Have you ever seen a bear family digging up a wasp nest, a wolf pack chasing elk on a snowy night, or a badger digging up rodents? These are exceedingly rare sights even for experienced wildlife trackers and photographers, and yet they are all within reach of anyone with a low-cost trail camera, patience, and an interest in learning more about these species.
In our series, Trail Cameras and Custom Camera Traps, our goal is to provide hobbyists, citizen scientists, wildlife educators, photographers, hunters, and biologists with the critical information needed to capture compelling wildlife photos and explore wildlife behavior through the responsible and ethical use of camera traps.
This second book in the series and first volume of the species guides includes range maps, track and sign descriptions and photographs, behavior, and camera placement tips for 17 species/families found in western North America. Covered species include canids (wolf, coyote, gray fox, red fox, kit fox), mustelids (small weasels, mink, river otter, marten, wolverine, badger) as well as skunks, ringtail, and white-nosed coati.
We focus on bringing together camera-trapping relevant information typically found only in multiple field guides, along with practical advice, examples, photographs, and illustrations to put this advice in context. The "Camera Trapping Tips" sections for each species include examples of open research questions that could be answered by an intrepid camera trapper.
As a bonus feature, all books in this series feature a pair of embedded video clips, presented as flip art in in bottom corners of the pages.
The 3rd book in this series will cover additional North American species, including felids (mountain lion, lynx and bobcat), ungulates (deer, elk, moose, mountain goat, big horn sheep, and pronghorn), rodents (kangaroo rats, wood rats, prairie dogs, marmots, porcupine, and beaver), and pikas.
Janet Pesaturo is a conservation biologist by training, a Level III Cyber Tracker, a camera trapper, and a wildlife educator. She has taught several workshops, and given many walks and talks on wildlife tracking and camera trapping. She has written blog posts on animal behavior based on tracking and camera trapping data and she has a published scientific article. The latter describes previously undocumented scent marking behaviors of mammals based on camera trapping data.
Robert Zak is a consultant, blogger, and developer of camera trapping hardware and software. Bob retired from Intel in 2022, where he was a Fellow and recognized export in networking for high performance computing systems. Bob is coauthor of several published papers, including and award-winning foundation paper in parallel computing He holds more than a dozen US patents.
"This is far more than a guide to camera trapping, it's a field guide to finding, understanding, and successfully photographing North America's wildlife. Drawing on the authors' extensive field experience, it combines tracking, behavior, camera placement, and proven techniques into a comprehensive resource that gives you the knowledge to make better sets and come home with better images. There's simply nothing else quite like it." — Casey Anderson, Wildlife Filmmaker & National Geographic Explorer
"This book offers a clear, well‑researched overview of the region's selected wildlife species. It focuses on the most useful animal behavior and identification details, including tracks, signs, and habitat—without unnecessary fluff. With its balanced mix of scientific accuracy, practical field tips, and helpful images, it's a valuable reference for both new and experienced camera-trappers and wildlife enthusiasts. I learned some fascinating information by reading it." — Mike Taras, Tracker, biologist, wildlife education & outreach with Alaska Dept Fish & Game
