Snowstorm and a Mountain Lion

So far, our snow storm hasn't lived up to the billing. It's snowed hard at times but it looks to me like we have only 6-8" of new snow. However, our local forecaster says that it will keep snowing overnight and through tomorrow.

Shyla and I had a snow bike outing this morning, in the midst of the falling flakes.

In areas where the snow has built up without melting all winter long, the depth is impressive.

Before big snow storms, the wildlife starts moving to get to places where they'll have food to eat. In the case of the deer and elk, that usually involves moving to lower elevations where the snow will be less deep. The elk herd, in particular, usually passes by our neck of the woods on their way downhill.

As the elk move, their predators set up to try to ambush them. Thus, I wasn't terribly surprised to see that a mountain lion was near our house this weekend.

This mountain lion visited a huge old Douglas fir that has a thick layer of pine needles under it. It is a common place for carnivores to mark as they pass through.

Like many before him, this lion marked, kicking backward with each huge hind paw and then urinating in the scrape he'd made.

A couple of bones linger in this clearing. Mountain lions have killed many deer and elk near here. The lion sniffed the bones.

Then, he noticed the soft red glow coming from my trail camera. He stared at it as he licked his lips.

He made a funny face as he pulled in his tongue.

He looked to his left, giving us a nice view of his heavily muscled body.

And then he departed.

We've had very few mountain lions come through our neck of the woods recently so this series of photos made me smile!!!

The "mountain lion clearing" looks very different now, buried under our new snow!