On the 30th of March 2011 I recorded something sniffing and checking out my recorder at my main research area. Now when I place out remote recorders they are usually an object of interest by the forest critters. Most of the time I assume it is raccoons, possums or even field mice.

This audio was a little different and made me wonder if it wasn’t something a little larger. It had a long approach getting to the recorder and leaving. Also heard are several different types of owls, coyotes and the long rumble of a train. I could not filter at all because it would lose those lower sounds. The best way to listen to this sound is with headphones and the volume turned up. Although the subject was very close to the microphone the noises it made were very subtle. Is this the same way gamecams are inspected, by coming up slowly and and staying out of the front of the camera? It would be interesting to have audio recordings on those gamecams that have revealed out-of-focus fringes of hair around the edges of the vision of field.

Click here to listen to sound clip:  Sniffer 1

Waveform View

Spectral View

Location of the recorder placed underneath a log. As the small recorder was not visible to any casual passer-by my hunch is that it was detected by the animal having smelled it. None of the leaves appeared to have been moved so I would think that what ever was inspecting the recorder was careful not to touch either the recorder or the leaves that were close to it.