MY TRAIL CAMERA OBSESSION: Tips and Triumphs from Spying on Wildlife

 

Depending on where you live, a variety of wildlife may be having a convention on your property while you sleep. See for yourself what happens at night and during the day with a trail camera. Strap it to a tree, sit it on a table, be creative.

WHAT TO BUY

It’s possible to spend hundreds of dollars on name brands. They can now talk to your Wi-Fi so you don’t have to retrieve the SD card and put it in your device to see what’s on it. I buy generic solar trailcams with SD cards for under $100. Human error is often the cause of glitches. Don’t send a camera back right away because you think it doesn’t work. None of the ones I’ve used have been perfect. Sometimes they just don’t trigger, even when I’m certain something was in front of the camera. Is an expensive name brand more reliable? I wouldn’t know.

With my current one, I have to remember to toggle it off, then back on, and then make sure the light is blinking to show it’s engaged. Otherwise, it records nothing. It’s no longer available to buy or I’d link to it. Amazon, naturally, has the most reviews you can read on the many types they sell.

I settled on a solar version so I don’t have to worry about batteries. It’s common for these cameras to require six, eight, and more. That’s crazy. My solar one does need batteries as a back-up. In a year and a half, I’ve never had to replace them. Solar does limit placement since the sun must be able to hit the top part. It can’t be in an area that’s too shady.

WHAT SETTINGS TO USE

Typically, it will take photos, videos, or both. Setting them to do both is a waste unless it’s pointing right where a creature lives. Otherwise, by the time it’s stopped taking photos, the animal is usually gone for the video part, or vice versa. I have one trailcam set to record a 20 second video and the other to grab five photos at a time. They are in totally different places.

Be sure to watch to the end of a video even if you think the show is over. (See numbers 2 and 8 below.)

WHERE TO PUT IT

Where’s there’s water, there’s wildlife. If you have any water on your property, even if it’s a plant dish with water in it, point a camera at it. Set it about two feet from the ground and adjust accordingly as you view results. Be sure to protect your neighbor’s privacy when you place it.

BTW

When you capture an animal sniffing your camera it’s called a “smell-fie.” You’re already on your way to being a trailcam pro.

THE SURPRISES NEVER END

I once filled small plastic cups with dried mealworms and wedged them into one side of a double-suet feeder that was set inside a cage. It let small birds in and kept squirrels out. But something was eating them that wasn’t a bird. I re-positioned the trailcam and found the culprit. He was tipping the feeder and feasting when the mealworms fell on the ground!

MY TOP TEN TRAILCAM MOMENTS (so far)

10. Chickadee Ready for Her Close-up

9. Barred Owl

We’d been hearing a couple of barred owls (“Who cooks for you?” hoot) in the woods behind our house for three years. Never saw one. It was thrilling to see him (or her) here. Luckily, I can’t see what is being eaten.

8. Suburban Coyote with Owl Commentary

Where does an animal this large hide out during the day? He/she may be in the early stages of mange based on the skinny tail and photos caught two months later of one that definitely had it. SOUND UP. Wait for the eerie owl call.

7. Red-shouldered Hawk

Their call is like an un-oiled machine trying to change gears. “Grating” is putting it mildly. But I’m charmed by the yellow dot on his forehead. It’s like a bird bindi.

6. Great Blue Heron

What a bird, what a strut! He visits the creek behind our house in the spring when the water is more plentiful.

5. Wild Turkey and Chicks

Wait for the straggler. Listen for their gurgling coo.

4. Fox Patrol

The time-stamp says 4:42 a.m. Who was in our driveway at that hour? Little did they know a fox was watching them. Trailcams can sometimes double as security cameras without a subscription fee.

 

3. Deer couple with their newborn fawn.

She nurses. He preens.

2. Possum mom and babies, but wait. What?

Watch closely. The mom crosses the driveway with two babies on her back. If I hadn’t watched to the end, I would have missed the third one. Was he running to safety until she came back for him, or did he see his chance to make a break for it?

 

1. The Secret Animal Portal

My first trailcam captured a fox climbing into a hole in a tree trunk. I was hooked. On other occasions a squirrel and raccoon went in the hole as well. Could it have been a Harry Potter-like portal for animals to enter another dimension?

Have fun trailcamming! For more inspiration, check out one of my favorite pros on Instagram, Sally Naser @crwildlifecams. You won’t believe the things she captures in natural settings.