I tried to send this on Friday but I didn't see it in the Ecolog
digest so I'm sending it again. My apologies if this is the second
time for anyone.
Thank you to everyone who responded to my questions regarding wildlife
cameras. Here is a synthesis of responses.
The three digital camera brands recommended were Cuddleback, Buckeye,
and Reconyx. After additional research on their websites, I called
each of the companies and inquired about the suitability of their
cameras for capturing fruit bat foraging high in forest canopies. All
three brands use "heat motion" sensors. This means that they should
only be triggered by an object/animal whose temperature is
significantly higher than the ambient temperature. The most likely
false trigger of photos is sunlight-heated vegetation but the
sensitivity can be adjusted. Since I am studying bats which forage at
night, this is probably not a big concern as long as the memory card
doesn't fill up during the day with falsely triggered photos. I will
be checking them frequently (2-3 days) when I move them between trees
so the card is unlikely to fill in that timeframe (and many cameras
can be programed to activate only as night).
Some responses suggested that the trigger speed may not be fast enough
to catch flying bats, but cameras from all three companies can now
take photos 1/10-1/5 sec after triggered so it appears that this is
less of an issue now than a few years ago. Also, in my particular
research is about fruit bat foraging so I am interested in the time
they spend in front of the camera rather than flying by.
An additional consideration is the infrared flash necessary for night
photography. Some cameras have IR flashes that are visible to people,
but each company has at least one camera with 'invisible' IR flash.
Since animals vary considerably in their color vision, it is not clear
which animals can even see or are bothered by flashes and which
aren't. I'm not sure if fruit bats are able to detect the flash that
we can see, but I will err on the side of caution and select one with
an 'invisible' flash.
The three brands vary in their battery types, but all seem to have
impressively low power use so battery life should not be an issue for
my research since I will move the cameras frequently and can check the
batteries then. Buckeye also makes a solar panel for its cameras.
My intention is to attach the camera to an artificial branch with
fruit that will be raised into the canopy. Thus, the bats should land
close to the camera (less than 3 feet away). I asked each company if
this would be problematic for image focus. All three brands are
optimized for capturing images at least 4-6 feet away, but both
Reconyx and Buckeye said that they can customize the optimum focal
distance to the distance I specify at no extra cost. Cuddleback said
that they cannot do this. Additionally, Reconyx said they could also
optimize cameras for better night photography (Buckeye may also be
able to do this but I did not ask). The tradeoff with these
customizations is that that the quality of photographs further away
and during daytime will be slightly less. For my research with bats,
this is not a concern.
The cameras vary considerably in their programming options (trigger
sensitivity, number of shots per trigger event, delay between trigger
events, day/night only, etc). Cuddleback cameras are the most basic,
with all of the camera settings programmed on the camera itself.
Reconyx has some models (the Rec line) that can only be programmed on
the camera. The Reconyx Pro line has significantly more programming
options that must be done on a Windows computer using their Windows-
compatible software. Buckeye camera programming is all done using
their software and they are compatible with Mac OSX 10.5.
Buckeye also offers a line of cameras (Orion wireless series) that can
be wirelessly networked to a computer so that you can instantly
monitor activity at the camera. This system is not a good option at my
field site for many reasons but I imagine that there are many research
situations where this would be a dream come true.
Someone recommended this article, which is excellent:
Kays, R. W. and K. M. Slauson. 2008. Remote cameras. Pages 110 – 140
IN Noninvasive survey methods for carnivores. R. A. Long, P. MacKay,
W. J. Zielinski, J. C. Ray (Eds). Island Press, Wasington. ISBN: 10:
1-59726-120-3 (it can be found online here)
In conclusion, the following models are the best choices for my
research:
-Buckeye Apollo XIR Camera Kit ($649)
-Reconyx RapidFire Covert RC60 ($649)
-Reconyx RapidFire Professional Covert PC90 ($749) (more programming
options than RC60 but requires Windows...)
I'll probably go with Buckeye since their software is Mac compatible.
Thanks again to everyone who offered advice!
Carrie Seltzer
--
Carrie E. Seltzer
Graduate Student
Ecology & Evolution
Department of Biological Science M/C 066
University of Illinois at Chicago
845 W. Taylor Street
Chicago, IL 60607-7060
(312) 413-0023 (no voicemail)
http://www2.uic.edu/~cseltz2/Webpage/home.html
