28 September, 2010

Game-scouting camera: coolest invention ever.

The camera works fantastically but heavy rain has kept my primitive satellite internet from staying up long enough to get the best of yesterday’s pics uploaded last night. Flickr Uploadr is working them now, and I have made myself mildly late for my morning routine to post them just for you!. You can see the night-time pics are all grainy black and white, but they do show you a nice view of the plastic pan lid that serves as a water dish, the aluminum pan that holds the dry cat food, and the legs of the rocking chair and the regular chair, plus the little table the food pan sits under. All that stuff is sitting about six feet away from the camera.

A grainy black and white photograph. A tabby and white cat, Noodlehead, stands with body three quarters to the camera but face directly pointed at it. Because she's too close, the infrared flash has blown out all detail of her face and chest except her eyes with their enormous pupils.

I’m not sure what attracted Noodlehead’s attention; the camera makes no noise but does have the infrared flash on it as well as a blinking red LED and a green LED that lights steady when it’s taking a picture. It clearly didn’t startle any of the animals, there were four separate possum incidents and a raccoon as well as Noodlehead, Grace, and Briar Rose. What I find kind of neat is that their eyes brilliantly reflect the infrared flash, just as you’d expect with a regular flash.

First Possum:
First Possum. A skinny possum walks under a rocking chair, stretching its pointy nose to the aluminum cake pan full of dry cat food.

Raccoon:
A skinny coon stands next to the feeding dish, looking just over the camera's left shoulder, as it were.

Second Possum, affectionately named “Pudgy Possum” because he’s clearly been nomming quite a bit of cat food:
A fat possum wanders away from the camera, body at a three quarters angle to the camera. Be grateful I didn't upload all the pictures of possum butt that the camera got in the half hour he was on the porch eating.

Third Possum:
A skinny possum approaches the feeding dish from underneath the rocking chair.

Fourth Possum, note Noodlehead in the background:
A very nice profile shot of a possum headed toward the camera with head turned to keep one eye on Noodlehead, who has evidently just told the possum to get off her porch and stop eating her food.

Five Oh Five Feeding Time:
A woman in a robe, pajamas, and an ankle brace, seen from the waist down as she crouches on the porch to put wet cat food on a plate. She is just completing a pet on Grace, who is eating from the plate but is mostly unseen due to Noodlehead being in the way. That's me!

Grace notices the camera:
Grace, a mostly grey and yellow tortoiseshell cat with a little white, crouches at the wet food plate (hidden behind the water dish) and looks straight at the camera, eye lasers engaged.