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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

John's Mammals 2017 (1 Viewer)

Number 5 for me, a Coyote on the lake this morning. Not quite as close as the previous lake encounter a couple of years ago, but after it had loped off, we went and had a good look at the tracks. Always nice to view them straight after they were made. Not great photos.

Technically this is number 6, but although I've seen two short-tailed shrews, they were both in the talons of the Barred Owl hunting in the yard. Great views, but I'm hoping to see a live one once the snow melts!
 

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An albino otter has been seen & photographed in the River Clyde -http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/bothwell-couple-spot-rare-albino-9696422

Cheers, Simon
 
My spies tell me there are currently quite a few wolves in Finland in the Parikkala area: people's dogs have been disappearing overnight and those remaining are being brought inside every night, while wolf hunts are being organised (boo). Lynx seen by locals as well, crossing roads I imagine but no details.

John
 
Fed Double Top (local vixen) last night: being a familiar visitor she sat down on the pavement to wait while I fetched the chicken from the fridge. Must restart photography soon.

John
 
Three wood mice in the garage this week, a few local fallow deer and a fox seen in the village this week.

Mark
 

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Wood Mice playing havoc here - will have to relocate them soon methinks!

Brief views of a Pygmy Shrew a couple of times a few days back, and fair bit of bunny action the last week or two, including a presumed youngster (half size). I'm right in thinking they can breed year-round???
 
Wood Mice playing havoc here - will have to relocate them soon methinks!

Brief views of a Pygmy Shrew a couple of times a few days back, and fair bit of bunny action the last week or two, including a presumed youngster (half size). I'm right in thinking they can breed year-round???

I'm fairly sure you are right about Rabbits, I also see very small ones at more or less any time of year. Back in the day I think there was a more clear-cut breeding season, certainly Mr Adams seemed to think so.

John
 
Two foxes visited last night and I actually had the camera ready for them.

Last year's cub White Tip arrived first but when I put a piece of chicken out at the end of the lawn he went looking where I've been throwing them lately instead, and then failed to understand a pointing finger. He's not as bright as his dad, bless him...

Eventually I threw a second piece as close as I could to the first one and got shots of him mastering the technique of picking up both.

As he left a second fox turned up that I don't recognise. Based on guesswork, the route he took on arrival and the fact that he did seem moderately habituated to me I'm making a very long shot guess that it might be Scruffbag, who I haven't positively seen for months. I will try to check ear patterns.

John

White Tip X 3
(Maybe) Scruffbag
 

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Beautiful shots of the Fox's above. So far the only Mammals I have seen in the Las Vegas Valley have been the Desert Cottentail and a Black Tailed Jackrabbit
 
Wood Mice playing havoc here - will have to relocate them soon methinks!

Two moved to a woodpile c.500yards away with some bedding and food (to assuage my guilt and induce them not to try and return straight away). They can jump quite well, but not quite out of a nearly empty dustbin.
 
Two moved to a woodpile c.500yards away with some bedding and food (to assuage my guilt and induce them not to try and return straight away). They can jump quite well, but not quite out of a nearly empty dustbin.

Oh dear... research showed years ago that from 500 metres all Wood Mice can find their way home! You will get half back from a kilometre. Personally I translocate Woodies a couple of miles, that seems to sort the little beggars out.

Just have to hope yours are a bit daft. Good luck!

John
 
Oh dear... research showed years ago that from 500 metres all Wood Mice can find their way home! You will get half back from a kilometre. Personally I translocate Woodies a couple of miles, that seems to sort the little beggars out.

Just have to hope yours are a bit daft. Good luck!

John


John is right you need to take them quite away from the point or origin.

Something interesting to do is put a bit of marker pen on the tails in different patterns and you can see if you recatch the translocated ones.

Mark
 
Yes, I rather suspected that might be the case ... ;)

Hoping that the interesting topography in between distracts them, and presumably the studies on the subject were not including dumping them with food and bedding???

Haven't been handling them, but yes, might be interesting to mark them if (when) they return. I can then start to report in on how 3rings, 2rings, onionrings etc are doing ...
 
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Mostly birds this weekend, but had brown hare, fox, grey squirrel, water vole, roe deer, muntjac and Chinese water deer in Cambridgeshire on Saturday.

Mark
 

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A birding day in Devon yesterday failed on the main attraction Pacific Diver (because it wasn't there) but provided fabulous Cirl Buntings, the terrific Desert Wheatear at Thurlestone and a few mammals: Red Fox and Rabbit en route, then an evening session on the River Otter added a Grey Squirrel, an Otter and a very late showing from a Beaver. Dipper was the bonus bird at the site.

The Otter seemed to me to be a youngish one, perhaps just starting out on its own. It wasn't very big and there was something about its face that said sub-adult. It wasn't remotely bothered by us as it fished, swimming past gawking at us several times. The Beaver was so late out that there was no colour left but had a pale tag in its right ear, so I think it was probably the regular female at the site.

Having hung on for the Beaver we got home late (about 2130) but it was a very easy run with little traffic.

No Beaver pix (I could have flashed it, I have before and they don't react but I but chose not to) but some grainy ones of the Otter. I have an awful lot of bird pix to go through though!

John
 
Out at the state park today and saw a northern river otter. It had a hole in the ice and kept coming up the hole between dives for food.
 

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I had a day in the Brecks on Sunday, nothing in particular just a day out. Had a cracking bank vole, along with several brown hares, rabbits, muntjac, roe deer and grey squirrels.

Mark
 

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Well the Woodmice are back (or their close kin), but we all knew that would be the case ... ;)

Had a look at the sea the other day, and just now realised that I saw some mammals ref this thread. Actually, the mammals were more exciting than the birds, or the sea - half a dozen or so Harbour Porpoise, which constitutes only my third record here in a number of years seawatching off Falmouth ... along with c.15 Common Dolphin (seen more Bottlenose and Risso's until now!), and a distant Grey Seal asleep/snorkelling (is that the word?).

Another baby bunny the other day on the top of a hedge/stone wall.
 
Saw my first bats of the year on Sunday, one scooting by as we waited for Bittern to show at Marbury CP, then another over the road at Antrobus on the way home. Not identified to species but a nice sign of the coming spring.
 
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