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A Southern California photographer and community scientist is combining his interests in wildlife and Halloween through a series of trail camera images capturing animals interacting with seasonal displays in the Santa Ana Mountains.
Photographer Mark Girardeau spent weeks setting up trail cameras to document wildlife visiting Halloween-themed scenes, including fresh pumpkins placed in the wilderness. The project resulted in footage of several animals, including a mountain lion, gray fox, bobcat and deer.
“I was very excited because it took 2 months just to get what I got there,” Girardeau said.
Girardeau said capturing the images required patience and favorable conditions.
“The animals have to come by, they have to go the right direction and everything has to be working so its rare all those things come together,” he said. “I was lucky in two months time I even got five animals.”
Among the footage, a gray fox appeared to pause for a close-up view of the camera, while a bobcat and a deer were also recorded investigating the display.
Beyond the mountain wildlife, Girardeau also documents marine life off the Southern California coast. He recently captured footage of a pod of eastern tropical Pacific orcas hunting dolphins. Among the orcas were a mother and her newborn calf.
“Its always nice to see any baby animal but a baby killer whale is really precious and that thing was tiny, really little, staying right next to mom the whole time,” Girardeau said.
Girardeau said his goal is to help people see wildlife they might not otherwise encounter, particularly animals that are often feared.
“I just love being able to capture video and photos of cool animals people don’t get to see especially predator animals like killer whales, sharks mountain lions.. all these animals people are generally scared of,” he said.
Whether documenting marine life or creating a Halloween-themed wildlife scene in the Southern California wilderness, Girardeau said the work is driven by a passion for sharing images of animals in their natural environments.
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