The Trail Cam Thread

[AVGWarhawk]

I did a short search for any trail cam threads. I know Neal has a thread with trail cam footage of rouge pigs. I thought to start a trail cam thread so we can see what happening in your neck of the woods. Below is my trail cam footage that hangs on my fence line. I have a busy backyard.

This is quite something. Could not ask for a better video of our fox friend:

https://youtu.be/MwRgVdBYUFQ

Here he or she is making the night rounds:

https://youtu.be/O_3dGVfoxyc

These two better haul butt. There is a fox in the neighborhood:

https://youtu.be/zEfoo37S5Rk


Please post any trail cam footage you have. I would like to see it!

[August]

I have tons of them.


Here is one of my favorites:


https://i.imgur.com/tYpMX1i.jpg


And this is pretty nice too:


https://i.imgur.com/zyw9EMJl.jpg?1

[Reece]

Where's Skybird?? :D

[Skybird]

^ Here.

Have a trail cam since over two years in the garden, near the nutbar.



https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkK6cQ_FjTT4XEfbKLetpSQ/videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onVkSvedeWA

(And no, the bicycle tour video that the channel owes its name to, are not publicly listed anymore)

[AVGWarhawk]

@August nice shots!

[AVGWarhawk]

@Skybird. You have the invading tree rats as well. They do serve their purpose. They knock seed to the ground for the ground feeding birds. In our case morning doves.

[AVGWarhawk]

Ok, we purchase corn and peanuts to keep the squirrels off the bird feeders. This critter showed up today. And my trail cam should have good footage of this masked bandit. Yes, that is the new Tears for Fears album playing. I'm a kid of the 80s. Not apologizing for that. 😘

https://youtu.be/jJaZUlVNokg

[Skybird]

@Skybird. You have the invading tree rats as well. They do serve their purpose. They knock seed to the ground for the ground feeding birds. In our case morning doves.
Over here, European Red Squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) are not considered a pest, and are even a protected species. They are different from all the several different squirrel species you have in North America, and less robust. And almost all people here love them.

Not to be mistaken with American Red Squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus), its a different species, far more aggressive and looking for fights whenever possible.

The Japanese Red Squirrel (Sciurus lis) however is genetically extremely close to the European one, they still discuss whether the Japanese are offsprings of the European strain, or the other way around.

[Catfish]

Great footage and pictures! :):up:

I need a cam..

[AVGWarhawk]

Over here, European Red Squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) are not considered a pest, and are even a protected species. They are different from all the several different squirrel species you have in North America, and less robust. And almost all people here love them.

Not to be mistaken with American Red Squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus), its a different species, far more aggressive and looking for fights whenever possible.

The Japanese Red Squirrel (Sciurus lis) however is genetically extremely close to the European one, they still discuss whether the Japanese are offsprings of the European strain, or the other way around.

Some consider them pests. Some eat them. The gray squirrel can be very destructive. Chew everything including wires under the hood of a car. I like them and give them their own spot to eat and do squirrel things. I have the trail cam facing their feeder. They can get crazy playing.

[AVGWarhawk]

Great footage and pictures! :):up:

I need a cam..

They are a lot fun. I didn't know our backyard was so active at until I set one up.

[Skybird]

Some consider them pests. Some eat them. The gray squirrel can be very destructive. Chew everything including wires under the hood of a car. I like them and give them their own spot to eat and do squirrel things. I have the trail cam facing their feeder. They can get crazy playing.
Yes, but its all different species. ;) We have two invasive grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) populations in Europe, one in Britian and where the grey by many people are considered a pest, these carry the feared squirrel pox virus to which the American squirrels are immune but it is absolutely lethal for our European squirrels, and one in Northern Italy, spreading. these are said to not carry that virus. However. The grey ones are bigger, stronger, more aggressive, they are social, and thus probably more intelligent. Practically everywhere where the red and grey populatioisn meet, it results in the vanishing of the red ones, there is no l,asting coexistence. In Britain, the Reds have almost vanished except in some small protected reserves in the North.



