Louie's Wildlife Cameras

01/09/2025

Bobcat in Southeast Michigan! This capture is pretty rare for Southern Michigan due to the challenges bobcats have faced from European settlement and habitat fragmentation. I have been monitoring this location for over 2 years now waiting for a cat to visit. This set-up is on a log that leads to a vernal pool, where many raccoons, squirrels, chipmunks and birds visit. Based on bobcat habitat type, I thought this log was a perfect place for a camera when I scouted 25 miles of Waterloo along the Waterloo-Pinckney Trail. What I find extremely interesting is the bobcat range map for North America, nearly the entire United States is considered bobcat range except southern MN, WI and MI...but why??? My thoughts are that bobcats can adapt to the fragmented agriculture/forest habitat type these southern parts of the states have, but bobcats haven't quite filled that gap. My guess is that it's taking some time for them to fill these areas, but are slowly making their way. The next question is...are these cats coming from the north or south?

11/20/2024

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I started using trail cameras during the COVID-19 pandemic as an additional way to view wildlife around my hometown in Southern Michigan. Since then, my passion for wildlife cameras has skyrocketed. During my free time, I enjoy using cameras to view wildlife for recreational viewing. On my channel,....

11/20/2024

Relaunching my YouTube channel (Link is in my bio). If you could do me a favor and hit subscribe, that'll help me get my channel up and running! I wanted a better platform to post all my trail camera videos instead of just short clips. This year, I've been focused on transitioning from more image based content to videos. Good videos aren't easy to capture, lots of effort, trial and error, but when you get that perfect video, it always pays off. Here are some of my favorite video clips I've captured! I'm excited to see where work takes me in the future, as I'll bring this hobby right along with me.

09/02/2024

Some favorites from my parent's property in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan from late-May to Aug. A good amount of healthy deer, 2 sets of fawns (a single and twins), low amount of coyote, no red fox (new since I've been monitoring the property for 4 years), and multiple gray fox sightings! This spring/summer, I've really been interested in the pair of gray foxes and wild turkey with poults that are both new additions to the property since 2020.

08/26/2024

Finishing up my first field season with the Michigan DNR! I'm excited to share some pictures and updates with our current research projects! Spent the last 2-3 months, primarily working on 2 black bear projects (Drummond Island & Baldwin Bear Management Unit). Our main goals for Drummond Island is to understand bear movement on an island system, while estimating abundance to properly manage harvest regulations. Bears haven't been captured on the island since the 1980s, so its been a great learning experience so far! The current harvest on the island is 6 bears, but nuisance complaints have increased within the last couple of years, which makes the need for research a high priority. In the Baldwin Management Unit, we are collaborating with Utah State University for similar goals with a human dimensions twist to the project, excited to see the results of that project in the years to come!

06/26/2024

Another wetland camera check! One of my favorite spots, because of the variety and species that aren't often captured on trail cameras. A little mix of everything: Canada geese and their goslings, great blue herons (carrying sticks likely for nesting), white-tailed deer, sandhill cranes and a newborn c**t, along with a coyote likely searching for an easy waterfowl meal along the edge of this wetland.

06/12/2024

I spent my last month in the Upper Peninsula scouting and setting cameras for North American river otter! Some of my friends were scouting beaver/wetland habitat for trapping season and saw an "otter latrine". Otter latrines are areas used for social reasons and communication. S**t, "otter jelly", and a**l gland secretions are often found at latrines (see the last image).