Camera-trapping Workshop

I  recently ran a camera-trapping workshop in the Waterberg region of South Africa. The wildlife reserve I used had a good variety of mammals but no lions, elephants or buffalo. So it was safe to walk around and set up our cameras as long as we kept a look out for the resident rhinos and hippos.

The management of the reserve had pointed out the carcasses of a wildebeest and a couple of impala that had been struck by lightning - which seemed like a good place to start. We also chose a couple of water-holes, rhino middens and interesting looking spots in some riverine vegetation. But we had less than 48 hours to get some good images so luck did need to be on our side.

Our first evening was very windy and cold which is seldom good for camera trapping. The results from the cameras confirmed this and the results were disappointing. However the following night was way better so we were cautiously optimistic that we might have bagged something interesting. This is what we got:

An African Hawk-Eagle (Aquila spilogaster) on a piece of the carcass. I've always known them as competent hunters so was surprised to see them scavenging a carcass.

But I wasn't surprised to see these two around the carcass:

A Brown Hyaena (Parahyaena brunnea) who enjoys nothing more than some ripe wildebeest and an African Civet (Civettictis civetta) who didn't hang around too long.

An then we were fortunate to get:

A Caracal (Caracal caracal) who seemed to find the camera's flash a bit much........

......an Eland (Tragelaphus oryx) who wandered past on one of the few occasions when the sun shone.....

....and a Waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus) with its characteristic 'toilet-seat' marking on its rear end.

I'd also spent the night before the workshop on the reserve and had picked up this Large Spotted Genet (I'm not sure if it is Genetta maculata or Genetta tigrina )

We also got unexciting images of giraffe, warthog, kudu, impala, zebra, jackal, wildebeest, bushbuck, baboon and vervet monkey. So I guess that wasn't bad for a weekend of 'trapping'.

Thanks to the management of Jembisa as well as my 'students'. I had a lot of fun!

Water to die for....

In our recent quest to get images of Brown Hyenas (see Brown Hyenas at Tswalu) we set up a camera-trap at a small water-hole. We did get some fleeting images of a Brown Hyena but, for me, there was something more interesting happening there.

This image, taken at mid-morning showed a pretty peaceful scene: Wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus) doing what they probably do most days of their lives.

They were followed a little while later by some Plains Zebra (Equus quagga) and Gemsbok (Oryx gazella) who initially looked pretty chilled......

......until the Zebra got spooked by something.

The Red Hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus) then ambled down to the water..........


....until they too had a panic attack.

But this is dry country so it wasn't long before the Zebra were back......

.....but didn't stay long.

However their thirst got the better of them....

.......until.....

The reason for their panic became obvious shortly thereafter:

....................................................................................................................................................................

I'm grateful for a great many things in my life but I've just added a new one:
that I don't need someone to watch my back when I get a drink of water!

Postscipt:
We were driving in the area the next day when we came across this scene:

There is not much of the carcass left, but the last remains of a Zebra can just be seen.

Brown Hyenas at Tswalu

I've just returned from a trip to an amazing wildlife reserve called Tswalu Kalahari.  I went there with Elsa Bussiere who is starting her PhD on Brown Hyenas (Parahyaena brunnea) on the reserve, and wanted to test out a variety of camera-traps.

Tswalu is a huge and beautiful place!

But over and above the gorgeous landscape there is a fabulous diversity of wildlife. Even though our objective was to locate and 'catch' the Brown Hyenas on the camera-traps one couldn't but photograph some other great mammals:

A Cheetah Acinonyx jubatus

Gemsbok (Oryx) Oryx gazella

Common Duiker Silvicapra grimmia

But the real prize was these guys:

I'll be posting more images shortly but if you want to know more about Elsa's hyena project go to her blog.

Buffalo Bonanza!

I have to confess a warm feeling towards our African Buffalo (Cyncerus caffer). That's probably because I've never been chased by one. I've tended to see them from the safety of a vehicle or, if on foot, from a sufficiently comfortable distance (with plenty of climeable trees close by). So I enjoyed the last few weeks where I saw them on a few occasions and recorded them on my camera-traps.

The above photo was taken from our car as we drove through the Kruger Park. The late afternoon sun gave us some great photo opportunities - but I was happy just to soak up the peaceful mood. It was hard to believe that these peaceful bovids could be classified as part of Africa's "Big 5" - and believed by many to be the most dangerous mammal in Africa.

The mood was slightly different the following morning when we went for a walk with armed rangers. A  couple of old bulls suddenly crashed through the undergrowth giving us something of an adrenaline moment. But they soon ran off and we were reminded that the African bush is not the place to be too complacent.

I picked up buffalo on a camera-trap a few days later at a water-hole. I'd set the camera low down to hopefully catch some small carnivores and, as luck would have it, recorded mostly legs of herbivores. I just like the feel of this one...

And then a few days later where the bufalo seemed  to be a little possessive about the water resource:

And lastly, just a couple of days ago, where a small herd peacefully wandered past one of my cameras:

So, its been a couple of good weeks for me and buffs - and I still like them.

