The trail camera photography is not a very new business in Chernobyl. In 2000, scientists from Texas Tech University (Dr. Robert J. Baker and his team) “lunched” the automatic photography here, and not only just a fun, but also to show that even the most radioactive areas are inhabited, and no “monsters” there.
Over 6 years American scientists together with International Radioecology Laboratory (Slavutych, Ukraine) collected a lot of amazing shots: elk (European moos), red deer, roe deer, wild boar, fox, hare, badger, Przevalsky horse, raccoon dog, beaver, otter, polecat, hedgehog and some birds got into the frames. That time we used to apply white flash cameras. Recently I got a new digital infra-red system, it significantly widens abilities of wildlife researchers: to record new species or new their habitats, to get relative estimation of the critters population, to reveal their preferences or seasonal behavior, etc. etc. May be one of the most pleasant feature of these cameras – no dependence on film and prints, the battery power and memory card are only the limiters.
So, some selected pictures posted here are results of the first tests. Amazing and spectacular! I did not expect to see how wolves catch fish. I surprised that big white-tailed eagle does not avoid to hunt for tiny fish if it’s easy. I like to see that ungulate visit soon the same spot after wolves. I keen to get more cameras!
The Author – Sergey Gashchak
P.S.: In the images’ data there is a mistake (sorry!): I forgot reset date and time after installation of new batteries. In fact all pictures were got during 6-21 April 2012.
