You never know what's going to happen in this canyon. Months ago, before we got any rain, I placed one of my rubber tubs out there so there was at least intermittent water available to the wildlife. A cow managed to dump the tub once, but usually it had water in it. When I got down there to check on the camera last Monday, after three weeks, I saw that the tub was gone. I figured, with some of the recent heavy rain in the area, that a flash flood had taken it away, though I hadn't expected the creek to be that high. After a little searching I found it some ways down the canyon, perched precariously across two boulders and full of water.

But when I got home to view the videos, I discovered that wasn't the whole story. There were some interesting videos early on, beginning with a coyote that sees the tub for the first time and nearly faints before approaching it with tentative jerks to sniff it. The ringtails always investigate it, and the big one usually takes a drink. Foxes don't drink from it when there's fresh water flowing. The bear took a long drink before climbing onto the tub with three feet to poke its nose into the dirt above it; as it moves on it shoots a glance at the camera, which tells me the camera is not new to it (otherwise there would have been mischief and a camera aimed in a different direction).

Then arrives a young bull, who gets a drink and licks the inside of the tub before spying a piece of duct tape on one handle that I KNEW I should remove, but that was mostly because it was too reflective at night. The bull calmly lifts the tub by that handle and sets it in the creek bed, dumping the last of the water. The next videos show animals who are used to the tub being on a platform of small rocks above the bed discovering that it has moved, and they don't like it. The fox gooses around at a distance and won't approach the tub. The ringtails investigate the new location and then go to check the old (other animals did the same thing). In the final photo, and I apologize for its crummy quality, the rock squirrel, who is the tub's biggest fan and drinks from it constantly, puts its forefeet and teeth on the rim of the tub and, I swear, tries to tug on it, as if to return it to its proper location.

Although I did get videos of a minor flash flood, the moment when the tub was swept away did not get recorded. After all the other activity, it might have been anticlimactic anyway!

I enjoyed the saga and the wonderful captures, SWFeral. Both are very interesting.