Another One Bites the Dust

Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust

The lyrics from the chorus of Queen's famous song rattled around my  head as I searched in vain for my camera. I'd set it up at a well used water-hole near South Africa's famous Kruger Park recently. My companions watched my back as I stomped around, but I knew the chances of finding it in one piece were slim. We'd seen 3 of the 'big 5' in the area and knew that leopards were only a few hundred meters away so I didn't venture far into the thick bush. I'd attached it to a decent sized rock, sprayed it with pepper spray and disguised it as best I could, but it was now gone.


I'd swopped the memory card out the day before and had found these images, but who was the likely culprit?

An African Civet (Civettictis civetta) had wandered past the evening before. These civets are certainly large enough to damage a camera but I really doubt this was the perpetrator.

Our baboons (Papio ursinus), love tampering with camera-traps but, in my experience, haven't ever stolen one. They'd walked past this one repeatedly the day before without showing any interest. With a leopard around I guess they had bigger issues to think about.

This Spotted Hyaena (Crocuta crocuta) had shown a lot of interest the day before but had seemed strangely wary. I guess it was the pepper spray that had kept him at bay.


However, my gut feel tells me it was these guys:

This image was from another camera in the area since they hadn't drunk at this spot the day before. The area around the water-hole was still wet from all the splashing. This was a large breeding herd with a number of young testosterone-filled bulls pushing each other around. What makes me think ellies were involved was that the rock and disguising logs appeared to have been flung around. That's not usually trademark hyaena behaviour - especially with pepper spray on them. Elephants are known to have been responsible for the demise of many a camera-trap.


So if you're ever in the area and see a Bushnell Trophy cam hanging in a tree, please get it down and phone me. My number is on the camera and the pepper spray should have worn off by then. The last few images should make for interesting viewing!

New Ticks and Old Friends

I've enjoyed watching birds for as long as I can remember but have never considered myself a real 'birder'. I guess one of the reasons for this is that I've never been good at keeping lists of birds that I've seen. So I've surprised myself by becoming a bit obsessed with getting camera-trap images of species that I've never captured before.

I've recently spent some time in great wildlife areas of South Africa and have picked up some new 'ticks' as well as recording images of old friends.

A Banded Mongoose (Mungos mungo). These little carnivores are pretty common in the northern parts of South Africa, but since I live in the southern parts, I don't see them often. I'd set up the camera here to attempt to photograph a large python that apparently lived in the hole behind the mongoose. I had no luck with the python but was happy to get some images of these little guys. Mongoose are not averse to attacking snakes but I guess a python is way out of the Banded Mongoose league.

A cropped image of another mongoose, but I'm embarrassed to say I'm not sure whether its a Large Grey Mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon) or a Slender Mongoose (Galerella sanguinea). They are both  slender with a black tipped tail and if I had a good sense of scale it should be easy - since the former is much larger. However I'd guess its a Slender even though my references suggest that this species has a 'bushy' tail.

A Mountain Reedbuck (Redunca fulvorufula). Also, not a rare buck but one that doesn't live near me.

Elephants are difficult to miss but I've never actually got a camera-trap photo of a youngster like this.

Ant then a few shots of mammals that I've often encountered:

A Black-backed Jackal (Canis mesomelas). I doubt there is anything wrong with his leg. I think I just caught him in mid-stride. I think these guys are pretty cool but then I'm not a stock farmer. They are responsible for massive stock losses and are the subject of some intense debate and research at the moment.

A Kudu cow (Tragelaphus strepsiceros). They always look so gentle - I'm amazed they survive against all Africa's large predators.

This Honey Badger (Mellivora capensis), also known locally as a Ratel, appears to have caught something. The preceeding five photos on the camera showed him dashing around in a cloud of dust.

African Penguins

The African Penguin (Spheniscus demersus) is endemic to Southern Africa and the only penguin species to nest on our mainland. Vagrants of other species are occasionally seen off our coast but are very rare. Once abundant in the region, African Penguin numbers have declined dramatically and the IUCN now lists the species as Endangered.

The University of Cape Town is very involved with penguin research on Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for years). The island hosts the second largest African Penguin breeding colony and is also an important breeding site for other seabird species. So it was a treat for me to be invited to set up camera-traps on the island. The birds are nesting currently and the aim was to get some insights into their nocturnal movements.

On Robben Island the penguin nests are either shallow depressions under low-hanging vegetation or in artificial nest boxes.

I think penguins are pretty cute.  It's fortunate, for research purposes, that no two individuals are exactly alike. They all have unique spot patterns and many have been fitted with numbered flipper bands over the years.They are curious but nervous of anything unusual in their surroundings which makes for easy camera-trapping opportunities.

Their breeding success is improved if they use the artificial nest boxes but it was pleasing to see both eggs and chicks at many nesting sites.

I'm pleased that I don't have to analyze the many thousands of images that the cameras obtained (Good luck Kate, and thanks!). Instead I'm happy just to smile at these photos of penguins going about their normal business.

For more info on the penguin research being done on Robben Island look at:

 www.penguins.adu.org.za