The Magic Carnivore Tree - Bobcat, Coyote, Fox, and Lion All Visit

Some of you may remember the big pine tree where mountain lions have marked repeatedly this winter.

You might remember this guy kicking off the marking season back in November.

Since then, the mountain lions have paraded to this spot. Each male has left his own mark in almost the same place as all the other lions.

Other carnivore species have visited as well. Here is a bobcat, small in stature but large in spirit.

As he departed the spot, he looked regally in the direction of the camera.

The next visitor was a coyote who brazenly urinated directly over the lions' scent.

The coyote was very wary, fleeing toward the cover of the forest a couple of times (as you'll see in the video). Here, he stood still to listen for danger. I bet that he smelled the recent markings left by lions who could easily kill him.

Finally, one of the kings of our forest visited just a couple of nights ago. He marked in almost the identical spot as the first lion back in November!

My trail cameras record video, which I put together into a single video of the visits of all of these animals. You can watch it here or over at Youtube.

Happy Wildlife Monday!

Mama Bear and her Cub

Throughout this summer and fall, it's been amazing to see the mother bear and cub pair so frequently via my trail cams.

The cub who was so tiny at the start of the summer is looking so big and healthy now! She and her mom recently walked a bear trail in our neck of the woods, giving us a nice view of how big the cub is!

Here was mom as she passed the camera.

This is still mom, a step later.

Then, here is her cub. She is looking SO big!

The camera didn't catch the cub going over the fallen tree but I so enjoyed seeing her healthy!

We now have two bear families intensely using our neck of the woods. The other one is the mother with two cubs. I am hoping so strongly that one of these families chooses the den for this winter that I have staked out with a cam. These cubs will stay with their moms through the winter and early spring. So they will share dens with their moms!

I have some fun footage of the mother bear with the single cub at a water hole. I talked with a biologist about the fact that the bears love this absolutely horrendous smelling water hole so much. As one of you suggested a while ago, the biologist's first guess was that something in the water kills both external (e.g., ticks, fleas) and internal (e.g., intestinal) parasites. That might explain why it seems to be the favorite water hole of our bears every summer.

At this water hole, the bears make sure to get this water all over their bodies, including their heads, whenever they bathe there. You'll see that in the first 3/4 of the video. Then, later that evening, the pair visit a very clean water source. It's fun to see mom stop in a certain spot for a noisy drink, lapping up the cold water, and then her cub imitate her behavior so closely!

Here's the video. I hope that you all enjoy it either here or at Youtube.

A Mother Bear and her Cub

It is truly springtime here in the mountains, when the wildflowers bloom and the black bear cubs appear. I love this time of year more than any other!
At a secluded spot deep in the forest, a mother black bear and her solo cub have been staying near a spring with a bear marking tree next to it.

These are photos taken of the pair just a few days ago. Mom checked a bear marking tree with her cub in tow.

Then, they turned and went the other way. Solo cubs are fairly rare, and mothers taking cubs to marking trees during mating season is also rare. I really hope that the single cub is nursing enough to prevent the mother from going into estrus. That has happened occasionally - and the mother mates again, often to the detriment of the solo cub who might get lost or hurt during the process.

Pushing aside those worries, my cams caught delightful footage of this pair at a spot where there is a bear marking tree and a spring right next to each other. I have two cams there, one pointed at each spot.

First, you'll see the cub arrive at the bear marking tree. It is comical how tiny the cub is compared to the bears who mark the tree. Many of them are taller than the tree itself!

Then, you'll see mom taking a bath about 10 yards away. As mom bathed, something spooked the cub who then climbed the tree that my cam is mounted on. After the mother finished bathing, she first examined the cam closely - making me momentarily scared that she was going to attack it like Bandit did with another cam.

Then, mom started calling the cub down from the tree with soft grunts.  Be sure to have your volume turned up so that you can hear these sounds that humans very rarely get to hear!

Enjoy the video either here or at Youtube.

I hope that seeing black bears going about their everyday lives makes you smile like I do!

P.S. The cam that Bandit appeared to have destroyed was fixed by the trail cam company for a low cost. That made me smile too!

Fun and Games by the Bear Cubs in April!

Remember the bear den, where a sow spent the winter and gave birth to two cubs? I finally found some time to peruse more of the footage. After the huge snowstorm around April 17 that kept them inside the den for four days, the cubs were ready to play!

