In the mean time I will post some data for Q1 of our efforts at YLR. Check back for those in a week or so.
These are the last of the plateau pictures from YLR taken with the Scoutguard. Going out there a few mornings ago the grass is very high everywhere outside of the game trails so we have a new wrinkle to deal with, but at least the cams will be a little more dry.
On to the pictures.
First was a striped skunk that stopped by the set a couple of times (or maybe it was more than one skunk).
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| An early morning visit |
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| Followed by a late night visit |
The bobcats really like the High Plateau and regularly cross the wetlands to get there as we also saw them on the other side of the lagoon arms on a regular basis.
I placed some Predator 700 lure under the rock that mom is furiously cheek rubbing on, while the kitten looks on into the distance. This picture was taken about 5 hours after we placed the camera. I wonder when we will stop getting pictures of these two together or when mom dens up to give birth to a new litter and disappears from our sights for a while. This is prime mating season and with a 60 day gestation period I would think it should be just about anytime now.
A bobcat stopping by at night. I am not sure if this is either the mom or kitten or another individual. I lean towards mom because it is pretty heavily spotted and the third individual we have seen on the reserve has very minimal spotting, but it is possible that it is a fourth individual. I don't have many pictures from this angle to compare striping to.
This does not appear to be mom or the kitten but a third individual. Perhaps the less spotted, probable male we have seen both in person and on the camera trap. It is not nearly as spotted as mom but maybe exposure issues make spotting more or less prominent based on the light and trick our eyes. It also does not appear to be the kitten as the front right leg seems to have more of a bar pattern and has a distinctive "V" shaped spot just below the back part of the shoulder that are missing on the older kitten above.
Hopefully we will have updates on our resident bobcats in a couple of weeks.
Nice camera set!
ReplyDeleteCan't believe all the cat pictures you all get!
Who makes that predator 700?
Yeah we have a few really cooperative bobcats in our trapping area. I will post some frequency data hopefully this week but maybe next week.
ReplyDeleteThe Predator 700 comes from Cronk's Famous Animal Lures. I purchased through Cumberland's.
http://cameratrappingcampus.blogspot.com/2010/10/lures.html
Nice. The bobs seem to be doing well in the SC Mtns. I get them regularly as well. Guess they've found a way to avoid the coyotes that the gray foxes haven't.
ReplyDeleteYeah we are having no trouble getting bobcats to show up. Because this reserve is so small it tends to be the same ones even at different sets, but still a lot of fun. I wonder if they are in less direct competition with the coyotes and therefore less of a threat to them or if the coyote recognizes canid versus felid and that some how effects the interaction. Still no foxes on the reserve but I think there is just not enough cover for them. I hope to get foxes soon at some other SC locations.
ReplyDelete