There are quite a few wild animals in towns and neighbourhoods, although they do not come into contact with people all that often.
Life for city dwellers has become increasingly stifling under the restrictions of the coronavirus pandemic. Restaurants, entertainment venues, gyms and the like are closed, and being cooped up between four walls all the time is eventually becoming a nuisance. The only ones who are probably delighted by the pandemic restrictions are the various urban wildlife, as the general hustle and bustle has quietened down.
Unfortunately, at this time of year, the working day ends just as it gets dark outside, making it impossible to observe urban wildlife with the naked eye. That’s how the idea came about to use thermal camera (Pulsar Helion XP38), to catch a glimpse of the nightlife of the city’s animals.
Of the animals living in towns and neighbourhoods, the most common are mice, squirrels, hares and foxes. They usually go about their business quietly and unnoticed. As the favourite haunts of urban wildlife are copses, cemeteries and larger parks, we headed for the nearby park.
It would, of course, be naive to expect wild animals to be waiting for people 24 hours a day, like some sort of drive-through fast-food restaurant. That’s why I didn’t set my expectations too high, and my primary aim was simply to observe life in the park under the cover of darkness, to see if anything was happening there at all.
At first, the thermal camera picked up athletes and people walking their dogs. It seemed that wild animals weren’t roaming about quite so freely.
Lighting conditions
I stepped out of the house at around eight o’clock in the evening, when it was dark, as is typical for the last few days of March. Without street lighting, the eye wouldn’t be able to make out much. The photo below shows what the lighting conditions were like to the human eye.
The thermal camera, however, revealed a completely different picture. As the thermal camera was set to the ‘Ultramarine’ colour profile, the entire world visible through the camera was a mottled mix of blue, green, yellow and red.
The Secret Life of City Squirrels
Having walked a full circle around the park, I didn’t spot a single forest animal at first glance, either with the naked eye or using a thermal camera.
After a walk lasting over an hour, a small reddish-brown patch suddenly caught the camera’s eye, suggesting that it might be an animal. The animal’s shape and behaviour pointed to a badger.
The grasshopper had settled down right by the footpath to feast on the grass that had emerged from under the snow thanks to the spring thaw. It soon became clear that it was not alone; in a slightly shadier spot, another grasshopper was feasting on the grass that had been thawed out by the spring sunshine.
The hares didn’t let the people and cars passing by bother them too much, but they weren’t completely careless either, so they hopped away whenever anyone got too close.
In total, four foxes were spotted, and we were lucky enough to observe one of them for a little longer. But you can see more about that in the video above.
It turns out that, under cover of darkness, there’s quite a lot of activity in the city park. It must be the perfect time for a quiet treat.
It must be said that without thermal camera Without it, the little creatures scurrying about in the darkness would have gone unnoticed. A thermal camera opens up a whole new window onto the natural world around us, even for city dwellers.
- Kööpjalg – a hare in the Lüganuse dialect (Viru County).
- Põnkjalg – a hare in the Kihelkonna dialect (Saaremaa).
- Leebis – a hare in the Halliste dialect (Mulgimaa).
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