Camera trapping the pine marten

The spring of 2020, I had my photo blind tent set up in a local forest to do some bird photography. I had eurasian jays, redpolls, song thrushes and blackbirds as regular visitors.

Then one morning when arriving at the site, I noticed some droppings on the forest floor where I had regularly put out bird seeds. I came to the conclusion that the pine marten most likely had been visiting at night.

So I got my trail camera set up, and not many days passed before I got the confirmation: the pine marten was certainly the culprit. He visited the sites several nights, and I could start planning on how to get pictures of this beautiful animal.

A waiting game

My first strategy was simple: place some bait (figs and honey seemed to work), sit in the hide before dusk, and hopefully get a glimpse of it before it got too dark. After some attempts, I figured out that this was not the right strategy for this individual. He usually came out in the middle of the night.

Then I started looking into camera trap systems and thought I might give this a shot. I needed an infrared sensor, flashes, a camera I was willing to leave out in the woods, and a great deal of patience.

Luckily there are several systems for camera trapping on the marked, and I went ahead and bought a Camtraptions PIR sensor, along with triggers for firing flashes. After reading a lot about the subject, Nikon SB 28 was without a doubt the preferred flash for camera trapping, as it has a long stand by time and can be ready to flash even after a long sleep period. I found two of them on eBay in good condition.

Next, I had to find a way to keep the gear weather proof. At a local hardware store I picked up a couple of Pelican style cases with foam inserts. I cut a square hole in them and glued a piece of clear acryllic as a window for the flash. On the top of the cases I screwed in clamps so I could hang them on a branch.

Now I had two cases with an SB 28 in each, coupled with a wireless receiver.

I had an old DSLR which was put to use for this project. In my third case I drilled out a large circular hole, and glued on a piece of plumbing tube to act as a lens hood. I then peeled away enough foam to have the camera placed firmly inside. Another wireless receiver got connected to the camera. This would receive the signal from the Camtraptions sensor, and fire the camera.

On the hot shoe of the camera, I put my wireless trigger on same channel (2) as the flashes. So the sensor would fire the camera on channel one, the camera would fire the flashes on channel two.

Getting the settings right

The first nights I tried my setup, there was a great deal of trial and error. To find the correct settings for the sensitivity, luminance threshold and in the end expore and flash settings was not easy. The pine marten did come to the site, and did indeed trigger the infrared sensor. It was a great feeling to see the images when checking the camera, but it also gave me a lot to work on.

The pine marten on two legs in front of the camera trap.

As a starting point, I set my camera in manual mode at aperture 8, 1/60 of a second and ISO 400. The flashes were set at 1/4 and 1/8 power, and placed as high as I could reach over the feeding site.

The trail camera above shows the pine marten standing on the hine legs. Luckily, the camera traps also captured this.

The pine marten standing on the hine legs, in the rain.

Although not the greatest environment, and rain drops illuminated by the flash, this is a picture I was very pleased with. All my efforts had finally generated a result, and I was eager to improve myself.

The first thing I realized, was that I needed another location with some more interesting environment surrounding the animal. I moved my setup a short distance, and found a great spot near a creek.

Pine martens have a great sense of smell, and the figs and honey I put out would surely bring him to the new location. Some weeks later, he finally arrived again. Again I got pictures of him on two legs. This time it was dry weather, and he was looking even more beautiful in this shot, where I also managed to get some of the forest in the background.

The pine marten at the new location.

To be able to get more of the background, I reduced my shutter speed to 1/40 of a second and bumped my ISO to 800. And this time I did do a lot more testing of the setup in the darkness, to truly get an idea of how the exposures would turn out.

I have hundreds of pictures where the pine marten is in the frame, but only a cople where he is looking up and is turned the right way around. I guess this is the back side of remotely and automated photography. You have only so much control of the scene. The rest is pure luck.

Batteries are draining

But I did not want to stop here. I continued putting out food, checking my cameras and my flashes. And what I noticed over time was that batteries certainly don't last forever. I have had flashes being drained for power, and that will effectively ruin a shot.

Again, I went online and looked at how to extend the battery life for my gear. My Nikon SB 28s could easily be modded to be powered by 4 x D cell batteries. And Camtraptions have D-cell adapters for their triggers. After a redesign of my setup, I am now powering my flashes and triggers with "dummy" D-cell batteries, which holds 3 rechargable Eneloop batteries.

So one flash is powered by 4 x D-cell adapters containing 3 Eneloop batteries. 12 in total. And each trigger is powered by 2 x D-cell adapters containing 3 Eneloop batteries, 6 in total. I also power my sensor with Eneloops, so that all my gear is running on rechargable power.

On the log

With renewed enthusiasm, I found another site in the same forest where I once again had spotted some droppings. Here there was this dead tree fallen over, creating a nice place for the marten to climb on. I rigged my setup around the three, and sure enough - the very same pine marten was back again!

I recognized him from before because of the little dent in his right ear. It had been many weeks since I photographed him, and I was so happy so see him back again.

Pine marten on a fallen log.

Here he is very close to the 28mm lens, and he has gotten used to the flashes firing in the darkness of the night. But I ensure to set my ISO high enough so I can run my flashes at a fairly low setting. This I believe is better for the animal, and sure is better for the batteries.

From passive to active infrared

As I mentioned earlier, getting a passive infrared sensor dieled in correctly is difficult. They work by registering movement and temperature changes within a field. On the Camtraption sensor you can narrow this field by turning a couple of doors to act like a shield. I wanted to test out a more precice sensor, and heard good things about the Cognisys Scout active infrared.

This sensor setup has one transmitter and one receiver. The transmitter shoots a beam that is received by the receiver when the two units are aligned. The receiver is then connected to the camera, and can be easily set up to take X amount of pictures on each trigger, and with a delay between each shot. Configuration and setup of the Scout was very easy and could be more specifically targeted at one small spot.

So I wanted to test this on a nice mossy log. I wanted to get a picture of the marten climbing on the log, and pointed the beam at exactly this spot. The very next day, I was happy to see that not only had I got the pine marten on the log, but he was airborn as well!

Pine marten does a little jump on the mossy log.

To this day this is the best moment I have captured of the pine marten using my camera trap setup. I have learned a lot, not only about the animal, but also about how important it is to have a plan before setting up a lot of gear and hoping for the best.

Ligthing, location and exposure testing is the three main thing I would suggest you focus on when putting out your camera trap. The award is - if you succeed - truly unique images of wildlife we don't often see in daylight.