Friday, October 30, 2015

The Night Garden


My birthday isn't until after Halloween, but a box arrived from Amazon a few days ago and Dave just couldn't stand the suspense. "Open it!" he said last night, thrusting it at me. It was, of course, his present to me. As it turned out, it's a cool present.

Dave got me an infrared camera for our back garden, so we can take wildlife photos at night while we sleep. We've always been curious about what goes on out there, with our pals the foxes and the squirrels and who knows what else roaming around. Probably cats. Maybe even people? (God forbid!)

So I set up the camera last night, fastened it to a tree and this morning eagerly raced out to retrieve it. And what we got was...


...a picture of me, walking away from the camera after I set it up. There were no pictures at all between 7:45 p.m. and 6:30 a.m.

So, you know, this will take some experimenting. The camera's instructions say to set it up a meter above the ground, which might be fine if you're trying to photograph a deer or a moose. But for our backyard wildlife, I'm thinking just a foot or two above the ground might be better. And I think I'll point it more toward the back of the garden rather than the back of the house, where all we see is our own windows. (I got up in the middle of the night for a drink of water, and waved at the camera from that big window on the ground floor -- but apparently that wasn't enough to trigger it!)

It takes color pictures during the day, so we can leave it out there for days at a time and it should sit vigilantly waiting for anything interesting to pass by. (We'll probably get a million blurry pictures of Olga.) Maybe we could also nanny-cam the dog walker, and see what times they come and go? The possibilities are endless!

(Top photo: The rugby fields near the cemetery where I walk Olga.)

11 comments:

e said...

Appropriate photo for Halloween...you'll have some fun with that camera and Happy Birthday November 2!

Sharon said...

For a minute there I thought maybe you caught some stranger walking through your garden. That should be a lot of fun. I hope you get some good shots.

Ms. Moon said...

Oh my god. Glen spends half his time looking at what his trail camera got at various hunting sights. Once he got pictures of a young bear who sat on his butt and moved around the area eating corn. He's set one up at Lily and jason's to see if he can get a picture of a jaguarundi.
Ha!

ellen abbott said...

a friend of mine has one of those set up in his back yard. he lives out in the country and has a huge backyard. he gets pics of deer and squirrels, raccoons, etc., has it set up just a foot or so above the ground. and yah, it should be pointed towards the back of the yard.

Linda Sue said...

that photo gave me a fright! Nanny cams a great invention. We got one disguised as a clock when Mr. Man's dad was in the nursing home. Wish I had had one for my Dad as he was mistreated. Can not trust humans, you know.

rockygrace said...

Got a shot of a big bear about ten feet from the back of my house on the trail cam this summer. Kind of wish I hadn't seen it ...

Lynne said...

You are going to have so much fun with your camera! We love ours, but left it at the cabin on our last visit. It takes great color photos during the day. Rick always catches himself on the cam when loading and unloading the card. :)

jenny_o said...

Great gift! That photo scared me, too, until you explained it was just you. This should be interesting!

The Bug said...

Well this should be fun! I'd like to catch our skunks sometime :)

37paddington said...

That photo reminded me of the movie paranormal activity. Perfect for Halloween. Happy birthday when it comes!

Joanne said...

I admit I was with the others in thinking you caught a midnight prowler! What a fun gift!