Aspen Biologists Track Wildlife Movement In The Prado Basin

Under the new Santa Ana River monitoring contract with the United States Army Corps of Engineers, Aspen recently used several Reconyx HyperfireTM HC 600 trail cameras to monitor wildlife usage in and around the Prado Basin near Corona, CA. These hi-tech cameras are outfitted with a no-glow infrared technology that eliminates the red glow of older cameras when capturing photos in low-light or nighttime conditions. These cameras have the ability to snap up to two frames per second, in 1080P high-definition. Along with the time and date, the cameras also record the air temperature, which can help in assessing different levels of wildlife activity.

The cameras have been in place for almost a year and have captured a suite of large and small mammals as well as several avian species. Although they were already known to occur in the basin, the cameras have helped to document and estimate the size of the wild pig (Sus scrofa) population within the area. By far the most common species observed have been coyotes (Canis latrans), some of which have shown great interest in the cameras. At one location a small songbird became infatuated with the camera, which resulted in more than 250 photos being shot in one afternoon. The use of the cameras has provided not only documentation of species within the basin but has provided valuable information relating to where wildlife is moving within and/or through the basin (i.e., dam crossing locations), which would have been extremely costly to establish using onsite field biologists.