However, mom wasn't ready to stop supervising.

Learn to climb is one of the most important things that cubs must learn before they can leave the den. This little guy was trying to make it up onto the fallen tree that his mom was standing on but he was having trouble. He looks like a little monkey!

The video is full of fun footage of the two cubs playing and of mom occasionally grabbing them by the scruff of the neck to pull them back into the den. The footage is all from 4/24. I think that the sow was nervous because it was exceptionally windy, which limited her ability to hear predators approaching.

Enjoy the video, either here or at Youtube!

Have a happy and safe weekend.

Happy Summer - Wildflowers and Bears!

Shyla and I have been loving our morning rides through wildflowers galore! However, I don't know what the look on her face in the next photo meant!

While it's still snowy and wintery up in the alpine zone, true early summer has arrived here with so many flowers that it blows my mind.

June is truly one of the best months here, if you're not bothered by the astronomical pollen counts. I get asthma and irritated eyes at this time of year but I wouldn't give up the flowers for anything.

It's also the time of year for bear "family breakup" when mother bears with yearling cubs send them away to live on their own. You might remember that we had a sow and two cubs in our neck of the woods last year. The little black cub got hurt, lost track of his family, and eventually was reunited with them in the fall. I assumed that he'd denned with them. Contrary to what I expected, every trail cam photo of that bear family shows that the black cub is not with the mother and the brown cub.

The mother is marking trees as if she's looking for a mate. It is possible that the black cub already left the family, following his instincts that it was time to go off on his own. However, the chocolate cub is staying close. Very soon, the mother will drive away the remaining cub when she meets a mate. That's the usual pattern, although this cub and mother seem extraordinarily bonded to me. Usually, by the cub's second spring, the cub and mother are not traveling so closely together.

Here's that mother marking a tree with her yearling cub standing behind her. This photo made me laugh.

I hope to have time to share the clips of video that I've captured of this pair this spring.

I love spring-summertime!!!

Almost Wordless Wednesday - Bear Den Bonanza

I ventured to the bear den today for the first time since early March. I am SO glad that I waited. The family didn't depart until 11 days ago. Here's just a small sample of the 150 GB of footage that I captured. I have lots of video but it will take time to sort through it!

Family portrait

Mom "talks to" the mischievous one while other looks on

Now you listen to me youngster (black cub is upside down)!

The most awkward nursing position I've ever seen!

Dancing!

The Cub Duo - with the same colors as our Labraduo!

Tiny the Black Bear - Marking and Mischief

There's so much going on at home that I'm going to step away from the desert trip for a moment to give you a bear update.

You may remember Tiny, the biggest male black bear I've ever seen, who rules our neck of the woods during mating season (usually around June). We caught our first glimpses of him on 5/25, when he trekked many miles marking every black bear "whammy" tree in the area. I have video cams at most of those trees so I got some fun footage plus some still photos.

He came back a few days later to discover that all his amorous messages had gone unanswered, except for a response from a bobcat who leaped onto a tree that Tiny had marked. Then, the bobcat rolled around at the foot of the tree, leaving his own scent mark.

It is fascinating to me that different species respond to each other's scent messages. I've learned from experience to go look when Shyla marks a certain spot. On more than one occasion, I've found that she had the audacity to pee over top of a mountain lion's scrape! I guess that it's good to listen to your dog if you want to know what's been happening in the forest around you.

When Tiny returned to the most important marking tree to discover that no sows had left replies and that a BOBCAT had answered his messages, he seemed to get mad. He attacked my camera, believe it or not! The camera endured the attack but Tiny left it pointed the wrong way after he finished sniffing and clawing it.

The compilation of these videos reinforces for me the fact that fascinating animal communication is happening in the forest around us, although we usually have no idea of what is being said. You can watch the video here or at Youtube.

I still haven't captured any trail cam footage of the sow and cubs who were in "my" den this winter. Very soon, I will go peek to see if they are still near the den. If they're not, I will bring home all the footage of mom and tiny cubs from the winter and spring.

Have a Beary Happy Tuesday!

Milton the Black Bear Returns for 2016!

While we relaxed in the desert, about 4 different black bears showed up on my trail cameras. Today, I want to share just the footage of "Milton", a long-lived and big male black bear who I've watched for years.

