RMK’s nature camera watching badgers’ lives 11.06
RMK’s nature camera on Saaremaa, which was observing the life of deer last winter, has now been shifted and set up near a badger den. So far, the doings and goings of two badgers have been captured by the camera’s eye; it is not clear yet whether the badger couple will be having any offspring this year.
“So far, there have been no sightings of cubs; however, it is not impossible that all of a sudden spotted little badgers will stick their heads out of the den in front of the camera,” speculated Tiit Hunt, a zoologist and nature photographer who comments on the badgers’ daily routine and other events in nature on the nature observation blog “Laantest lagedateni” (From wilderness to clearings) on RMK’s website.
The badger may give birth to cubs from March to early May, and the period during which they will not leave their den is long. Nonetheless, the badger might not have cubs every year.
Based on a week of observation, during which the camera has been outside the badger den, Tiit Hunt recommends keeping an eye on the camera particularly between 5 AM and 7 AM and between 7 PM and 9 PM. You can watch the badger cam at www.rmk.ee; badgers’ lives in nature are not known to have been observed this way before.
From late February to mid-May this year, RMK’s nature camera was at deer feeding grounds, its field of vision capturing in addition to 11 deer also a couple of elk, a roe deer, a few wild boar, a raccoon dog couple, a fox and presumably the badgers being watched now, whose sett lies approximately 500 metres from the last location of the camera.
The purchase of a webcam was funded by RMK. It was installed and set up in collaboration with the Looduskalender.ee portal. The technical system assembled by Hatcam includes a Mobotix webcam of the new generation and employs infrared lights and an autonomous power supply solution based on solar panels.
A live image from the nature camera is available at www.rmk.ee or www.looduskalender.ee. The video stream is being transmitted via mobile towers by Teetormaja and made visible for viewers by EENet. Events captured by the camera frame may be discussed also on the Looduskalender.ee forum.
