An Automatic Camera Device for Recording Wildlife Activity

The design and construction of the photo-recorder described here were prompted by the need to make continuous records of small mammal and bird activity where the presence of an observer or traps would involve undesired variables and costly expenditure of time. The recorder had to be completely portable, compact, and capable of operating several consecutive days without attention. 0. P. Pearson (1959. A traffic survey of Microtus-Reithrodontomys runways. J. Mamm., 40:169-180) has described and illustrated the use of such a device, but it requires a 110-volt A.C. power source and hence is not truly portable. Also we felt prospective users might desire a more detailed description to aid them in constructing such an apparatus. We have seen other plans for automatic tripping of the camera shutter (see, e.g., Gysel, L. W., and E. M. Davis, Jr. 1956. A simple automatic photographic unit for wildlife research. J. Wildl. Mgmt., 20:451-453, and references cited therein), but these do not include an automatic film advance mechanism.