These are some of the reasons why over here, our native red ones are usually not seen as a pest by people, and as I said: they even are protected by law, you get legal troubles if you kill or catch them, the penalties can reach to I think up to 50,000 or even 100,000 coins. We have many squirrel rescue stations across all Germany, that nurse younglings and baby squirrels that lost their mothers for whatever a reason. I can understand that in North America it is different with the many species there, I have seen videos and films on their behaviour, they are MUCH different to ours, practically all of them seem to be stronger and more aggressive, many are bigger.



Yours are stronger. Ours are cuter, and they have pointy hair tufts at the top of the ears in winter. No other squirrel has these. :)


The only other squirrel families we have over here, are marmots in the Alpes, and spemophilus (=Ziesel), both are ground squirrels. We have neither prairie dogs nor other tree squirrels, only our small tiny cute red ones.


And if you have not guessed it already, I love them! :yeah: Eichhörnchern bringen Freude in das Leben.

[AVGWarhawk]

@Skybird I have heard of muskrat love. Not so much squirrel love. :haha:

[Skybird]

Muskrat. =Bisamratte.



??? :06:


I have nothing for or against rats. But they are a pest, and infectous, thats the two problems with them.

[AVGWarhawk]

Muskrat. =Bisamratte.



??? :06:


I have nothing for or against rats. But they are a pest, and infectous, thats the two problems with them.

https://media.hswstatic.com/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJjb250ZW50Lmhzd3N0YXRpYy5jb20iLCJrZX kiOiJnaWZcL211c2tyYXQuanBnIiwiZWRpdHMiOnsicmVzaXpl Ijp7IndpZHRoIjoiMTIwMCJ9fX0=

Anyway, there is a song titled, "Muskrat Love". Captain and Tennille. Just a bad joke and song!

[Skybird]

Kira and Taro last winter. They both are males, and now (summer 2023), in their third year of life. They are very likely brothers, the first one and a half year strolled around together a lot, but now have turned more into isolationists. There was a third of their family, Sari, but Sari either has wandered away, or already is dead. I observe them and support them since they were small and young. And yes, I am emotionally engaged with the two. :)

Last winter, after around 2 years of life, was the time when the two brothers started to go more separate ways. Also, they are not as playful and lightminded anymore, dont stay and play in the trees with the feeders anymore and do funny things, but now almost charge the feeders, quickly get a nut, and chase away as quick as they can. Fast in, fast out.

Gone are the easy days of squirrel youth! :(

They cost me 40 kg of nuts every year, walnuts and hazelnuts. On some days, they work the nut boxes in 30 seconds intervalls - grab a new one every 30 seconds, hiding it. How ever their third winter will become - I can make sure that food and fresh water will not be any of their problems. Thankfull they look string and healthy to me, big, the fur is in top shape, and no signs of exoparasites, although they probably have some flees. All squirrels have them, annoying, but usually not dangerous. There are much meanier parasite threats for my little fur noses.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPJgdABTXcA

[AVGWarhawk]

At least your squirrels do not chew the heck out of the feeder box.

[Skybird]

At least your squirrels do not chew the heck out of the feeder box.
They tried, when they were very young and did not know how it worked. The clapping lid hadf them jump starting time and again, they then tried to bite the lid away, or to bite holes through the wall to get to the nuts. :D


They had to learn it. And they did.

[Onkel Neal]

Great thread idea!

[AVGWarhawk]

They tried, when they were very young and did not know how it worked. The clapping lid hadf them jump starting time and again, they then tried to bite the lid away, or to bite holes through the wall to get to the nuts. :D


They had to learn it. And they did.

Gray squirrels learned that chewing is the best way in! These squirrel are relentless with chewing plastic, wood and metal. It is evident with my squirrel resistance feeders.

Anyway, I pulled the trail cam to look at what was on it. For some reason there was no recordings. I remounted it after clearing the SD card from recordings prior to moving it to the squirrel feeding box. Hopefully it is still working. If not I'll get a new trail cam.

[August]

Gray squirrels learned that chewing is the best way in! These squirrel are relentless with chewing plastic, wood and metal. It is evident with my squirrel resistance feeders.

