At dawn, the birds start coming out and they take an occasional photo of themselves. I see lots of these white-throated sparrows around the yard, distinguishable by the two patches of yellow above the eyes — although barely visible in this shot. But I did think the backlit rain added a nice element to the composition (click for larger view on big screens). Nikon D810 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 35mm) ISO 500, f/14 at 1/160th of a second, Cognisys camera box, trail monitor and flashes.

At the risk of repeating myself, here’s another of our local opossums. These guys are especially well suited to a backlit setup with all those whiskers and scraggly hair. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 800, f/14 at 1/160th of a second, Cognisys camera box, trail monitor and flashes.

Raccoons are the one local resident that I thought I’d see more of. I guess the ones in our yard don’t come out until after midnight. Perfect for the camera trap. This guy paused on his way across a fallen log to check out my camera. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 28mm) ISO 500, f/14 at 1/160th of a second, Cognisys camera box, trail monitor and flashes.

Once I moved my camera trap so that the beam crosses over the top of a fallen tree, I’ve been getting a lot more of the small woodland creatures. Including the very small. This is a deer mouse. Possibly reacting to the flash of light. I did capture a few other shots of mice simply going about their business as the flash fired. Who knows, this might even be the guy I saved from my cat a few weeks ago and released into the back woods. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 800, f/14 at 1/160th of a second, Cognisys camera box, trail monitor and flashes.

Throughout the summer, a mother bear and her two cubs were regular visitors to our yard. We saw them maybe four or five times. And they returned for a visit last Friday. The cubs have gotten big, as this guy was apparently trying to show me. Although he looks more like he’s trying to play an upright bass with that tree. Either way, nice to see them and be able to capture a bunch of images as they came into the middle of the backyard, played for a bit, looked for a few apples from our lone apple tree, then headed back into the forest. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 800, f/6.3 at 1/400th of a second.

Birds are usually photographed with telephoto lenses, but with the help of my camera trap, I’ve been capturing lots of wide angle images. This was one of my favorites from last week as the cardinal appears to be torpedoing through the scene, wings down, ski jumper style. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 400, f/14 at 1/80th of a second, Cognisys camera box, trail monitor and flashes.

The other night I was out walking my dog when I spotted a striped skunk in the front yard. I quickly turned around and headed to the back yard. Where I saw another one. It’s been about a year since I’ve seen any skunks, and being among my favorite woodland creatures, I grabbed my long lens and flash set up and quickly captured a few photos at a safe distance. I also adjusted my camera trap before heading in for the night, hoping for a few wide angle shots when I got up the next day. The skunk obliged. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 400, f/14 at 1/80th of a second, Cognisys camera box, trail monitor and two remote flash units.

Things continue to be productive out in the woods behind our house. In the last few weeks, the bear sightings have been supplemented by raccoons, skunks and opossums. The Virginia opossum, also known as the North American opossum is the only marsupial found north of Mexico. When we first moved here last September, we would see lots of these guys around the house but this year they’ve been elusive. Until now. This one appears to be pretty young. They are solitary animals that leave their mothers at the age of four to five months old. Typically at that age they are between seven and nine inches long (excluding the tail). I must say, for an animal that a lot of people question the aesthetics of, this guy is pretty cute. Nikon D810 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 400, f/14 at 1/80th of an inch, Cognisys camera box, trail monitor and flashes.