Pix Controller have several interesting items to report this week:
There is a flock of turkey that seem to be coming into the main camera almost every day now. They have a flock of hens (female birds) that is about 10 birds total. Within this flock is a hen with a beard. This is very unusual since only the male birds have beards. The “beard” of a turkey hangs down from the middle of the turkey’s chest and looks like a horse tail. Scientists call the “hairs” of the beard “bristles” or “mesofiloplumes” (“MEZ-uh-FILL-uh-ploomz”) — stiff, feather-like structures.
They were able to capture some pretty good footage of the hen with the beard. She’s been seen since last year but they didn’t have the PTZ camera or the broadcasts provided by WildEarth to record the activity like they can now. (see attached photo)
Related Hotspot:
Bearded Hen
http://www.crm-api-integ-220516.mystagingwebsite.com/web/pix-wpa-01?streamId=pix-wpa- 01%2F2009%2F11%2F12%2F2009-11- 12-08-49_pix-wpa-01.flv&bspId= 38322&start=0
The White Tailed Deer remote motion-activated scrape camera has seen some action. They have broadcast several younger bucks working the scrap site over and we have one great recorded hotspot of a very mature 8-point whitetail buck following a doe in the early morning hours. Hopefully they will continue to see action on this remote camera as the mating season winds down at the end of this month.
Related Hotspots:
Buck on scrape camera
Button buck works over scrape
Doe looking at scrape
Big 8-point buck following doe
They now have their remote motion-activated carcass camera up and running. They get deer carcasses from their local game commission. These are road killed deer and they put them to good use. They started this camera last year and it was very successful at bringing in predators such as fox and coyotes, and of course many raccoons. They also had a lot of action during the day from hawks and turkey vultures. They plan to run the remote carcass camera site until spring time when it starts warming up again.
Related Hotspots:
Raccoons on carcass camera
Red Fox on carcass camera
Opossum on carcass camera