Kat's Mountain Lion Photos (Trail Camera Photography)

[Marko Botsaris]

OK, last few times I was very suspicious, seeing the cat looking into the camera all the time, that he/she was hamming it up. Now I am sure! LOL

I suppose it may be able to see some of the IR, and may be curious. Or maybe I am imagining it.

[Kattt]

@Bob,
I think there are two cats here. One seems older and could be the mom, since mothers and daughters can somewhat share the edges of their territories. Not sure though.

The Reconyx I can set with the infrared going further out, which makes the closer shots less clear, or with less range, which makes the shots better. I just switched yesterday to lower quality but longer infrared reach because I had many dark shots where something came by but not close enough. Now I wish I had left the higher quality setting since it came so close…

I agree the daytime ones are "it" and there may be some up top; I will be checking in the next few days.

@Mark,
Yes, if it looks straight at it it sees a faint red glow. That's why some people have them higher up because the animal won't look right into them.
My other camera is completely covert but the pictures are not as good. I might switch location, we'll see.

[Bob Gross]

It's too bad that trail cameras like this store only JPEG images. If they could store RAW images like an expensive camera, then slightly better images can be coaxed out of it.

And then… if you worked in the design shop for Reconyx or Bushnell, and you could make improvements to the design, what would you try to get them to do?

I have a Bushnell.

–B.G.–

[Kattt]

I'll have to think about that Bob….but having RAW images would be good.

[Bob Gross]

At some point in time eight or ten years ago, Dr. Rodney Jackson was doing trail camera work in Tibet, attempting to photograph the elusive snow leopards there. They didn't have quite the same kind of camera hardware then as we have today, and they had to mount the expensive cameras inside steel boxes with heavy rocks over them. I attended one of his presentations in SF, and he was trying to recruit volunteers to go over to Tibet and help him. I think they had regular walking patrols to change the batteries and look for photos saved.

Kat, we could sign you up for this.

–B.G.–

[Kattt]

I am in!

[BlackHatGuy]

I think I understand what he's trying to say…..

.

[Kattt]

Too funny Doug!

[Justin Baker]

The big kitty has a hairball.

[Kattt]

This afternoon I hiked up and found that this Mountain lion walked behind two of my cameras and then changed course all together avoiding my third one.
The ground is dry, but I have gotten better at seeing the tracks; he ( I think) walked right behind and must have smelled them from the unfortunate angle. The spot where I got the most pictures has been avoided and I saw a new trail/ scramble a few yards from it.

And so it goes, trying to get some more shots of this beautiful creature. While have to admit that I am a little disappointed right now, I also see how much I have learned from this experience and my continued search. I hike with new awareness, not only prompted by a bit of fear, but by my observing paths, tracks, broken branches, scat and smells. I have been reading about these cats as well .

In the meantime, here are a few smaller cat ( bobcat) pictures. This old guy is all over every night.
He always climbs on the rock that I had placed to strap my camera on.

And this odd kat shows up all the time too :)

[Marko Botsaris]

I'm rooting for a Grey Fox next :-)

[Kattt]

[Dale Wambaugh]

This is really cool.

I need to set one of these up in my back yard. We have raccoons and opossums all over the place– six miles from downtown Seattle. But then there are beavers, bald eagles, gray herons, coyotes, and there have been a couple bears and cougars over the years.

[Marko Botsaris]

Sweet! I really like seeing them in the SC mountains!

[Desert Dweller]

Awesome work Kat. Your photos are a treasure.
I've been hiking the southern end of the Arizona Trail for years, have seen four lions, and recently there has been a lot of jaguar activity here. I'm not exactly terrified but I have stayed away from the Santa Rita section of the trail, as there has been over ten separate groups of photos taken by game and fish with their game cams there in the first six months of 2013. There is also jaguar activity in the mountains east of us on the New Mexico/Arizona border, as documented by a local rancher here named Glen Warner in his book "Eyes of Fire". The jaguar is a completely different type of cat, they do not fear man and are legendary in Mexico for their boldness. I hike alone a lot so I'm extremely vigilant (for this reason and others), and it pays to be constantly analyzing track and watching the wind direction. The birds will go silent if there is a predator around also. I used to ride horses all the time and they always told me when a big cat was around and I felt safer with them, but they have passed away and I'm afoot now.
We have finally replaced our old game camera with a new one, and have a functioning horse trough in our pasture where we set the camera up and are hoping to some day get a photo of a jaguar or mountain lion. We have already gotten photos of bobcat, javelina, coyotes, deer and an occasional kit fox, and of course lots of jackrabbits.
Your pics are really cool. Such a variety of wildlife near your home is wonderful and shows a very healthy ecosystem.

[Leigh Baker]

Kat, I've really enjoyed this thread! Thanks so much for sharing, and keep em' coming!

[BlackHatGuy]

Really enjoying your pics Kat. Keep 'em coming!

[Kattt]

Thanks everyone!

These are still from my very lucky day a while back.
I love how many different expressions this guy has in such a short period of time.

Deleted for the time being. Sorry but People stealing my pics got to me. Will try to watermark.

[William Chilton]

I'm really liking these photos too, Katharina, but I'm glad we don't get mountain lions where we hike!

[Jerry Adams]

Nice pictures, Kat

That Bobcat sitting on a rock reminds me of domestic housecat behavior

William, I think there are Mountain Lions everywhere. They just don't let you see them.

[Kattt]

I went to check on one camera and found a large fresh scat right in front of it…only problem the batteries were dead and the card empty :(. That's what happens with the cheaper camera that does not tell you the battery status!

The next camera on it's path caught 6 pictures and an 18 second video. This is my Bushnell, which is nice for the video and the pretty good quality pictures, but it's much slower than the Reconyx.

Such a pretty animal . Those paws!!

Deleted for the time being. Sorry but People stealing my pics got to me. Will try to watermark.

[David Thomas]

Very nice pics of the cat, Kat.

The ability to monitor remote locations at very low cost is pretty amazing. It opens up all sorts of research possibilities. I mean, beyond the usual Big Brother and Peeping Tom stuff – actual science and more definitive wildlife management data.

[Joe Geib]

Did anyone hear this story on NPR about the Santa Cruz Puma Project?

[Kattt]

I did. The Project is run by a researcher at UCSanta Cruz, where I work.

[Kattt]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/katpierini/11809668824/

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