Arabian Leopard Update

They made it to their $15,000 goal.  Thanks to any of our readers and Codger readers who helped contribute. CTC is proud to support this project, helping both the Arabian leopards and giving two full time jobs to local Yemenis.  Involving the local population is the only way to save endangered wildlife. We have to make it more profitable for these animals to be alive than dead especially in very poor regions. This idea is hashed out very well in David Quammens's book Monsters of God: The Man-Eating Predator in the Jungles of History and the Mind. We highly recommend reading this one if you have not already done so.

There is an article in our local Santa Cruz Sentinel about our friend Seabass heading over to Yemen and working on this project.  Hopefully he will be posting some great Arabian Leopard shots soon.

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Deadman's Lake. Tahoe National Forest. Taken during the 2009 Camera Trap Workshop

Giant Armadillo caught on camera trap in Brazil!

100 year old glass slides depict early bone hunters.

An amphibian killing beetle larva.  Original paper in PLOS One (yeah open access!)

Deep-sea squid is Forever Alone (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute)

Marin County pest management, Owl style.

Something Old, Something New

It was a beautiful day in Santa Cruz, perhaps only the 5th sunny and hot day of 2011's traditional summer + Indian summer, when Camera Trapping Campus met up to collect data from recent sets. Cams had been scattered throughout the reserve -- some in a few unexplored sections and others in areas already observed, where we are aiming to be species specific.

The marsh is one location that has been trapped with good success, so we will begin with the new goods from that spot.

An expected and returning character made an appearance two days in:

This one of fifteen raccoon visits over thirty-five days.

Next up for the expected; a young buck:

Now, getting those characters out of the way, may I introduce a new fellow on the scene -- a first for Younger Lagoon and a first for any of my sets:

Tyto alba

The Barn Owl visited the second day of camera operation and was captured just this once.
An enticing prize for future sets? Surely an owl specific set lies in the wait !

More to come from the marsh from Jake.

Showtl Strike Two

Long, long ago we set-up some cameras for the Codger's Camera Trapping Workshop.  I wanted to try my hand at the elusive Mountain Beaver as I struck out on a couple of short sets at last year's workshop.

Above you can see the "Before" on 6/18 and "After" images of the set.  The picture on the left is on day 1 (6/18/11) and on the right day 26 on (7/13/11), the last day an image was taken.  As you can see there was quite a bit of growth during those 26 days.

Setting up on the entrance/exit of the Aplodontia burrow, I hoped to get, well, Aplodontia. Instead all I got was a Chickaree or The Douglas Squirrel (Tamiasciurus douglasii). But as you can see the Doug squirrel was coming in and out of the Aplodontia burrow.













The Codger has gotten a lot of different species in his magnificent Aplodontia burrow sets.  Will a Chickaree be next? I had to throw this post up in a hurry just in case it is to keep from getting scooped by ol' Codge once again.

Also got a few birds, which seemed to be about all I was getting in the early Summer. Feel free to correct my bird IDs if I have them wrong.

American Robin, Turdus migratorius

Wilson's Warbler, Wilsonia pusilla

Audubon's Yellow-rumped Warbler, Dendroica coronata audubonii

I got a blurry picture of what might be a yellow warbler for the warbler trifecta, but it is not a good enough image to be sure.

Alas, no Showtls. Strike Two.  I will try again next year and hope not to strike out swinging on three pitches.

UPDATE: Changed to subspecific: Audubon's Warbler, Dendroica coronata audubonii

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Big buck from the UCSC campus.  They don't get much bigger out here on the coast.

Coyotes taking up residence in an abandoned SoCal home to be trapped and euthanized. Thoughts?

 

A bunch of new frogs in India.

Carmel-by-the-Sea is not the only town with raccoon problems.  Our state capitol has raccoon gang problems.

Chuck Testa! One of the most amazing commercials of all time.

Dinosaur feathers found in amber.  The images are awesome.

And a Giant extinct Crocodile found in Colombia.  In the same deposit as the Giant snake and thick shelled turtles from a few years back.

The Nile Crocodile is actually two distinct species.