In the spring of 2013, he badly injured himself, and I feared that we'd never see him again. I was wrong. He disappeared for a while. He played very little role in the 2014 mating season - he didn't appear marking trees on Black Bear Trail. However, last year, he returned, looking stronger than ever!

The first glimpse of him this year was marking a tree on Black Bear Trail several miles from our house. He is a big and strong bear!

In the next couple of hours, he walked the miles to our house and showed up to work on how to pull down our bear-proof birdfeeders. I had a trail camera that shoots video pointed at the birdfeeding station that caught all his antics. You can watch the video here or at Youtube.

He didn't gain anything from all that effort. In fact, there was no food hanging up high on the feeding station. However, he did leave the pole leaning rather obviously in one direction. I think that the bird feeding station's inventor, the Runner, won this round but I also think that Milton is getting closer to a solution! The battle goes on!

None of the bears photographed by my trail cams have been the sow and cubs from the den yet. To make absolutely sure that I don't upset that bear family, I'm waiting a little longer before I go get the memory cards from the cams at their den.

While Milton worked on our birdfeeding station, we were oblivious because we were in the desert. Normally, we would've been out chasing a bear away after the dogs started barking at him. Instead, we were enjoying this quiet faraway campsite...

There were no bears at this campsite although lizards skittered around all the rocks!

Newborn Bear Cubs!!!

I finally found uninterrupted time to put together a video to show the exciting action at the bear den.

All through the winter until 1/14, the bear ate snow only twice, both times by reaching her head outside the den to take a bite or two of the snow on the ground.

On 1/14, things changed. She began eating snow at least once per day. She wiggled so that her head reached further outside the den, day by day.

Then, on 1/30, she was a restless bear. Her head was visible in the den entrance almost all day.

She ate snow many times. Twice, she walked outside the den. Each walk was only about 6-8 ft in distance but it was an odd departure from her behavior earlier in the winter.

On the night of 1/30, she seemed not to sleep. She looked outside the den, and seemed to toss and turn until our last video clip at around 11 PM. After that, she was deep in the den, and there were no visible movements to trigger the cams.

The next morning dawned with incredible winds. The tree holding the cams swayed in the wind, which triggered a cam to record video and audio. The audio told the story - cubs had been born, probably very early in the morning of 1/31!!!!!

You can watch the video here or at Youtube. Make sure that your sound is turned ON!!! The bawling of the cubs tells you the most exciting part of the story!

I don't know when we'll get to see the cubs for the first time. Their mom was impregnated last May or June. The cells divided a few times, and then remained in suspended animation as balls of cells. Because the sow was fat and healthy when she entered the den, the balls of cells implanted in the uterine wall and began to develop into cubs.

The cubs were about 1 pound in weight when they were born. They spend almost all their time latched onto a nipple, nursing. They bawl when they lose their grip on the nipple or are not covered by mom so they get cold.

The sow and cubs will undoubtedly stay near the den into the spring, until the cubs are mobile and can climb trees to flee predators. I'm incredibly excited about getting to watch the cubs via my cams this spring!

Activity at the Bear Den in late January

I've had the bear den on my mind, where surprising activity has occurred this winter. I'm going to let the story unfold for you a little at a time. The bear never left the den until near the end of January. Earlier in the winter, the bear occasionally ate snow by reaching outside the den and biting into the snow that was within reach.

Then, the bear had a couple of very restless days, walking outside the den to eat snow. We saw a little activity like this back in 2010, the last time this den was occupied but not so early in the winter.

At about 10 AM on 1/30, the bear first decided to leave the den.

The bear traveled only about 6'. You can see the rings around the bear's eyes - those are probably due to mange, which is common in hibernating bears. When a bear turns down its metabolism, the immune system also slows down, allowing mange to take hold. Those of you who followed this blog 6 years ago probably remember that the sow who used this den in 2010 had mange.

This bear also has a scrape near the mange on the nose. I'm guessing it's from scratching at the mange.

After walking just a few steps and pausing, the bear turned around to head back into the den.


Look at how fat and healthy this bear is. And look at that coat!

On the same day, the bear was out again after noon, doing another walk of a few steps. She stuck her tongue out for the camera.

Aside from the mange, this bear looks super healthy with lots of fat and a very thick coat!

Less than two minutes later, the bear was squeezing back into the den, despite the balmy 46°F temperature.

