Muskrats

On November 10, 2011 I was taking my regular early morning walk around the local lake. As I passed by the creek that flows out of the lake, I noticed an animal swimming upstream. The wake and sculling tail motion gave away the identification of the animal as a muskrat. I stopped to observed the muskrat for a few minutes before  continuing on my way.
As I walked the remainder of my morning loop, I was thinking that I didn't have any really good muskrat images in my wildlife catalog. When I got to work my mind kept wandering back to that swimming muskrat. How I could obtain some really good portraits and behavior images of these fascinating creatures?
I decided the first step would be to observe their daily activities from afar, so as not to disturb their natural behavior. For the next 16 days I stopped along my daily morning walk to observe the muskrats, adding considerably to my muskrat knowledge base. I supplemented my observations with research concerning muskrat biology.
By November 26th I was armed with lots of muskrat information and ready to try for some photos. Muskrats have many predators, mainly minks and raccoons, making them nervous and at times furtive.   

I knew in order to get within reasonable shooting range I would have to blend in and make any movement in slow motion to get a photo like the one above. In fact the that photo was taken the day of my first try and was successful because of the knowledge I had obtained beforehand.

Below are six more images of the over five hundred I've taken this past month and a half.

After awhile the the muskrats seemed to accept my presence and generally went about their daily routine, allowing me to capture many great images.

Click on any image for a larger version

You can view more of the muskrat images on my website:
www.bunchlewisphotography.com

Thanks for visiting my journal,
Bunch

Small Mammal Photography

Most small mammals; mice,voles lemmings,jumping mice and shrews, are generally nocturnal. To photograph them they must be confined in some sort of "studio". The studio or enclosure could be a fish tank or a similar object. I built mine using Plexiglas made for the picture framing industry. The advantage of using this grade of Plexiglas is that it is clearer than the standard grade. If you decide to build your own be advised that assembling the tank requires a special glue that works with Plexiglas. The glue is generally available from paint, glass and hardware stores. The studio, or mouse tank as I call it, can be any size you want. The dimensions of mine are 8" wide x 16" long X 6" high. I would however recommend a height of 10". The first deer mice I captured were easily able to jump out of the tank before I could get the cover in place. My cover is made from the same Plexiglas as the rest of the mouse tank.

MOUSE TANK & VICTOR TIN CAT MOUSE LIVE TRAP

To obtain small mammal models you will need to live trap them. I have found that the Victor Tin Cat Mouse Live Trap is a perfect piece of equipment for the job. I spray painted mine with camouflage paint to make it less obtrusive when it is located in public areas.

A MORE DETAILED VIEW OF THE TRAP

Next you will need to research both the required habitat and food sources for the targeted species. The trap should be placed in the proper habitat and baited with a suitable food source. The trap should be secured to a log or tree trunk with a length of stout wire to keep larger predators from running off with an occupied trap, although it isn't likely. The first time I put out my trap I found muddy weasel tracks all over the top of the trap the next morning. I've wired my trap to a solid object ever since. Further camouflage the the trap with leaves and pieces of bark.

I put my trap out late in the day and check it early the next morning. I pick up the trap even if it is empty, then put it out again in the early evening so as not to confine the small mammal for too long a period. Once you have a "model" in your trap, cover the floor of the mouse tank with materials from the surrounding area. You may also want to include some preferred food sources for the model to eat. Transfer the small mammal to the tank as gently and quickly as possible and get the cover in place. I open the cover of the trap slowly over and very close to the top of the mouse tank. This method will force the small mammal to jump into the tank, then quickly get the cover in place. The mouse tank should be placed on the ground with similar ground cover as was placed on the bottom of the tank, as a backdrop.

Now for the final step, the photography. Before photographing allow some time for them to settle down. Flash will typically be required to stop the motion of these fast moving small mammals. I have the flash positioned off camera and a diffuser on the flash head. I tried using a 100mm macro lens but quickly discovered the field of view was too narrow when keeping the front element close to the side of the tank to prevent reflections from showing. After trying a few different combinations I found my 24-70mm lens coupled to a 12mm extension tube to be a just right. This combination allows me to zoom in and out to frame the composition I want while keeping the front element close to the side of the mouse tank. Setting the camera's exposure mode to manual while keeping the flash in auto mode, you can set the aperture for the desired depth of field while adjusting the shutter speed for the desired ambient light. Since most small mammals are typically crepuscular or nocturnal a slightly darkened background is appropriate.

A DEER MOUSE

Navy Photos

I've just included a new gallery on my website that is somewhat off track from the theme of my website but might be interesting nonetheless. The gallery consists of photos taken by me while serving in the US Navy in the mid to late 1960's. The content is informative with respect to the conditions that were prevalent around the world at that time. The ports of call were Japan, Okinawa, Vietnam, Taiwan, Hong Kong, The Philippine Islands, Singapore, Ethiopia, Egypt and the Suez Canal, Crete, Malta, Italy, Palma de Mallorca, Gibralter, Azore Islands, Peurto Rico, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and Panama.
You can navigate to the my website page using this link:
http://bunchlewisphotography.com/site/#/page/navy-photos/

Bunch

Winter & Eagles

Winter didn't cooperate at all this year. A scant amount of snow and most of that was iced over due to snow changing to rain. The conditions for tracking were poor at best. In spite of this I did manage to track a fisher, some weasels, a fox and a number of coyotes. Also found a coyote bed that had been used for many hours based on the amount of snow that had compacted and melted. I was also able to determine that the coyote was a female due to the manner in which it had urinated. An otter den that I had been observing for the third year in a row, had many comings and goings throughout the winter but as in the past two winters no sightings of  the inhabitant. Although otters may be out and about any time of day or night I believe this otter's activities were confined to nighttime, probably due to the proximity to civilization.

On February 21st I observed six bald eagles feeding on a coyote killed whitetail deer carcass out on the ice of the Sacandaga River near Northville in New York's Adirondack Mountains. There were never more than two eagles on the carcass at any one time. Ravens and crows were lurking about harassing the large birds of prey while trying to steal a morsel. Watched and photographed the eagles for twenty minutes.

A raven comes in for a closer look.

 

Spring is here, now it's time to watch for the return of the migrating birds and hibernating mammals coming out of a long winter's sleep. I've already discovered a remodeled woodchuck burrow and signs of skunks out and about.

 

Bunch 

Getting Started

As winter sets in I will be out and about checking on the local wildlife and documenting what I find with camera and journal. Most of what I expect to locate is animal sign, mainly tracks. It fascinating to read a new page of animal activity on a blanket of fresh snow. Who passed by and what were they doing?

By following the animals tracks it is possible to learn something of the animals behavior. For example a weasel will rarely pass up a hole in a stone pile or a burrow to investigate in its quest for food. The weasel is a study in motion, always on the move. It is fun to find their tracks stitching back and forth along and across their line of travel.

Of coarse there is always the possibility of spotting something still standing in their tracks. To do so you must remain quite and use all the stealth of a hunting bobcat. Always remaining on the lookout for something that doesn't belong, the most productive way is to spot a part of the animal then the whole animal will become more obvious.

As time permits I will be posting new entries from my current journal as well as some of the more interesting entries from years gone by, hope you enjoy!

Bunch