Wildlife Tuesday

Today, I found photos on a wildlife camera showing that our friend the doe and her two fawns are doing well. First, the doe arrived.

And, her two spotted offspring weren't far behind.

Then, the surprise that made my day - a bear! Every year, I have trouble figuring out where to get bear photos in August. Well, this was an auspicious start to August.

A bear made a beeline for a bear "whammy" tree - a pine sapling that has been decimated by the emphatic back rubbing by bears on it for many years.

He/she sniffed and sniffed the tree, garnering information about who had visited it and when those visits were.

He/she moved on without rearing up on hind legs to mark the tree like we saw here. After all, mating season is over so that behavior is fairly rare now. However, the bear walked so that he/she rubbed against the overhanging branches from all the adjacent trees, leaving his/her unique scent mark.

Also, check out the claws in the photo above. Wow!

I thought that the bear was gone when I saw a series of empty photos. But then, when I looked a few photos ahead in the series. It seems that he/she caught my scent next to the camera and returned to investigate. What a snout!

The bear examined every square inch around the base of the tree where my camera is mounted before ambling onward.

This bear has an eerie likeness to Mabel, the sow who currently has two tiny cubs. I wonder if this is a daughter from many years past? If so, this is a 4 or 5 year old bear since we know that her litter from 2009 had white blazes on their chests. It's fun to imagine that this bear might be back with cubs next year!

On our mountain bike ride, K and I caught a glimpse of a bear fleeing into the woods, a long way from where the wildlife photos were taken. K wanted to give chase but obediently recalled to me and made eye contact. This what K looks like when she is reluctantly taking her eyes off the path of a bear and looking at me!

It certainly isn't the deep soul-touching look that she sometimes bestows on me. You might have some idea how much work went into training K to be good around a wild animal as exciting as a bear. I'm so proud of her!

Lion, fawn, and bear cub!

Our internet connection has become completely non-functional again. After giving our current company many chances to make things right, we've decided to have a new (satellite) system installed tomorrow. My fingers are crossed that I'll have a good connection after the installation. Many people have warned me that satellite internet has many frustrating characteristics but we're betting that it's better than no internet at all! On the positive side, we have a 30 day trial period so we can quit if it turns out to be no good.

Fortunately, my trail cameras are still working beautifully (unlike my internet). A collared mountain lion, one who looks familiar to me, passed a camera last night.

Then, this morning, a fawn came on the same scene and paused.

The fawn must have smelled the lion because he sprinted away with his spots in a blur!

About a mile away, the rebellious cub who we've been following all spring and summer visited a scent post. I feel certain that his mother and obedient sibling were lumbering by the scent post out of view of the camera. They've been foraging on a nearby hillside that is now covered in Buffalo Berries. Meanwhile, this independent cub wandered off to investigate the popular scent post. This is the site where I've photographed numerous mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, deer, and elk.

I made a flipbook video of the cub's short visit to the scent post which you can watch here or at Youtube. He's looking healthy and is growing fast! However, I bet that he's giving his mother gray fur with his curious forays!

Meanwhile, we've been having more stormy days with afternoon thunderstorms, creating gorgeous skies and very green meadows.

However, we've been squeezing in dog romps between the storms. Poor R is suffering from a GI upset so he's a little under the weather. In a reversal of their usual roles, K is romping with more abandon than he is.

I'm betting that R will be back to 100% very soon now that he's taking medicine to eradicate all those bad bacteria in his gut.

After sunset and moonrise - wildlife drama in the darkness

Yesterday evening, the Duo and I were on the trails hiking.

The world was serene.

The sun began to sink to the horizon, and K glowed in its rays.

A cloud bank advancing over our world turned deep orange.

It transformed the meadow's colors.

Then, we spotted the moon rising, on the other side of the sky from the cloud bank.

Later that night, a wildlife camera captured video of a doe and the first fawns of the season. The video is at the bottom of the post, and it shows the tiny and delicate fawns beautifully.

About two hours after the fawns passed that camera, a mountain lion started advancing toward their locale. My camera captured him heading that way.

Then, it captured him again still homing in on their position.

I don't know the outcome. I do know that I saw a doe and one fawn this morning in the same locale as the camera during my mountain bike ride. I could have easily missed seeing a second fawn - so I don't place much weight on the fact that I saw only one fawn.

I also saw a black bear, a young and small one, nearby. That bear fled from me so fast that all that I saw was the soles of his hind paws and his glossy black fur. I thought that he might start somersaulting through the green grass as he rumbled and tumbled away from me. I do know that black bears prey on fawns. That mother deer and her offspring have dangerous times ahead of them.

You can watch the video at Youtube or here.

I am still visiting my friend's house for internet access so I apologize that I haven't been visiting or commenting on your blogs. I hope that we can solve our internet problems soon!