Mountain Lions of Summer and Autumn

Today feels like the start of winter. It's bone-chilling outside and our mountains have a new coating of snow below typical wintertime clouds that cling to the mountainsides.

The change in our world made me look back at the spring, summer, and autumn. I have noticed a dramatic drop-off in how many mountain lions (a.k.a., "cougars") are traveling past my trail cameras. The drop-off began last winter and has persisted.

Just recently, the sightings have become slightly more frequent. Here was one of the few from the summer. I believe that this lion was around last fall - with two ear tags but no GPS collar. I suspected that he was part of a study of mountain lions but had somehow removed his collar.

That study ended last winter. All the lions with collars and ear tags were captured, sedated, and their "hardware" (collars and ear tags) were removed. I wondered if those activities were part of why we were seeing so many fewer lions. It crossed my mind that perhaps many lions were hurt or sickened by the process. However, that is only a wild guess - I have no evidence of that occurring.

The really nice thing, in my opinion, is that all the mountain lions that appeared in front of my trail cams were naked - they were not wearing radio collars!

I made a video of all my trail cam videos and photos of lions since the summer. You'll see a funny clip when a lion licked his chops while looking toward the camera. You'll also see a lion with an odd lump on his/her abdomen. I don't know what that is.

Enjoy the video, either here or at Youtube.

Thanks to all of you for the well wishes about the fire. The firefighters contained it. However, the wind is howling again today so we are all on high alert for smoke or flames in our area.