Creature Cam Results

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After the camera trap had been looking over the hole for a week, Harland and I went back to see what we caught. There were a lot of blank images where no creature was present. Probably the wind blowing the grass tripped it off.

But then, paydirt at 4:38am on Feb 28 –

a skunk nosing around in the dirt that was pushed out of the hole.

An exciting find, but not quite what we were expecting as the hole opening was much larger than this skunk.  So we continued to scroll through the images, and finally……,

there it was….

on Feb 29 at 2:07am ….

..

 

an american badger,

exactly what we were hoping for. They are nocturnal so we hardly ever see them, but we see their holes everywhere – at the edge of fields and alongside road ditches. Growing up in Missouri, I never saw badgers or their holes. The soil there is mostly clay, and badgers like loamy soil like we have here in northeast Kansas.

A few badger facts:

  • Badgers belong to the same family as weasels, ferrets, and wolverines.
  • They can weigh as much as 25 pounds and their front claws, used for digging, are 2 inches long.
  • They eat gophers, moles, voles, ground squirrels, skunks (uh-oh), mice, rats, ground nesting birds, lizards, frogs, carrion, fish, insects, corn, peas, green beans, mushrooms, and sunflower seeds.
  • Interestingly, according to Wikipedia, ” They will sometimes form a mutually beneficial relationship with coyotes. Because coyotes are not very effective at digging rodents out of their burrows, they will chase the animals while they are above ground. Badgers on the other hand are not fast runners, but are well-adapted to digging. When hunting together, they effectively leave little escape for prey in the area.”

Hmm…we have lots of coyotes, I’ll bet they work together a lot here.

Anywho, now that we know Mr/Ms Badger is in residence, we are hoping to catch him/her on video.

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Suzanne

Cattle, corn, wheat, beans, mud, snow, ice, and drought. Plenty of fresh air and quiet. Our life is sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes joyous, but never boring.

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11 Responses

  1. Glenda says:

    Interesting! I wouldn’t want to meet one on a dark evening stroll!
    I have seen lots of dead skunks on the side of the road lately.
    Don’t you just love critter cams? I had one lashed to a tree up at the pond and we caught lots of deer, racoons, skunks, opposum and yes, sometimes the wind set it off with waving grasses. Neat to see though.

    • Suzanne says:

      We had one set up last winter and got deer, raccoons, coyotes, and turkeys. Really neato aren’t they?

  2. Sue, a Florida Farm Girl says:

    I never thought about a badger. Probably because they don’t live in my part of the world. Neat that you caught a good picture.

  3. Cool photos! We have rabbits and I think opossums living under our deck. Larry blocked one of the entrances, because our dog was digging there, and they have now made a different one. They have dug out several vines I’ve tried to plant in the area. Larry may put some wood along the side so they have to just use the other side.

  4. Alica says:

    I’ve never seen a badger! This was really interesting to me…we have lots of (too many!) ground hogs, and lately I’ve seen lots of skunks, but no badgers that I’m aware of here.

  5. Glyndalyn says:

    Wow! A badger. None in TN. I have never seen one in the wild.

  6. I didn’t know there was such a thing as an American badger…curiouser and curiouser! <3

  7. Louise S says:

    Technology. Ain’t it great! Thanks for the pics and info, Suzanne.

  8. Debbie says:

    So cool!!

  9. Doe in Mi says:

    Never would have got that one right. Badgers I have not seen before. Fox I have seen, in my back yard, early morning playing with my cat. They were taking turns chasing each other. Amazing to me. Wish I could have video taped it. Thanks for the pic and the info on them.

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