night raiders 14 comments
This is a follow up to my previous post concerning, among other things, my foray into night photography using an infrared game camera. As you may remember from last year, there is a population of Javelina (Collared Peccaries) residing on the nearby mountainside. Occasionally, a raiding party passes through…..
14 Responses to 'night raiders'
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Nice shots, Bev! Are you taking them with you as you head north? 8=)
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This is a hoot!!
Great shots, Bev!
Did your pups hear all this commotion and can they smell those peccaries?
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robin – I don’t usually put anything in the compost bin as they just flip it over, but there were some wizzled up green onions. They didn’t take them. Guess they are picky eaters. I’m not sure why they like to hang out around the compost bin.
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John – No, but I know I’ll miss them a bit!
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Cathy – They often bark at the javelina as I’m sure they smell them outside the house at night. Sage makes a real fuss when they’re around. -
I loved this Bev. It’s as if you created a stop-action story board.
Why don’t I ever get invited to fun parties such as this one?
Hey Bev, I want to you know how much I value the thoughful words you often share on my blog. I don’t seem to have time to respond to most of the comments these days, but your perspective is quite cherished.
Thanks.
Dan
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VERY interesting… I especially like the shot of the long whiskers which look huge in their close-up. Does your camera have some type of frame to keep it upright and to protect it from creatures such as these?
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Dan – It was fun putting together a post using the game camera photos. That’s the first time I’ve ever had so many shots taken as a sequence. There were about a dozen in this sequence!
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Marni – The camera has a hard plastic casing that you open to access the buttons on a control panel, and the memory card in its slot. It’s probably made of the same plastic as large plumbing pipes are made of – ABS or PVC – can’t remember which it is. It’s attached to whatever place you want to place it using a couple of bungee cords. I was actually amazed that the javelina didn’t knock it off the pole that I’d attached it to. The camera case was covered with mud streaks, so I knew that the javelina had been touching it before I even opened the case to retrieve the card. However, so far, I’ve noticed that javelina are not nearly so meddlesome and rough as pigs would be. If that had have been a pig, I’d expect the camera to have been torn loose and pushed around. Javelina usually just touch things a bit, do a little rooting, and then wander on their way. I have to say I was surprised that these ones hung around in the one spot for as long as they did. -
We saw javelina at Big Bend some years ago. They had a regular route through the campground. I can only imagine what my dog would do if he smelled or saw them. He goes nearly crazy when a raccoon or possum gets into the garage to eat the cats’ food.
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“save”? Where did that come from. Of course I meant “saw”.
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Mark – Fixed the “saw”. The javelina here also seem to have a regular route. I’ve noticed that the night before garbage day, they seem to make a trip down the road in the canyon – perhaps looking for something that isn’t in a well-secured garbage can. The dogs around here do bark at them because I’ve seen the javelina go by and the barking will start in the canyon down below a few minutes later. I’m careful with my dogs as javelina can be quite dangerous if they decide to stand up to dogs. Their teeth are pretty scary – a lot scarier than most dog’s teeth.
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Bev, javelinas are a matriarchal society. Was there a big mama in charge of the festivities and calling the shots? I loved the images…
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Cate – There usually seem to be one or two large females in these bands and the others stick with them. There’s also a large male and when they go by the house, he usually appears first, stands around for a minute scouting to see if the coast is clear, then the mothers and their young trot past. He trots along last and stops to look around a bit and then follows the herd down the hillside among the cactus and agave. They’re fun to see — very quiet creatures. Occasionally, they’ll be around and all you can hear is the odd snap of a twig. People compare them to pigs, but they aren’t really that much the same — actually more like deer as far as how silent they are.
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In Tucson, the javelina regularly visit our house during the day as well as night. They definitely can do some damage and have attacked dogs, killing our neighbors’ dog one afternoon. We have a game camera also and have enjoyed the pictures from it. Bobcat during the day were the best ones.
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Wow! I would hide if I saw such creatures!
They look like they had a very good time. What were they eating?