Of Moose, Lions, and Flowers

Today dawned stormy, right from the start. The mountains disappeared behind the clouds.

Shyla and I took an easy mountain bike ride. I badly tweaked my neck/shoulder recently, and I've been trying to let it heal. I think it's improving... but sometimes the side-effects of my spinal problems feel endless.

During our ride, on a trail that I have no qualms about taking Shyla on, I found some interesting photos on one of my trail cameras. Our young male moose, who grew up with his mom in our neck of the woods, has returned. I know from my cameras that he'd walked about 5 miles away from here but I guess he didn't like what he found.

He and his mom spent a lot of time near this trail camera last winter. More recently, I also know that his mom and her new calf have foraged near here. I'm not sure what would transpire if he met his mom again in the forest. I suspect that she'd tell him to go away. It's time for him to find his own territory.

The next photo gives you perspective on how tall this relatively "small" moose is, especially compared to the next animal who passed this camera.

The next animal was a mountain lion. She was not huge, as lions go, but she looked positively tiny compared to the moose. She stood stock still in that spot for a long time, perhaps picking up the scent of the moose?

Then she walked onward. I have wondered recently if a mountain lion could take down a yearling moose. I now think it's unlikely, after seeing the size comparison at this camera.

 I will never get over how much fun it is to peek into the wild animals' lives with my trail cameras.

Happy Friday to all of you! We will keep enjoying our yellow flowers for as long as they keep blooming so we'll try to visit them again this weekend.

In the mountains, life seems to zip by faster because the spring and summer are so short. That truly teaches me to immerse myself in whatever is most beautiful at the moment. Right now, it's yellow flowers and Columbines!

Wildlife on Sunday

Our wildlife are now into their mid-summer patterns, which means that I can see them almost anywhere. Shyla usually gives me the first hint that an animal has been someplace unexpected. She was definitely focused on something besides me for a while on our morning mountain bike ride. I kept an eagle eye on her for a while to make sure that she stayed nearby, and I never knew what caught her attention.

So, I visited some trail cameras after my ride with Shyla, and I discovered that a yearling cub is feeling his/her oats. I don't think that we've seen this bear in photos before.

The yearling arrived at a mangled bear marking tree and sniffed it.

Then, the little bear decided to try his back-rubbing moves. The white mark on the bear's chest plus the almost uniformly black fur differ from the other yearling we've seen on multiple occasions.

Just like the big bears, this yearling used a paw to grab the tree up behind his head, pulling it into his head for better marking.

Next, he started his shimmy moves, as he moved his back up and down in the tree trunk.

Finally, the yearling departed. Because the trail camera was pretty far from the tree, I am not certain whether this yearling was a male or female. Females stay near where they were born for their whole lives while males disperse and tend to move long distances each summer.

Just to give you perspective, here are photos of a big male (Milton Jr.) marking that same tree earlier this summer.

Milton Jr. was taller than the tree.

One piece of great news for the bears is that the Buffalo Berries are finally emerging. They usually appear in early July so they're about 3 weeks late. We have lots of Buffalo Berry bushes nearby. We know where these berry bushes are the densest, and we stay away for a few weeks each summer to let the bears forage in peace.

Last, but not least, the same trail camera has shown a bobcat carrying prey past it on multiple occasions over the past few weeks. In this photo, I believe she's carrying part of a rabbit. Repeatedly carrying prey in one direction usually means that a bobcat has kitten(s) stashed in a den. Like past years, we might get to see the kittens' maiden journeys with their mom!

Enjoy the remainder of the weekend!

Wonderful Summer Day

After my little meltdown yesterday about the abuse of our forest, I had a great day today. The area where I ride my mountain bike with Shyla is almost never visited by anyone but us and our neighbors so most of our rides are in solitude.

Shyla and I headed up high, first thing this morning. It was chilly and windy at our elevation, and we saw fresh snow under a blanket of clouds on the highest peaks of the Continental Divide.

I felt free and relaxed so we lingered in our favorite spot and played fetch for a while. Don't worry - it's really not steep on where I was throwing her toy.

On top of Hug Hill, there's a lone tall flower, called a "Wall Flower", that's been blooming for the past ten days or so. I noticed that the wind was stripping off its petals so I wanted one more photo of Shyla with it. It's been stunningly beautiful this year.

I have to admit that the small signs of the passing of summer make me a tiny bit sad. On days like today, I'd love to have time stand still.

But, there are still Columbines waiting to bloom and lots of summer days ahead of us. This barely open flower/bud was in my garden this morning. I've never had much talent for growing plants but Columbines seem to be an exception. My garden's Columbines are taking off, with dozens of blossoms open right now.

After I left Shyla at home at the end of our ride, I went to check a trail camera that is on a heavily used animal corridor (a place where I never take Shyla). The bear traffic, in general, is waning because bear mating season is winding down.

However, our female yearling cub visited a bear tree. The "bear tree" is really just the remainder of a small pine sapling that the bears have rubbed almost to death over many years. It has a few small branches sticking out from a 4' tall trunk. But, it also has lots of bear fur stuck to its slender trunk.

Our yearling, who the Runner dubbed "Molly", sniffed the tree to find out which bears have been nearby.

I don't think that her mother, Cinnamom, has been to this tree recently. I'm sure that Molly and her mom are sorting out which parts of Cinnamom's territory will be shared with Molly. Reaching this agreement is apparently not an easy process. When Molly breaks her mom's rules, her mom will probably track her down and chase her into a tree to show her that she's in an "off-limits" area.

After sniffing the tree, the sweet yearling departed. I think she's looking really good for a yearling. Her confidence is outstanding compared to other yearlings who I've watched via trail camera. Most of them rarely visit bear-marking trees in their first summer as a solo bear.

So, after yesterday's rant about the overuse and abuse of the forest on summer weekends, I ended up having a wonderful day in the forest today. I didn't see another person, I had a blast with Shyla, and I even captured photos of a bear! A good day...