"Spy" cameras for wildlife photography

September 10, 2014 5:58 AM

Spy cameras and the tricks and technology of modern wildlife filming. (Vimeo) From BBC Wildlife.
posted by OmieWise (7 comments total)

For those interested in amateur level wildlife spying, consider having a look at the 2008 book Spies in the Deer Woods: How to Hunt Game & Monitor Wildlife with a Scouting Camera - perhaps a bit dated, but very practical.
posted by fairmettle at 6:59 AM on September 10, 2014

Well that was absolutely breathtaking.
posted by Jody Tresidder at 7:00 AM on September 10, 2014

Oh that was wonderful.

We have a wildlife cam (motion-detected single frame pictures) which we set up at various places around our property. Hours upon hours of entertainment - we've got a band of feral cats (spayed via our local catch and release program), a pair of red foxes, a family of groundhogs, small mice, various birds (cardinals, hawks, goldfinches, jays, etc), a neighborhood band of deer, the occasional frog (they normally don't set the camera off, so the video of him hopping was awesome and unexpected), racoons, bunnies, a possum, cocky squirrels, neighborhood dogs (and cats - one of my cats is a genius for finding the camera within 5 minutes of it being put out), people hanging out on the deck, etc.

My animal wishlist includes the bears who avoid the camera each fall and summer on their way to/from the mountain, the legendary elusive local cougar, black foxes, guinea fowl, chipmunks, etc.

I highly recommend them for folks who have a little bit of land, especially if you are facebook friends with me and will post your pictures.
posted by julen at 7:39 AM on September 10, 2014

Great stuff! I kept thinking about how Gary Larson would have interpreted these "spy animals" for The Far Side.
posted by Asbestos McPinto at 7:55 AM on September 10, 2014

My good friend is doing her dissertation research in the Peruvian Amazon and just posted a video of some of their camera traps' greatest hits.

(also, you might want to add camera traps to the tags!)
posted by ChuraChura at 8:06 AM on September 10, 2014 [4 favorites]

That's a great video ChuraChura! Lots of fun!
posted by OmieWise at 7:23 PM on September 10, 2014

Thanks for this link, just last weekend I was watching a David Attenborough doco with my Mother and she kept on wondering out loud how they got such amazing footage.
posted by Hello, I'm David McGahan at 10:40 PM on September 12, 2014