Anyway, I pulled the trail cam to look at what was on it. For some reason there was no recordings. I remounted it after clearing the SD card from recordings prior to moving it to the squirrel feeding box. Hopefully it is still working. If not I'll get a new trail cam.


Happens to me now and then too. Reformatting the SD card is normally what I do and it's fine the next time I check it.

[August]

Bobcats evening stroll down by the river.

[AVGWarhawk]

Great thread idea!

Inspired by your wild boar debacle in the backyard. These trail cams are great!

[AVGWarhawk]

Bobcats evening stroll down by the river.

I'll stick with my fox, racoon and opossum! Neat shot!

[AVGWarhawk]

Happens to me now and then too. Reformatting the SD card is normally what I do and it's fine the next time I check it.

I'll check it this afternoon. The camera I have is very good but I would like one that bluetooths the phone. Easier to access what has been recorded. :Kaleun_Thumbs_Up:

[August]

How about this guy :)?


If you could look up you would see my cabin about 50 yards up the hill.

[AVGWarhawk]

How about this guy :)?


If you could look up you would see my cabin about 50 yards up the hill.

It is just really something the things that go on when one is not paying attention.

[August]

Here is the local Rodent Control Officer.

[AVGWarhawk]

Here is the local Rodent Control Officer.

Hahaha..yep. We have a red shouldered hawk that hunts our feeders. I watched him swoop in one morning dove ground feeding. Gone in a second.

[AVGWarhawk]

A few years ago at the same time in the evening our feeder would start shaking. It is dark and we could not see what was shaking the feeder. We sure could hear the feeder rattling around. I decided to set our trap thinking it was another rat. We get one or two a year. I trap them and drive them off to a field and let them go. So, this is what was rattling the feeder at the same time every night. Flying squirrel. I release the bugger back into the yard. The missus is ok with critters. Just not rat critters.

https://youtu.be/hciLebxtrII

[August]

Got plenty of these around to back them up. They get bigger every year too. I suspect they are breeding with Grey Wolves.

[AVGWarhawk]

@August It's busy in your neck of the woods.

[August]

@August It's busy in your neck of the woods.


Upstate Maine got lots of critters. :)

[AVGWarhawk]

@August I replaced the batteries in the cam. Reformatted. It is back to recording. I have the masked bandit at the squirrel feeder Wednesday night. I let the cam to keep recording. See what else is showing up at the buffet.

[August]

@August I replaced the batteries in the cam. Reformatted. It is back to recording. I have the masked bandit at the squirrel feeder Wednesday night. I let the cam to keep recording. See what else is showing up at the buffet.


:up:

[Onkel Neal]

What I'm dealing with now. Ground wasps! Discovered this nest by getting stung 13 times. :wah:

https://youtu.be/rzLGge_T5HI

[Skybird]

Aggressive species? I got stung by Wasps just twice in my life, and never by bees although having been around bee farms repeatedly, having them flying around and crawling on me in numbers.



Bees I always liked. Maybe they like me, too.

[AVGWarhawk]

Gas and a well placed match will take care of that. I ran over a nest once while cutting grass. Felt my hand burning. Looked down to see hornets just stinging away. Gas and a match.

I have some good footage of my masked bandit. I will post it soon.

[Skybird]

Why not leaving them alone if they do not hunt you down? I had Wasps under my roof twice, they swarmed on my loggia. I let them do their thing, and they did not take much interest in me. Neighbours were near hysteria, I said in autumn the show is over. And thats what happened: a few weeks later the show was over.

Gassing them in Grmany would get you into serious and very costly troubles. Tens of thousands of coins are possible penalties. Letting them being removed by specialists is only allowed under circumstances when they pose a risk to the public. And even then they usually get relocated, not wiped out.

Thats why I asked about the species, whether it is explicitly aggressive. If not, just leave them alone. Time passing by will do away with them soon enough.

[August]

Typical city dweller has no clue of the dangers that an underground yellow jacket nest poses to anyone nearby. :roll:

[AVGWarhawk]

Why not leaving them alone if they do not hunt you down? I had Wasps under my roof twice, they swarmed on my loggia. I let them do their thing, and they did not take much interest in me. Neighbours were near hysteria, I said in autumn the show is over. And thats what happened: a few weeks later the show was over.



