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Thursday, October 13, 2016

A Curious Mountain Lion

We had an exciting couple of days at a scent post in the forest nearby. The scent post is on a saddle of a ridge, and it has a huge Ponderosa Pine in the middle of it. It's been exceptionally quiet for months, and then there was suddenly a flurry of activity.

First, a very curious but seemingly timid mountain lion spent a few minutes checking out the site. He looked small from this point of view.

He sniffed around very carefully.

He paced in and out of the field of view. The he (or she - I don't know which) marked the ground behind the tree.

And then the lion walked onward. In this view, You can see that the lion was big but probably young. The bar on the inside of his/her front right limb is probably a vestige of kitten markings.

When I looked at more photos taken by that camera, I discovered that a small herd of elk had crowded into the clearing. One was a calf that must have been born very late this year because he still has spots! By this time of year, the calves' spots have usually disappeared.

I also saw that a red fox had come through the clearing. He looks tiny compared to the other animals who had been there.

I made a video of the mountain lion's almost two minutes prowling around the clearing which you can watch here or at Youtube.

Seeing that video made me smile!

15 comments:

  1. That is a very important Message Tree. Love all the animals sniffing it, especially the cougar who seems to think some of the other animals are still around.

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  2. He was so cautious, what was the flashing light? Is that when the trail cam is activated? Love the fawn, and the larger family. What a wonderful place to live.

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    1. The flashing light was an infrared flash from a trail cam that was taking still photos. The lion couldn't see the flashes but the video camera could because it's sensitive to infrared light. I use all infrared cams in the forest so that they won't bother the animals whose eyes can't detect infrared light - but the cams can bother each other :)

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  3. I love seeing the fox. We just don't have many - if any? - here. They are SO beautiful!

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  4. way cool to see all the different animals in the same area.

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  5. There must've been some REALLY FABulous smell-mail there! looks like all of the mountain came to leave their messages!
    I loved them all!
    Kisses,
    Ruby ♥
    pees: sendin' AireZens Shyla! thinkin' of you gurl!

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  6. What a fun video to watch! Love the mountain lion.

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  7. Thanks for sharing another amazing video and pictures from your cameras. So much fun to get a glimpse of the nature where you live.

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  8. How exciting!

    Monty, Harlow and Ramble

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  9. So interesting! Happy Friday ♥

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  10. Wow! That is a flurry of activity!! So cool to see it!

    Your Pals,

    Murphy & Stanley

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  11. Looks like the cooler weather has all the wildlife out and about. We are so thankful to have you to help us see all the beauty!!

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