A mountain lion's calling card

We've had some amazingly gorgeous spring signs here in the past few days. Our first Pasqueflowers, wild crocuses, have sprouted in the meadows.

The Duo and I have been making the most of the long days, enjoying the sunshine.

We saw a divine sunset last night with golden clouds radiating up from the Continental Divide with deep blue sky in the background. The clouds were a forerunner of the snowstorm that arrived today.

As we walked home in the fading light yesterday evening, I felt uncharacteristically skittish, wondering what animals might be watching us. Both dogs were on lead, and I had my pepper spray so I assured myself that I was being ridiculous. We arrived home without incident, and I laughed at myself for my silly sixth sense.

About an hour after our hike, one of my trail cameras captured a mountain lion in our territory. This morning, when I arrived at the camera and looked toward the scent post that an elk sniffed just a few days ago, I immediately knew that a mountain lion had been there and left his calling card. I saw the huge furrows, about 18" long, in the dirt, to the left of a bobcat's scat in the photo.

Here's the series of photos that I found on the camera's memory card.

As he passed the tree with the scent markings of many animals below it, his head went down as he sniffed.

He decided to leave his own territorial message and prepared to scrape the dirt with his hind paws.

He kicked back with his left hind paw.

Then, he scraped the dirt with his right hind paw.

With the scraped area ready, he lifted his tail to pee.

But, in the midst of it, he was distracted by something behind him in the forest and stared in that direction.

He decided that it was no threat and finished his business.

Tail held high, he walked away from the scent post.

The tail end of his visit...

He's the first mountain lion who I've captured photos of recently who doesn't have a big GPS collar around his neck. I wonder if he's a young male passing through in search of his own territory. In any case, I'm thrilled that I captured photos of this majestic animal.

I love my wildlife cameras!