A wildlife photographer set up a night vision camera after he noticed objects in his shed being tidied up overnight — he discovered a mouse was doing the cleaning.

Rodney Holbrook from Wales, U.K., tells the BBC that the tidying has been going on for two months. Infrared footage shows the mouse, which Holbrook has nicknamed Welsh Tidy Mouse, picking up pegs, tubs, cable ties, corks, cups, and bolts and placing them neatly into a tray.

“At first, I noticed that some food that I was putting out for the birds was ending up in some old shoes I was storing in the shed, so I set up a camera,” Holbrook tells the BBC.

“Ninety-nine times out of 100 the mouse will tidy up throughout the night. It is incredible really that they put them all back in the box, I think it’s possible that they enjoy it.”

Why is the Mouse Tidying His Shed?

Holbrook, 75, doesn’t believe the mouse is doing chores out of the goodness of his little heart: he suspects the mouse is using the objects to hide nuts. He has even begun experimenting to see what the mouse can lift and place in the box.

“He moved all sorts of things into the box, bits of plastic, nuts and bolts. I don’t bother to tidy up now, as I know he will see to it” he says.

“I leave things out of the box and they put it back in its place by the morning. Nearly all of the time he will tidy up throughout the night. I think he would tidy my wife away if I left her in there.”

Holbrook has a Flickr page where he shares his wildlife photos of birds, insects, and small mammals.

Not the First Time a Mouse Has Been Caught Tidying Up

In 2019, a similar incident occurred in nearby Bristol, England, when a viral video showed a mouse “stockpiling” items in a shed.

Steven Mckears thought he had a poltergeist after screws and metal objects kept being put back in a box. He set up a camera and discovered a mouse was responsible.

Wolf packs are an essential part of the species of gray wolves. The animal’s population has steadily increased over recent years with efforts to protect the endangered species. One place that has seen conservation efforts pay off is Yellowstone National Park. More than 100 wolves now call the park home. 

Taylor Rabe, a wolf technician and wildlife photographer who works in Yellowstone, captures the wolves on hunts and their daily lives. Recently, she managed to snag videos of two separate packs meeting in confrontation.

The post is several videos of a pack of wolves known as the Mollies. Rabe says the group headed north and ended up in the territory of another pack known as Junction Butte.

At first, some of the wolves were happy to see one another, as some of the Mollies wolves were born into Junction Butte. However, wolves are fiercely territorial, and eventually, the scene gets a bit more chaotic in the later clips.

Rabe says in the end, no wolves ended up hurt. After the chaos, each wolf returned to their pack. As someone who studies wolves, Rabe says the upcoming mating season will bring more scenes like this.

“As breeding season approaches, we will continue to see wolves coming and going from packs, looking for potential mates, with lots of amped up hormones and emotions. The best time of year,” wrote Rabe in her post.

Wolves of Yellowstone National Park

According to the National Park Service, the size of a wolf pack can vary depending on the amount of prey. More food means more wolves. In Yellowstone, the wolf packs average just under 12 wolves per pack. Most packs are made up of wolves that are related in some way. The efforts of reintroducing wolves in Yellowstone have led to a lot of new research and findings. 

“Research in Yellowstone since reintroduction has highlighted the adaptive value of social living in wolves—from cooperative care of offspring, group hunting of large prey, defense of territory and prey carcasses, and even survival benefits to infirmed individuals,” according to the NPS website.

Using radio collars, researchers can also document the different territories wolves call home.

Here is Yellowstone’s map as of 2021:

In the top right corner, you can see the Mollies and Junction Butte territory and how easy it is for these two sets of wolves to come together.

SELAC

The North Smithfield School District’s Special Education Local Advisory Committee will hold its quarterly meeting virtually on Tuesday, Jan. 9 starting at 6:30 p.m. For more information visit https://linktr.ee/nsselac or email nsselac@gmail.com.

Get the Lead Out

A free seminar for investors, contractors, landlords and property managers will be held at Good Working at 585 Smithfield Ave. starting at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 11. Professionals from Russo & Lough, PC will discuss the new lead law going into effect in Rhode Island in September and answer questions. No registration is required.

Pantry needs cereal

The North Smithfield Food Pantry has announced that pick-up dates will be held on Saturdays, Jan. 20 and 27 at 10 a.m. and Tuesdays, Jan. 23 and 30 at 5:30 p.m. The Food Pantry is for North Smithfield residents and you must have a photo ID and a bill that confirms your address. It is located at the Slatersville Congregational Church UCC on the Common.

For questions call (401) 678-0356.

For the month of January, the pantry is seeking donations of cereal, tuna and pasta shapes.

Winter Photography

Ok, it’s out of town, just barely, but the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor will host a Winter Photography Walk at the Blackstone Gorge on Saturday, Jan. 13 from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Walk the gorge and learn how to take great photographs in wintertime. The short hike will be led by a park ranger from the Blackstone Valley National Historical Park and a photographer in the Volunteers-In-Parks program.

Participants are advised to bring water and come dressed for the weather. The gorge is located at the end of County Street in Blackstone, Mass., off Route 122.

Town meetings

The Multi-generational Committee will hold a meeting on Monday, Jan. 8 starting at 6:45 p.m. at Town Hall at 83 Green St. The agenda is here.

The North Smithfield Zoning Board will hold a meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 9 starting at 7 p.m. at Town Hall at 83 Green St. The agenda is here.

The North Smithfield Town Council will hold a special meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 10 starting at 7 p.m. at Town Hall at 83 Green St. The agenda is here.