In my situation this was a public pool facility were many people walked by the nest. Once sting to a pool member and allergic reaction would cause a host of problems for all involved. The hornet in this nest are non-aggressive...until one drives a 3 blade Gravely lawn tractor over the nest. My hand was stung over 6 times. The swelling was quite evident and painful. The nest could not be left in the area it was located.

[Skybird]

I see.

[Jeff-Groves]

I had to wack Wasps from my back door.
They were in an area that We go in and out of the house so the potential threat for a sting was there.
And I was changing the light fixtures with in inches of the nests.
So bye bye Wasps.

[Onkel Neal]

Why not leaving them alone if they do not hunt you down? I had Wasps under my roof twice, they swarmed on my loggia. I let them do their thing, and they did not take much interest in me. Neighbours were near hysteria, I said in autumn the show is over. And thats what happened: a few weeks later the show was over.

Gassing them in Grmany would get you into serious and very costly troubles. Tens of thousands of coins are possible penalties. Letting them being removed by specialists is only allowed under circumstances when they pose a risk to the public. And even then they usually get relocated, not wiped out.

Thats why I asked about the species, whether it is explicitly aggressive. If not, just leave them alone. Time passing by will do away with them soon enough.

Eh, no thanks. These are not honey bees, my friend. They stung me, they proved they were a risk. My hands swoll up like Mickey Mouse hands and I was walking like Frankenstein after he was probed by aliens. Wasps can build all the nests they want in the forest but when they trespass into my flower beds and ambush me-- it's war!


Gas and a well placed match will take care of that. I ran over a nest once while cutting grass. Felt my hand burning. Looked down to see hornets just stinging away. Gas and a match.

I have some good footage of my masked bandit. I will post it soon.

Gas but no match.

After finished the YouTube Academy of Wasp Control yesterday, I waited until night to attack, all the professors say they are dormant at night.

I did buy a beekeeper hat and veil, wore a long sleeve shirt and MC pants, leather gloves. I got a bucket of dirt and a half-gallon of gasoline. Plan was to pour the gas down the 1 inch diameter hole, then dump the dirt on it, creating a seal to trap them inside with the gas vapors.

Well, I guess I should have waited until "long after" dark cuz when I got ready to pour, there were about 8 standing by the entrance to the hole. I imagine they were workers on a smoke break or perhaps the last shift of guards. :o

Well, as soon as I saw them -- they saw me and attacked. I figure it's all or nothing now! I poured the gas down the hole while they buzzed all around me, and right in front of my face. Then I dumped the bucket of dirt and made my retreat. Made sure there weren't any stuck to me before shucking all my gear.

So, a sealed hive filled with gasoline vapors, that should do the trick. Or so I thought...:haha:

https://youtu.be/RtbwYO3Fo6c

[Skybird]

Still, I insist by theoretical knowledge as well as practical experience that it depends on two factors how aggressive wasps are: time of year, and species. Some wasp species are more aggressive than others, and at the end of the summer season, when they need protein-rich food more desperately than earlier in the year, they become more pressing in their search for food - and some people do no react well to that.

But as I said, I lived with a wasp hive twice. My loggia is 1.5m x 4.5m, with the door pretty much in the centre, when i said "under the roof", it means I had the wasp's "castle" less than two meters and a bit over my head's height to the right of the door - and there also was a door to a small side room where I store some outdoor and balcony items, that door was directly under the wasps. I moved slower, avoided knocking and hammering the wall near their defence perimeter, and never blew/exhaled at their direction (wasps interpet CO2 as the nearness of an animal's mouth and turn aggresisve due to feeling threatened). You hardly can live closer together with wasps than I did in those two years. I never got stung, even when sometimes they crawled on my arms or bald head, but I reacted cool, did not wave, blow, slapped at them. Many people find it difficult not to react to bees and wasps beign near to them, and react wrong. And with children its another thing, too, I absolutely understand that, I am not naive. The two times I got stung was when i was a kid and teen, too.