I'll share more photos and videos in the coming days and weeks. The camera also recorded video which is very fun to see and hear! Do you have any ideas about why a bear would suddenly become restless in the middle of winter, taking small walks outside the den? We know that no animals went near it, except for one squirrel, so the bear wasn't disturbed.

Obviously, bears do not sleep soundly all winter long, unlike common lore. Lots of researchers have shown just how awake bears actually are but none as clearly as Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, who put cameras inside bear dens to record the bear's behavior throughout the winter a few years ago.

Knowing that our wildlife is flourishing in the forest makes me smile. I love thinking of this bear curled up snug in the den.

A Young Cougar on the Prowl

You might remember that I managed to check a wildlife camera just before our really big snowstorm 9 days ago, and I discovered that a cougar (a.k.a. "mountain lion") had been there.

I wasn't too surprised about the cougar presence because the elk herd had been nearby as the storm arrived and after it. My widest angle lens captured only part of the big herd.

It took a week until I could check any other cameras due to the deep snow. When I did, I found out that the young cougar had stayed in the area for at least a couple of days. He visited another clearing where many cougars have left their scent marks over the years.

It was snowing as he arrived in the clearing, and you can see that snow had accumulated on his tail which he perpetually holds out behind him.

He spent some time sniffing around and then turned to leave. This photo shows why I think he or she is a young cougar. You can see faint bars on the upper inside of the front left leg. Those bars are usually present in cougar kittens but not adults. They can remain, barely visible, until the animal is about 2 years old.

My guess is that this animal is an independent young adult who is searching for a territory to call his/her own. It's possible that there's an open area (not claimed by other adult cougars) near us because cougar activity has fallen off dramatically in the past 4 months or so. I've wondered if one of our "resident" cougars was hurt or died.

In the clearing that this cougar visited on 2/1, I also have a camera that takes video. I combined all the trail cam stills and video into a compilation video for you that you can watch here or at Youtube.

The site where this cougar visited most recently is almost right on a route that Shyla and I use for snow biking - and it was during daylight. That's all the more reason for me to continually keep Shyla's recall and other training skills sharp!

Bobcat Family

You may remember that I followed a mother and her two bobcat kittens last summer. You can see the posts here, here, here, and here.

Usually, I see mother bobcats with their kittens for the last time sometime around February. It turned out that the mother bobcat and her two kittens were in front of my trail camera in late January!

Mom arrived.

She sniffed a bone that has laid in front of this camera for ages and always attracts the attention of bobcats. As she sniffed, one kitten arrived.

Mom and her kitten sniffed together. If you look to the left of them, you can see the other kitten approaching from the snowy background.

As soon as the other kitten arrived, mom walked away. You can see her on an animal path in the background.

The first kitten quickly followed while the lagging kitten lay down in front of the camera.

The lagging kitten rolled around and showed us his white spotted chest and belly. It's moments like this one that only trail cameras can capture. Most of us would never see such a sight with our own eyes.

After this fun photo, the kitten sprinted after his family, and I'm sure he caught up. By now, these kittens are at least 7 months old, and they will soon strike out on their own. For now, they travel "loosely" with their mother, meaning that they are usually in the same area as her but not necessarily right next to her.

In fact, in the days after the family visit, that same trail camera repeated photographed single bobcats, likely members of this family, who passed it by themselves. This is part of the pattern of the kittens gradually becoming more independent.

Getting trail camera photos of our wildlife really helps me through February which always feels like the longest month even though it's actually the shortest! I wish that we would get photos of the mother mountain lion and her two kittens who we followed last summer (posts are here and here). I suspect that they made a "big move" for the winter to an entirely different area. If they were still near here, I would probably know it. However, I do have a "snowed in" trail camera that I probably won't check until the big spring melt. Then, we'll know for sure if they've been in this area for the winter or not.

In the meantime, I'll dream of the next time I can pick up memory cards from our "den cams" that are monitoring the black bear in her den. I am so curious to find out there are noisy new cubs in the den with her. They would've been born in the second half of January!

To keep February happy, I'll keep playing with the ever-joyful Shyla!

If only I had Shyla's athletic capabilities, I'd be able to frolic in the snow in February, and then I'm sure it would seem too short to me!!

I hope that all of you are enjoying your Saturdays.