The North Smithfield Planning Board will not hold its regular meeting on Thursday, Jan. 11.

It’s not uncommon to look at a picture of yourself and not like the way that you look. However, most of us would assume that we would look pretty good if those photos were taken by a professional photographer.

One woman who’s married to a professional photographer doesn’t think so, however — but her husband is explaining why.

A photographer from Sydney shared why he doesn’t take good photos of his wife.

Australian photographer Adrian Magno recently shared a special anniversary video for his wife on Instagram. In the video, he featured pictures and video clips of his wife and their family with a touching voiceover.

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“If you hate the way your boyfriend or husband takes photos of you, I can explain why,” he began.

Although Magno is a professional photographer, he argued that his words hold true for all significant others, regardless of their skills with a camera.

“You know you’re falling in love with someone when you’re drawn to the things that others would consider unattractive,” Magno said. “Their stubbornness, the way they breathe when they sleep, the way their hair stands in the morning. The way their clothes smell after a long day or how they eat really loudly.”

According to Magno, the things that stand out to him about his wife are not what’s conventionally attractive. He argued that this is true for all partners.

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He believes that, once you fall in love with someone, the things that stand out to you are not what would stand out to someone else.

It’s things that only you notice about that special person.

Magno acknowledged that he is a good photographer who knows the tools of his trade well. But, this has not changed the way his wife feels about the pictures he takes of her. “Despite spending years learning about lighting, composition and posing, and literally winning awards in making girls look pretty on their wedding day, my wife still hates the way I take photos of her,” he said.

Magno explained that he feels he doesn’t know how to make his wife look her best because she always looks beautiful to him. Continuing, he said, “The reason for this is, unlike all the other women I have no affection for who have had hours of makeup and hair, in the most expensive dress they’ll ever wear, I’ve at least developed an understanding of how to make them look their best. But the problem is, when you’re looking at someone you’re in love with, it gets harder to discern what makes her look good or bad.”

“After 12 years, I literally don’t know which side is her side because they both look beautiful to me,” he said. “Every mole, every imperfection, every little thing she hates about herself, those aren’t just the things I love. Those are my favorite things about her because that’s what makes her her. That’s what makes her mine.”

Magno finished off his video with a sweet sign-off.

“After seven years of marriage, I can still say for certain my photos of you still suck, and I couldn’t be any prouder. Happy anniversary,” he said.

Many fellow Instagram users were touched by Magno’s sweet, vulnerable thoughts. “This is so beautiful, it made me cry,” one person commented. “This video is so insanely raw and beautiful,” wrote another.

However, not everyone was so quick to find sweet sentiments in Magno’s words. “I am willing to bet she’s told you what she wants in a photo and you could use that info to take pictures of her she likes too,” one said. “She got mad at you didn’t she … And you’re making it up to her with this video?” another guessed.

Although some may question the reason for Magno’s video, his words seem genuine. It is clear that he loves his wife very much, and he believes every picture he takes of her is beautiful because she is. Perhaps we should all be a little kinder when our partners take photos of us. You never know what they see through the lens.

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Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news and human interest topics.

Bit depth is data. The higher the bit depth the more information a photo contains. High-bit depth images have more color. They are more resilient during exposure and color edits. Here are the inside details on bit depth.

What is a bit?

One bit is one-eighth of a byte. Bytes contain eight bits. A single bit is either a one or a zero.

Bit depth in depth

Bit depth in photographs is either 8-bit, 16-bit or 32-bit. The higher the bit depth, the more information in the file. Let’s start with the most basic file: a JPEG.

Every digital photograph has three channels of color: Red, green and blue. In a JPEG, each color channel has 8-bits. An 8-bit channel has 256 tones including black and white. It doesn’t seem like much but when the three channels are multiplied by each other, they yield over 16 million colors!

In a byte, each bit has an on state or 1 and an off state or 0. This has a bit depth of 1. Photographically 1 is white while 0 is black.

Bit depth expands exponentially as shown below.

JPEGs and bit depth

A JPEG file has 256 tones per RGB channel. It is perfect for printing and displaying on websites. Currently, the best printers and monitors can reproduce the color space JPEGs contain. It’s usually sRGB. I think of JPEGs as an output-only file. I almost never shoot JPEGs with my camera.

JPEGs suffer when big changes in editing happen. For example, I created these three JPEGs from the original RAW file. I set the color temperature to tungsten in Camera Raw then saved it as an 8-bit JPEG*. The first photo is super blue. Next, I used the Camera Raw filter in Photoshop to warm it to where it looks more like daylight. Compare it to the JPEG of the original capture.

*JPEGs are 8-bit only.

Editing the blue JPEG to look warmer just doesn’t work very well. Compare the center photo to the one on the right.

Higher bit depth = more headroom for editing

There are three bit depths highlighted in yellow. These are capture bit depths. The greater number of tones in these bit depths gives more leeway in postproduction.

16-bit captures are the realm of the super pricey medium format cameras like Phase One and Hasselblad. DSLR and mirrorless cameras capture in around 14-bits. My Canon R5 captures 14 bits when shooting 8 frames per second or lower. Otherwise, it takes 13-bit images. Still, 13-bits is 32 times more data than an 8-bit JPEG.

32-bit HDR

The high end of bit depth is HDR — high dynamic range. Combining three bracketed images in Lightroom or Camera Raw in Photoshop or Bridge yields a 32-bit per channel DNG file. There are many editing options in Photoshop for 32 BPC files though not as many as for 8-bit or 16-bit photos. Learn more on this help page from Adobe.