All I want to get across is that it is not always necessary to blow them all up, just because they are there. In many situations, coexistrence is possible - if you behave right. And that correct behaviour is maybe not a big issue, as long as you have no kids, or are allergic.

Of course, as in Warhawks exmaple, in some situations its not possible, and then, some wasp species are more aggressive than others. The ones I had were what in Germany is known as "Gemeine Deutsche Wespe", they are quite common, and they have no good reptuation, are said to be more aggresive than some others. Still, I got along with them without any incident, and at closest range. I have electric jeaulousies and they had their nest right in the box where the motor and jealousies are housed in, and every day that thing goes up and down with rumbling sound and vibrations. Even that did not start them to pearl harbouring me. The most annoying thing with them was when they were all dead and gone to open the wall panel and get the wasp's paper castle out of there.

[AVGWarhawk]

A match will complete the job. Have fire extinguisher handy!

[Skybird]

Neal, please forgive, but the tiny little flying UFOS in the video of yours by size do not look like hornets, but wasps, and quite common ordinary wasps. Or is the perspective fooling me? Do i miss something there or is this an especially aggressive problematic American species? A Republican wasp, maybe? :D If it is just a common wasp, why all the hassle about them, I dont get it?! We have a garden over here, too, I have wasps visiting my loggia every day, sometimes even in the appartement, and every couple of weeks, especially early in the year, a hornet flies by as well and checks for an inviting cave to settle in.

[Jeff-Groves]

Don't know how Wasps react in Germany but let me tell you something many don't know!
Wasps have reactionary responce to a threat. Now what is really crazy?
They can trace that threat back to it's initial source!
Example.......
10 meters away is a Wasp nest, I throw a rock at said nest.
Guess what happens?

The Wasps can trace that rock back to it's initial launch point and send Hostiles!
They have an uncanny ability to trace the trajectory of any inbound threat!

I have been on the receiving end of this counter strike several times!

[Skybird]

They react to movement, colours, smells (chems).

There are over 60 wasp species (vespinae). 15 of that can be met in Germany, of which around one half are seen as peaceful, the other half as more aggressive. I am very certain that there are more than just one or two wasp species in the Americas, too. So: "wasp" is not he same like "wasp". ;)

I find state-bulding insects quite interesting, especially bees, ants, hornets, wasps. Termites i find - well, they do not interest me.
But there are some bees and hornets I would not deal with, at least not without taking extraordinary precautionary measures, namely so called "killer bees". We do not have these in Germany, however. Maybe they will move into Europe, with warming climate, I dont know.

Bees and bumblebees, as I see and meet them in the nature here, are never aggressive, always friendly. Wasps - I have an eye on them, but they are n ot really lustful attackers, but one has to know that they search for food more and more determined with summer passing by.

I also have quite big "giant house spiders" (Winkelspinnen: Eratigena atrica) in my flat, two of them. I tolerate them, becasue they make a real difference over summer regarding the mosquito population at night, the beasts fly aroudn at night, and when I chase them (I HATE mosquitos and have supersensitive acoustic sensors for them), they tend to flee into dark corners. And there are the webs of the spiders. I clean them once per year, after the warm season and autumn, when all mosquitos are already gone anyway. A bit respect for these spiders is due, I think: they can turn 5 years old. Not one bit aggressive, they could bite through human skin, but it would be harmless, and again: they are absolutely avoiding humans, absolutely. Never heard or read that anyone was ever bitten, despite their impressively long fangs.

