These are new camera sets and scent sticks for this same project.
Mostly, there's been the same cast of characters (which I would expect).
This camera set, however, must be alittle closer to the resident fox family's home, and Mr. Fantastic Fox has showed up a time or two to check things out. He (or, perhaps, she....it's hard to tell) usually act with alot of apprehension, as you can see in this clip from about 4 am on Independence Day (wait until the very end and you can see one last backward glance in the upper left-hand of the screen).
A rather interesting series of events occurred over the last week at this particular camera.
Our center stick is given a bit of attention by an Oppossum on July 11 at 9:55 pm....but not much attention.
The next critter to focus on this stick is a youngish buck on July 13 at 10:30 pm.
Thanks for the well-wishes, buddy!
Ha! I like Mr. Fox's message :)
ReplyDeleteI tried some bobcat scent lure, and it provoked lots of bobcat peeing, scraping, and pooping in front of my camera. Maybe a similar thing is going on here?
Hi KB.
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear from you again!
Yeah, I think you're right. I would expect these critters to mark over the top of existing scent marks. If they percieve the lure (or urine, in my case) as the scent of another individual (an outsider) in their territory....I would expect them to mark over the top, to re-establish that this is their turf.
Interestingly, with this project, there has been little to no response by the Canids on-site to the urine treatments I'm applying in front of the camera. They have investigated only sparingly, and this is the first actual activity that appears to be "marking" that I've seen (and the cameras have been at these particular spots on-site for 7 weeks...and at other spots for over 12 weeks total). So, what took them so long? I'm not really sure....but it's been an interesting research project thus far.