20200118: Silver Valley Backyard Wildlife

Until around 2017 or so we noticed our dogs would spend copious amounts of time when we'd take them out sniffing what seemed to be every blade of grass in our backyard. In 2018 I installed several motion-sensitive IR-lighting cameras around the house, including one in our backyard. Over the next two years we were astounded by the nightlife experienced in our back yard (we border a greenbelt with woods and park to the north of us)! This video consists of some 50 or so individual 20 second+ video clips captured by our Arlo cam located on the back patio. We also have a motion-sensitive lighting system that results in lights turned on after dark adding to the total illumination when motion is detected.

The Arlo cam (1920x1080 res), when sensing motion of objects even as small as a bug, bird, or squirrel, immediately begins to capture both audio and video. The camera's night time IR illuminated videos are much better when the moving object also triggers our additional outdoor lighting at the same time...more light, better video. Sometimes the smaller animals don't get into the "field of view" of the additional lighting's sensor, so the Arlo shoots video using just using its built-in night-time IR illumination...sans color.

If anyone living in our neighborhood has lost a cat or small dog...it may well have been that it fell prey to one of our backyard critters! NEVER let your small pets or children run loose in the Silver Valley Greenbelt at night!