Curious fact: the sound of a flying mosquito, even at the other end of my flat, can pull me out of a deep sleep in a fraction of a second and catapult me out of bed like a spring, even before I'm really awake: I wake up inlfight. I've already sprained my ankle and banged myself badly on occasions. For a moment, my body actually reacts in a fit of instinctive panic. I find mosquitoes extremely impossible to tolerate, I almost go crazy. When bees or wasps crawl on my arms, our native spiders - no problem. But with mosquitoes, some deep, dark instinct from ancient times immediately takes control. My ears are really hypersensitive to the sound of mosquitoes, I can hear the critters even in the city with car traffic around me, at two, three meters distance, its incredible. I hope it goes away with higher age, when ears become more "deaf". It's terrible, it's not a gift, it's a curse. When I used to travel in the Middle East, I soemtimes almost freaked out. Some switch in my head flips over. Only dead mosquitoes are tolerable mosquitoes. :arrgh!: Must sound funny in your ears, but it isn't, its really a problem at times.


https://www.wildscreen.org/media/2248/buddah-bees-and-the-giant-hornet-queen.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=750&heightratio=1&format=jpg&slimmage=true&quality=90&rnd=131383702280000000
A Japanese "murder hornet" (giant hornet) queen on the hand of a Buddhist monk. Not as bad as a mosquito on my leather glove.


And this is an ordinary drone of the Japanese Giant Hornet.
https://img.webmd.com/dtmcms/live/webmd/consumer_assets/site_images/article_thumbnails/slideshows/bad_bugs_alt_2_slideshow/1800x1200_bad_bugs_alt_2_slideshow.jpg

[August]

Yep yellow jackets. Might need to take off and nuke them from orbit Neal! :)



Last month on a trip up to Maine I found a nest of them in the log chinking at the cabin. I waited for dark then put in two entire cans of hornet killer and then sealed up the holes with mouse retardant construction foam. Hope that got the buggers but I won't know for sure until I go back up there to mow the lawn in a couple of weeks.

[mapuc]

Then we have the Africanized bee

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africanized_bee

[Onkel Neal]

Neal, please forgive, but the tiny little flying UFOS in the video of yours by size do not look like hornets, but wasps, and quite common ordinary wasps. Or is the perspective fooling me? Do i miss something there or is this an especially aggressive problematic American species? A Republican wasp, maybe? :D If it is just a common wasp, why all the hassle about them, I dont get it?! We have a garden over here, too, I have wasps visiting my loggia every day, sometimes even in the appartement, and every couple of weeks, especially early in the year, a hornet flies by as well and checks for an inviting cave to settle in.


They aren't big, that's for sure. It's hard to explain, until you've been hit, you really don't know. I can tell you yellow jackets or ground hornets hurt really bad when they sting, but that doesn't really convey the intense searing burning oh sshhhh&&&&t pain when you are mowing the grass or opening a door and then without knowing wth is going on, you're dying. And that's part of their magic, they don't blow a trumpet and announce their attack. When I got hit last week, I didn't see or hear them. Like Warhawk said, minding my own business and then instant crippling pain. You would rather get punched in the mouth than get stung 20 times by these things.

And these nests often have 2000-5000 insects in them. They have no business around people.


Just watch how this guy reacts when 1 stings him...gets an instant reaction.

https://youtu.be/2zKwRk_uKHY

[Onkel Neal]

A match will complete the job. Have fire extinguisher handy!

Yep yellow jackets. Might need to take off and nuke them from orbit Neal! :)



I'll go with your advice. Last night, the entrance hole was about 1 1/2 inches, I was pretty confident that my stream of gasoline would prevent any wasps from exiting the hole and swarming me.

This second hole was 6-8", hell, they weren't even all in, there were about 20 or so sleeping on the flower stems. Outside the hole.

ha! I dumped the gas out of a bucket and lit it up.

https://youtu.be/3Th2XzFjV6M

[AVGWarhawk]

Gotta do what you gotta do.

[AVGWarhawk]

Other backyard critters.


https://youtu.be/pDuDPBC4Icg

[AVGWarhawk]

Night time bandit.

https://youtu.be/DTtYqUkh6To

[Jimbuna]

Wasps have taken over a solar powered bird bath fountain at the rear of my property but that doesn't deter the birds from bathing and drinking so I'll leave them alone in the hope they'll be gone when summer ends.

[AVGWarhawk]

New critter on the cam


https://youtu.be/CTSTqlCqFx8

[AVGWarhawk]

Racoons(trash pandas)

https://youtu.be/7758nhdvBps

[AVGWarhawk]

https://youtu.be/SZblT7t9aKk