February Summary: LED Lights/Sound

The continuation of our monitoring at deployment site one has moved in February.    For the first part of the month, following our success in January, we decided to make some adjustments.   For the first half of the month we placed the trap in place, with the camera in position for the first week and removed the LED light and the sound lure.     This was partly due to weather conditions and partly to see what affect this would have on the activations.    

Initially the activations during February were down when compared to January.   The trap was activated on the 15th however there was not a possum when the trap was checked - it had been pulled out of the ground via the pins and the bait had been taken.   There was very little camera activations - we saw the 'dark male possum' frequently during the two weeks, continuing the behaviour that we have witnessed from it over the past few months it would appear on the site and act extremely cautiously - as it has been since last year when it was first sighted.   

The last time that a possum had been captured was January 16th and following that there was a noticeable decrease in the number of activations as detailed on this page.

On the 15th February the activation of the trap indicated that there were possums in the area and they were interacting with the trap.   This led to redeploying the sound lure with the LED light at the location (on the 19th), minus the camera as the weather was still dominated by rain and we are limiting our deployment (having a huge amount of footage of the possums/sound lure interaction the highlights of this are on this page).   

Two days after the redeployment of the sound lure/LED lights the night of 21st the trap was activated and a female possum was trapped, as shown in the photo.   This is the first capture at this location since mid January - interestingly this possum would be described as dark, very similar in colour to the male that is known to be in the area, however this possum was a small female.  Evidence at the site is that there at least one other possum as the bait that was in the trap had been significantly eaten following the capture.

HD Video Footage Summary: Using LED Lights

 

This is the first instance (evening activity summary) of using four blinking LED lights at deployment site one.   There is a variety of activity on the site - weather conditions were clear.

Second night of activity at deployment site one - a summary of the activity between brush tailed possums and rats with four blinking LED lights operating - see summary details below of the setup.

2022: New Years Trapping Progress

 We have restarted monitoring at Deployment Site One.  The focus has been to return to the traditional five sounds we initially used to target possums.   These are playing on a one minute interval (subject to battery level if the battery is charged more frequently the unit is programmed to play more often) with one of five random sounds.  The site is being monitored by HD Cameras that are recording interactions at the site during the night.   There is a Timms trap deployed at the site, baited with apple - the sound lure has been attached directly to the back of this unit as there has been a hole drilled via the back where the speaker is then linked to the unit.  A second alternate unit has been placed next to the compost heap on the property bordering this location, to put it in context on the property itself twenty seven possums have been caught in the last three years, using a variety of bait (almost exclusively apple or pear)

In the previous nine days the stoat box, which has been deployed during the past six months recorded a strike of a rat.  This is the first capture from this unit and it occurred sometime from December 23rd to December 31st.  There was no sound lure operating during this time.

On the night of the 31st of December/1st of January there were a total of four visits from brush tailed possums visible on camera.   None of the animals activated the trap - it appears that the black male that was present in November/December is still in the area and this animal in particular seems very trap wary.  The alternate trap, placed next to the compost heap (without sound lure) was activated and a female was caught.

The follow night, with the same set up, including the same bait - there was some of the highest activity present during all recording.   There were seventeen seperate series of video activations starting at 9:43pm and concluding at 4:12am on the morning of the second of January.

Above: This specific video deals with the sound lure/rat interaction from January 1st/2nd

The domestic cat was first on the scene, briefly at 9:43pm followed by a series of brush tailed possum activations.   Possums arrived at 10:09pm, two were present at 10:22pm.  At 10:32pm a male appeared which fled up a tree, returning at 10:42pm.   In-between this a extremely large rat appeared at 10:38pm.  The possum left at 10:48pm when another rat reappeared.   Possums then came to the site at 12:19am on January 2nd and returned at 1:48am.

During this time there is clear evidence of the sound lure repeatedly operating with the various possums reacting to it (the rat showed no reaction) or continuing with their activity.   There was one example of clear aversion from a black male at 10:32pm - although this animal clearly returned at 10:42pm.    (This again is quite possibly the same male observed since November which is very careful around the trap).

At 1:48am another brush tailed possum arrived - and this animal activated the trap and was captured.   This animal was able to pull the Timms trap down the hill and moved the setup, including the sound lure, which is why after the capture the lure is present and the trap itself is not, as it was just out of sight.

