Wednesday, August 20, 2025

Bolognaise


There is not much room in my head at the moment for anything but work, so rather than bore you with further tales of the library (which bore me as well) I'm going to share another video from our garden wildlife cam.

This one begins with a mysterious cat that I have never seen before, getting up close and personal with the camera lens. There's some squirrel chaos. Then I put down a container with a small amount of Bolognaise sauce that I thought the foxes might enjoy. The magpie comes to check it out but isn't interested. The starlings peck at it a bit. Then, finally, a lithe young fox shows up, and although the camera failed to catch it actually eating the meat sauce, I know it did because the container was licked clean. (And subsequently recycled by me.)

I think the camera must need new batteries. Its reaction time seems slower than usual. There's no reason something as big as a fox standing in front of it shouldn't trigger it right away!

49 comments:

  1. Your critters don't seem terribly hungry.

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    1. Apparently not, if they're passing up bolognaise!

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  2. It is intriguing, watching your garden visitors. May I ask which camera you use as I am quite interested in setting up something similar - if it's reasonably simple!!

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    1. It's a Browning trail camera -- I don't remember the model number.
      https://naturespy.org/collections/browning-trail-cameras

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  3. It looks like everyone is well fed, especially that beautiful cat.

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    1. I see several cats routinely passing through our garden but that's a new one!

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  4. The cat is beautiful but the squirrel seems unusually skittish.

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  5. You are feeding the fox? You do realise they will bring all their friends to the party.

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    1. I don't feed them routinely! I just happened to have some leftovers to dispose of. This will be an issue now that Olga is no longer with us.

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  6. My guess is the fox just didn't move enough to trigger the camera while it was eating. I have had that happen albeit with deer on my game camera. It only records when there is enough motion to set it off.

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    1. Maybe, but didn't it have to walk up to the bowl? Seems like that would have set off the camera. I could see how the eating itself might not require much movement.

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    2. I suppose that part was due to a delay. When my game camera starts recording, the animal in question is usually already in the middle of my screen. I don't think my camera is fancy enough to have a setting to adjust that and I'm guessing doing so might get a lot of false triggers like blowing leaves or grass within frame. Now that I think about it, I maybe only get a single false trigger with every hundred videos so they really have that setting dialed to be certain there is movement enough to declare it an animal.

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  7. It looks like the cat is setting out new territory...marking your camera to start with !

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    1. Yeah, it looked that way, though I didn't smell anything on the camera itself, thank goodness.

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  8. That fox looked like he needed a good home cooked meal.

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    1. I know! It's looking gangly. I think it's a young one.

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  9. Oh, the world around us that we never usually see. And yet, there it is! Just as real as the one we do.

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    1. I find it endlessly fascinating what's going on out there at night.

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  10. I imagine the pickings in the city are good enough that wild friends aren't going hungry and they can afford to be choosy! They probably direct each other to the best restaurant back doors.

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    1. I'm sure they have a "route" where they know food can be reliably found!

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  11. Dirty Lens Sensor As Well ?

    Stay Strong ,
    Cheers

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  12. I really need to get one of these for our back yard. Or one of those bird buddy feeder camera things. I think Dr. M would find it endlessly fascinating!

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    1. I haven't heard of a bird buddy. Sounds like something else to monopolize my time and money! LOL

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    2. It's a bird feeder with a camera & I think you should absolutely get one. Ha! https://mybirdbuddy.com/

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  13. Maybe the cat belongs to your new neighbors. And the fox's eyes are like spotlights!

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    1. Yeah, I love how animal retinas glow like that in the infrared light.

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  14. Your garden is filled with interesting activity in the darkness of the night.
    I need to reset my camera outside, when I hear strange noises or Caesar gives a short quick bark, I know something is roaming.

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    1. And aren't you curious about what it is? I'm frankly surprised my camera has never caught a human roaming through the garden, but it hasn't.

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  15. Since I am an old teacher I like stories about school. Since you are going to retire soon I'll tell you what happens. time goes by in a hurry. I've been retired for 28 years.

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    1. I'm sure that after the fact it seems like time passes quickly, but I gotta say, at the beginning of the year, the year seems like it's going to be very LONG.

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  16. These videos are impressive, Steve. I'm always amazed at the amount of wildlife in your yard considering you are in a busy city!

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  17. I always enjoy videos from your wildlife cam. It also always tickles me to see the Browning logo on your videos since you're not exactly someone I would associate with that brand! (as in we have Browning guns and fishing gear at our house)

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    1. I think I read online that Browning makes good trail cams so that's how I wound up buying one. I had no idea they made guns and other stuff!

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  18. Bolognaise sauce for the foxes? You are too kind. But don't let Dave know; he might be insulted.

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    1. Nah, he was fine with it. It would normally have gone to Olga.

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  19. What fun, to see the cat and the squirrels and the birds and the fox. It's quite a jungle out there!

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    1. It is indeed! I always get a kick out of watching all the activity, especially after I've condensed it into a short video like this.

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  20. The Glow of that Fox's Eyes is a cool Creep Factor!!! It is amazing how much Wildlife still inhabits the City. Some of our Neighbors in the Mini Farm Community have RING cameras and have caught all kinds of Wildlife. When I Work Nights I often catch some in the Headlights as I'm pulling into the Driveway, seen Coyote and some pretty big Raccoons. We're like an Oasis to them in the City that surrounds us and has grown up around our small Farms.

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    1. I think animals like our garden for the same reason -- it's a relatively large green space with lots of cover, in an area that is otherwise very urbanized.

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  21. Codex: Like how even a human shows up.
    *waves*

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    1. Ha! Yep, I do turn up on the trail cam now and then.

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  22. I wondered if that was a magpie, it is different from ours but similar enough that I thought it might be. The squirrels are fast and great jumpers.

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    1. I wonder if British magpies were brought to Australia or vice versa, or if we just have two related but seperately evolved species?

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  23. You get some interesting animals. I don't know that I've ever seen a Magpie although it was sometimes my nickname. (much hated)

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