Skunk-O-Matic

A friend who owns a farm let me know that she has a skunk that recently took up residence under her chicken coop. The skunk is hot to get to her chickens, and she has spent a fair amount of time shoring up the pen to keep the skunk from going on a homicidal rampage.

I am always looking for opportunities like this, where an animal has a den where I can use motion-sensing cameras. I have been using these types of cameras for years, and have managed to get some pretty interesting images of secretive and nocturnal creatures (I'll share some of these in future posts).

I set up a camera on the entrance to the creature's lair, and it will wait there for days (or weeks) until it recieves a signal from a motion sensor to snap a photo.



The whole set-up is rather complicated and time-consuming to get operational, but the results can be fascinating. Below you can see some of the equipment surrounding the den entrance. Everything is weatherized in acrylic and plastic, so it can be hard to recognize specific pieces of equipment. I'll be checking the camera in a few days to see if I have any photos.



From past experience I have found that skunks tend to completely ignore my equipment, even at close range. In fact, I had a foraging skunk go under a fence and brush past my legs while I was photographing bats. I didn't see him coming, and when I realized what was going on I froze like a statue so as not to startle the little darling, and he passed without incident.

Below is an image of a skunk that I made near Joseph with a motion-sensing camera.



If you know of any cool places I could set-up a remote camera, feel free to email me at oregonwild@gmail.com.