Above: Specific Highlights from Jan 1st/2nd a sample of the 17 distinct interactions recorded

There were further visits to the site following this capture at 2:47am, 3:02am, 3:21am, 3:44am and a final visit at 4:12am.     In each of these visits animals arrived at the site and interacted or showed interest in the scene or the lure.   There was no evidence of post capture activity towards the captured female.    

In summary: 

• there was heightened activity on the second night including a record number of visits: a record for this site.
• two day old apple proved successful at the river site (there was not a follow up strike on the compost site, which there is currently not a camera monitoring)
• the domestic cat visit was the first in a year or so, although the cat may well have been passing through the site and did not linger as it has done in the past
• the capture at the river was the first since November 17th and camera footage would show that there is a significant number of possum activity in this riparian planting area
• the rat is the first HD video footage that we have recorded, although there has been activity here in the past.   It was interesting to see that the rat did not react to the possum noise and also was clearly in the vicinity at the same time as the possums.

Five Consecutive Night: Fourth Possum Capture

This is currently an extremely active series of captures at deployment site one using a Timms Possum Trap modified with the sound lure at the back, and the speaker connected directly to the back of the possum trap.   Concerns that the noise might be too loud and acting as some form of deterrent can, we believe be put to rest as at this location we have had the fourth possum capture in the past five nights.

It has been five nights since the modified trap was placed in the location, replacing previous lures that were used to monitor the level of possum activity in the area.

The five tracks currently in use and all generic possum sounds, played at one minute intervals by the solar powered sound lure which has been operating with its technical components outside for two years.   We have now caught three males and a female at this location since Friday.

There is also been clear evidence with this capture of additional possum activity following the capture as another animal has been present to pull fur from the deceased animal.  

Again we have seen evidence of this repeatedly during the monitoring of the sites where we have had captures of an animal and then additional animals have arrived at the site to attack the dead animal, which we have seen both in possums and rats.

The sound lure has continued to operate after the capture of the animal and continue to generate a sound profile with the potential to bring other animals into the area.   There is the possibility of combining the trap with a self setting device to look at seeing if multiple animals could potentially be trapped.

Fourth Consecutive Night: Third Possum Capture

This is the fourth consecutive night of a strike on the Timms that is operating in conjunction with the sound lure.   Over the last four nights we have caught now two males, a female and had a third strike where the animal escaped.

This site shows the unit which was pulled from the ground during the capture, the sound lure is under the plastic container which is on the top of the stoat box (which has still not had a strike in a month).

There was no evidence of interference with the possum after it was caught and the bait from the trapping was still visible inside the trap.   All other details about the capture such as the programme (coding) and unit details are correct and similar to other posts in this series from this week.    Weather has remained fine during this period.   This is currently the most successful run at this location over the past two years, although we have successfully used a range of traps at this location.

Second/Third Consecutive Night: Timms Success

 

For the third consecutive night we have had success at the location where we have been again focussing on the sound lure combined with a Timms trap.

Update: Monday 8th November (Day Three).  There was a further activation overnight, which was clearly a possum strike on the Timms trap, in this instance the trap was activated, the bucket had moved with the pins pulled up and the bait removed - this has been seen before when a possum activates the trap and then subsequently escapes.

Night Two Summary

In the photo you can see the sound lure immediately behind the Timms trap, were it is linked to trap.  Next to the Timms is the stoat box which is still baited with salted rabbit to target stoats.

A smaller female has been caught, interestingly the bait in the Timms trap was not present suggesting that another animal or this animal had removed it, but then continued to interact in the trap resulting in its removal.

Incredibly frustratingly we cannot answer the question with absolute certainty as the event was being monitored by a trail camera that despite prior testing did not operate (record) as had been anticipated.   This is our final operational HD Video camera and until we repair our current stock or replace it (which is challenging as we have spent our funding and currently winding the project up).   Our project funding closed and we are currently trying to maintain the project on cameras that were initially purchased two years ago.

However if we reflect on our goal from the past two weeks and answering the question of a deterrent we can state the following.

Brush tailed possums were clearly active in the area when the sound lure was operating from inside the DOC 200.  There was interest shown in the unit when it operated but the possums did not show signs of stress or a change in behaviour when the unit operated (such as stopping feeding or showing signs of aggression),   This behaviour was repeated over several nights, including what appeared to be the same animals return to the site repeatedly.   We can surmise the unit did not repel animals during this time.  There was limited food placed around the trap to see if the animals would feel safe enough to feed when the unit was operating.

