gaea camera was arguably in the most beautiful setting of all the cameras.  It was situated atop of a waterfall and looked across the creek at a fallen tree.  I hoped that this fallen tree would be a natural passage for animals.

Unfortunately, there was a lot of humidity and it caused this camera to fail prematurely.  The same model cameras clicked off 300-500 shots during the same period of time in other locations while the Gaea Camera only took only 30 shots.  At first I was immensely disapointed, but when I looked through the images I discovered the Gaea cam's failure to be a blessing in disguise as you will discover in the images near the end of this post.

First the cool stuff:


The Crab Eating Raccoon(Procyon cancrivorus)
 The beautiful image of the Crab Eating Raccoon was taken at 2 am.  The black tube is actually our waterline that connects the house and pool to springs up in the mountains.  It provides all of our delicious drinking water and feeds our pristine creek.


The Ocelot(Leopardus pardalis)
 This ocelot image was taken around 6am.  In Costa Rica, it is usually light by then.  We have only seen one other ocelot image in daylight at that was at noon in May of last year.


The Jaguarundi(Puma yagouarondi)
By now you have probably seen our video of the 3 Jaguarundis (if not, here is the link:Jaguarundis).  It is hard to tell if this is one of them, but I'd say that it is very likely as they all appeared on different cameras during the month of September.  Notice it's striking red head.  This is a very interesting wild cat and we look forward to seeing them again on the cameras. 

Poacher with rifle on right shoulder

Same Poacher with rifle on left shoulder
 Hmmmm....Yes, that is a poacher...twice.  Thanks to the Gaea camera for alerting us to his presence.  Of course, what he is doing is illegal.  He is trespassing.  He is hunting on protected land by law.  His rifle is likely to be without a permit.  He is also believed to be trapping Pacas and crayfish.  
Slashes in one of our vaca trees(cow tree)
 He is also responsible for the deep slashes in the above tree.  The Vaca tree's latex sap is used to soothe stomach ailments.
The good news is that the camera stopped working before he was alerted to it.  He was not seen on any other cameras, so his poaching is not wide ranging on the property.  We know exactly who he is and where he lives.  He is also in a precarious position in that he is not even a Costa Rican.

We opted to keep a wary eye out for him as being the 'devil you know'.  If his trespassing has not ended in the next few months he will be reported.

The Gaea camera was replaced in that location with a non flash camera.  It has been sent away for repairs and we have a surrogate camera snapping away as you read this. 

Thanks for reading.  See you soon. 

Did you see what the "Bella Rex" Camera got?





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