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Friday, April 12, 2013

See Beautiful: Resilience and Strength

It is "See Beautiful" Friday, a bloghop that I love participating in.

My idea of beauty may not conform to the "normal", as you'll see from my examples of beauty from the last month.

This was the start of a beautiful series of photos of a species that was pushed to the brink of extinction by bounty hunting for much of the 1900's. Can you guess what animal it is from this photo?
Now you can see the whole beautiful animal. He's a mountain lion (a.k.a., cougar or puma), sniffing at the base of a tree that I've monitored for almost three full years now. Lots of animals, including multiple cougars have marked the area under the snow that this mountain lion was sniffing.
He didn't stay long. He seemed to know exactly where he was going. I was able to follow his tracks today, and he was on a mission. He was following a route that many mountains lions have followed in the past. It's not a trail - the only way that I know that the lions love this "route" is by tracking them in the winter.
Much to my delight, he stuck with the standard mountain lion route so I captured more photos of him at another site. I am referring to "him" for no particular reason. I don't know the sex of this lion.
After a quick sniff of the ground, he was on his way, again following the standard route.
Mountain lions had bounties on their heads in Colorado until 1965. Yet, a small population of secretive cats survived and have multiplied. I suspect that their persecution selected for the most secretive cats, which is why we almost never see these resilient and strong animals, except by motion-activated cameras.

When I checked the second trail camera that the lion had passed, I saw that a coyote had lazed in the sunshine in this spot before the mountain lion came through. That may have been why the mountain lion sniffed the spot. The coyote is another persecuted species who is thriving despite some humans' best efforts. Coyotes define "resilience" in my mind.

Continuing with the resilience and strength theme, we presently have a few brave wild crocuses ("Pasqueflowers") who are thriving despite our wildly fluctuating weather. This morning, the Pasqueflowers were hunkered down under the stress of low temperatures and light snow.
Then, the sun came out and the Pasqueflowers stood tall with amazing resilience and strength.

Last, but certainly not least, my girl Shyla is the definition of resilience in my mind. She is learning to trust and to stand tall. She has known fear intimately - and thus has earned the right to be called courageous. Her strength humbles me.
All month long, I "saw beautiful" in the resilience and strength of the world and beings around me.

25 comments:

  1. I found the mountain lion especially beautiful because she was *not* wearing one of those big clunky collars that many of these animals seem to get stuck with!

    Jo

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  2. I always love your See Beautiful posts, because I think everything you see is beautiful! I loved this one!

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  4. This is a beautiful post. The picture of Shyla is breathtaking.

    Anne and Sasha

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  5. Beautiful post tonight! I so love the pics!

    Thanks so much!
    Patty (blogless)

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  6. I'd say you captured beautiful beautifully.
    Blessings,
    Goose

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  7. You really did see beautiful- and because you shared with us- we see it too. Such beautiful photos.
    love
    tweedes

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  8. Must be so exciting to find you've captured those magnificent wild animals on the camera.

    Love that last picture of Shyla...queen of the mountain.

    XXXOOO Daisy, Bella & Roxy

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  9. I agree wiht Nola.
    Totally inspiring post
    Bert and My Vickie

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  10. What a beautiful post, KB!

    Love ya lots
    Mitch and Molly

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  11. Yep, we love our coyotes!

    Khyra is still totes jelly about such a special khytty - all she has is Butterskhotch who keeps stealing HER tree!

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  12. The lions are so beautiful. Aren't you worried about running into them on your rides? Or are they so secretive as you say, that there is no worry?

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  13. Awesome post. You see beautiful with intention. How wonderful that you use trail cameras so the pumas can be natural and undisturbed while you document them. I loved every photo. Thank you for sharing the strong and resilient beauty and for the reminder that many people want to protect, not persecute, wildlife.

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  14. Now that's what we call See Beautiful!

    Hugs,
    Lily Belle & Muffin

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  15. We always admire your beautiful photos, but today we are reminded of your ability to express that beauty in words as well. Great post - love the message.

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  16. A beautiful post. I can feel your heart for the "inner" qualities of this animals and plants. This is very inspiring.

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  17. Well KB...you gave me goosebumps this morning! Give miss Shyla a kiss from me! Have a good weekend!

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  18. What a beautiful post. Thankyou for sharing the beauty with us.

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  19. Beautiful!
    The cougar is one of my very favourite animals.

    Thanks for sharing.

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  20. Inspiring post indeed! I needed it :~) Great photos, too, as always. I love this blog so much!

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  21. Your ability to find and photograph such amazing creatures is inspiring! There is so much beauty in these animals.

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  22. Woof! Woof! Remember the beauty you see may not be beautiful to others but you've open their eyes to see its beauty. Golden Thanks for that. LOVE the flower. Hope that will be the last snow storm you get. Happy See Beautiful. Golden Thanks for joining the hop. Lots of Golden Woofs, Sugar

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  23. Hi! What great trial camera Pictures. THe lion is awsome!!

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  24. I don't think I've ever seen a cougar in the wild, but I've seen my fair share of coyotes, and they have a special place in my heart, even though many consider them pests. I love the resilience theme you've featured here today! (and the pasqueflower!)

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