Brush tailed possums were clearly active in the area where the sound lure was operating from inside the rat box.  We saw evidence of repeated visits to the site from a range of animals including animals clearly remaining on the site for an extended period of time.   There was evidence of some aggressive stance from the male possums who were seen, and some evidence of behaviour leaving the site from a female and a baby.  It is possible that this was the arrival of another animal (as the timing on the camera would suggest) or the unit operating.   If animals did leave the site they appeared to reappear later in the night, and then spend extended time at the location.     We saw evidence of interest shown in the lure and also the general trap area including the possums opening the box the sound lure was hidden in.

Changing the unit set up to switch to a removal phase involved taking the unit and placing the speaker at the rear of a Timms possum trap allowed us to trap a series of possums.   

Over two (now three) consecutive nights two possums were caught, a male on Friday night and a female on Saturday.   The male showed evidence of being clawed after being caught (which would be by another male as seen before) as fur was present around the trap.   The female was caught although the bait was missing from the Timms.   The third night saw the trap clearly activated, pulled from the ground and the bait removed, however the animal (which is almost certainly a possum) was able to escape from the trap.

This is showing us that the use of the Timms to increase the sound (as it echoes inside the bucket) making the noise louder is not deterring the animals from the site.   This is two consecutive captures a a third nearly clearly occurred over three consecutive nights.

It is very frustrating from our point of view that technical issues with the trail camera has prevented us from recording the interactions on the final phase of the trapping - while we would not have posted the footage here on this public blog for obvious reasons we would have had some more conclusive evidence to ask our short term focus question.   This would reinforce what the evidence from the last two years has strongly suggested to us about the viability of the unit and the potential affect that it has had.

I finally feel again compelled to remind everyone that this entire research and operation is being run on a part time basis by (primarily) two people operating in their 'spare' time.    This is not being conducted as a full time scientific investigation and I would suggest that these results are open to interpretation.

Timms Trap and Sound Lure Success

 

As noted previously we have started to experiment specifically with HD video and the sound lure to determine what specifically brush tailed possums might be reacting to with the sounds from the sound lure.

It has been suggested that the sound lure, while designed to attract pest animals to the site of traditional traps could be instead acting as a deterrent to cause animals to avoid the location.  For the previous week and a half we have been deploying a HD Camera to help us answer this question and using a basic analysis of the video to note the response of the animals when the unit activates.   During this time we have seen clear evidence of multiple visits to the site during the evening by a number of brush tailed possum.   There has been a mother and a baby and at least two distinct males returning to the site.   The unit has played repeatedly during this time and there have been up to eight activations in a night.   

Previously we have not focussed on attempting to trap any possums at this location - we have simply been trying to determine if we can answer the question and test or note their reaction to the sound being activated (as noted it is on a one minute delay).   The sound lure was previously located inside of the DOC200 (see picture) however we for the first time switched it to placing it inside a Timms possum trap.   We used an electric drill to make an opening in the back of the Timms, which the speaker was directly attached to unit - this had the effect of acting to amplify the sound considerably.

Rather frustratingly the trap work perfectly.   The frustrating part of this was that the camera that was monitoring the unit did not.  We made a capture at the location of a significant male (buck) possum.

There was additional evidence of a further possum attack - which we have repeatedly seen, where a dead possum has been attacked by a second possum as there was ripped fur around the capture, again this frustratingly was not recorded as the camera was not able to record it.   

Once again I feel compelled to point out that this is a single location where we are merely testing our equipment to get it to the point that we can be confident that it is operating as we intended.   We would like to make the technology and the experience that we have had available for wider use and the data and information likewise.

Back to the original question that we are currently focussed on answering.   We have had multiple activations at our site over an increasing period of time.  We have had some limited evidence of possums leaving the site when the unit activates, however in every case we can then see them return and we are having multiple visits during the course of an evening.  

Obviously we have to look at our capture rate with the Timms trap, but one would suggest the fact that a capture was made, and at least one additional possum was present (as evidenced by the fur from the first possum) and again this would suggest that the lure is not acting as a deterrent.

Moving forward we will continue to monitor the site and look at adjust the camera footage recording so that it operates successfully.  We are not going to simply upload hours of footage that we already have showing the lure/possum interactions as we have already done with some parts, however that is available on request.