[Animals] At-home trail cameras: Capturing the secret animal reality show in your own back garden

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An online community has erupted around people filming wildlife with backyard trail cameras, complete with dollhouse furniture film sets. It's not just cute: the videos are uncovering animal secrets for biologists. Growing up in Los Angeles, I mostly ignored nature. "I'm a city person" I'd say to anyone who tried to drag me on a hike. But during lockdown, I noticed finches nesting on my balcony. I hung bird feeders and downloaded an app to ID bird calls, hoping for something to keep me away from doomscrolling. The finches made for a soothing distraction, but things really changed when I spotted a cute "critter cam" account on social media. People weren't just feeding birds, they were filming them – even setting out a tiny hot tub for the birds to splash around in. I became obsessed. I bought a generic trail camera on Amazon to put in my yard. In a matter of days, I'd plunged into the lives of my neighbourhood skunks, squirrels and possums, a nature-made reality show unfolding in the bushes of my own garden. Depending on where you live, there's probably a whole parallel universe of animal life right outside your window. All it takes is a little spy craft, and thanks to the proliferation of cheap cameras, a bustling po[CENSORED]tion of critter enthusiasts has emerged online.But this growing body of at-home wildlife footage is good for more than a quick hit of cuteness-driven dopamine. The animal videos people are sharing on social media are shifting perceptions about urban wildlife, fostering supportive communities and even impacting conservation efforts. "My game cams bring me closer to the animals with whom I share this ecosystem," says Eric Aldrich, who runs an at-home trail camera account from his home in Tucson, Arizona. "And when I share what my cameras capture with others – on social media, in meeting halls, in the desert and the mountains – my human neighbours feel closer, too." From online hobbyist to citizen science On his half-acre of land that borders a dry watercourse, Aldrich has three solar-powered trail cameras. Originally po[CENSORED]rised by hunters and researchers, trail cameras have infrared light motion sensors that are triggered, ideally, when an animal walks past. "I set mine to the highest-quality video setting and keep my [motion] sensitivity low because I don't want blades of grass or a bug setting it off," Aldrich says. Once a month, Aldrich reviews the footage and edits together a narrated video that he shares on YouTube, Instagram and in a trail camera Reddit group. The regular cast of characters include packs of peccary – an herbivore that resembles a wild boar, also known as a javelina – deer, rabbits, coyotes, quail and nectar-feeding bats. But it was Aldrich's footage of a bobcat in a radio collar that cemented his status as an honorary research assistant.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240822-at-home-trail-cameras-capturing-the-secret-animal-reality-show-in-your-own-back-garden