Oko Topa

Monday, Mar 15 to Sunday, Mar 21, 2021: high 72, low 25, gust 41 mph, moisture 0.12"

Wednesday morning twenty-two elks jumped the south fence into the sanctuary. The spent the day lounging around, eating and drinking. Then late afternoon they meandered to the north beyond the Turtle Pond before returning to around the Frog Pond. Really enjoyed their presence and was thrilled to see them playing and performing just before settling in for the night. The next morning it appeared one was inspecting the trail camera, so i got the binoculars to watch and discovered that the camera was unhooked from its case, and was swinging on its hinges. So quickly headed down to fasten it, and that caused the elks to make a hasty departure to the south. Here is a series of photos of the unfastening. 

Above: Here, entering from the left, is the curious elk.

Below: This is her left ear. She is nudging the camera off-kilter.

Now she has it really off-kilter!

Below: Yikes! She is in the process of unfastening the camera from its case.

Below: The camera is swinging open, causing the grass to be elongated in the image.

Below: The camera swung 180 degrees, so was pointing back toward the tree that it is mounted on. She somehow unfastened the camera in under four minutes without damaging it.