On a warm and sunny day recently, I trekked to a wildlife camera that has been "snowed in" since late November. I am so glad that I did because we now have a week of snow and frigid air ahead of us.
The cam showed the last bear of 2019 marking a tree while looking mighty sleepy before he finally headed off to a den. The part that made me most excited was that the same bear had emerged from his den and was the first to mark that same tree in 2020. He marked the tree only about 12 hours before I checked the cam.
He was marking my favorite tree - a tree that leans out over the trail. It's overhead position makes for some fun bear dancing.
This guy was emphatic this spring, repeatedly returning to mark the tree again. He's a big bear who could vie for the sows this mating season. Obviously, bear social dynamics are complicated - and this depends on whether Tiny, our biggest black bear, recovers from his injury well enough to compete this spring.
Check out the short video. It must truly be spring if bears are marking trees!
Hachi had a rough week. We raised his Paxil dose, and it was not good for him. I am glad that we now have the hard-earned experience to be able to recognize the bad side effects quickly. We reduced the dose right away.
This time, the bad effects were aggression toward R and increased reactivity toward people Hachi spotted in the distance. We have seen both of those signs with his previous medicine, Reconcile. Fortunately, the reduction in dose should kick in quickly.
Just in case you worry, we always keep Hachi and R separated. I think that we always will. I am guessing that most of you understand that.
While social distancing from people is easy here, social distancing is harder with the elk who have been grazing nearby. Just kidding - they have been close but not within 6'!
It is their time of year to be nearby, and they hung out in our favorite dog romping area a few times this week. Of course, the pups stayed on leash during those walks because the meadows are the home to elk.
Hachi and Shyla did get to play on a couple of walks, and they played with their usual abandon. These two have been getting along well despite the medication issue.
At times, Shyla still seems faster than Hachi. During this chase, Shyla had run him down. She tackled him after this. I am always surprised by Hachi's good humor even when Shyla takes him down.
Life with a dog who needs intensive rehab is up and down. There is no straight line involved in healing.
I think that we'll have a better report next week. Our experience tells us that it won't take long for the reduction in Paxil dose to take effect. Then, "Happy Hachi" will return.
Shyla and I have had some glorious bike rides recently. The weather has been perfect - warm and sunny. I do have to admit that many of the forest trails are still impassable due to deep slushy snow. But, I push my bike through those parts to get to the wide open sunny areas.
Shyla loves running and playing up high.
Sometimes, later in the ride, we stop to watch birds. Shyla takes up her position next to my bike, being my watch dog so that no wildlife sneaks up on me.
Today, a pair of Northern Flickers caught my attention. At first, without my glasses on, I thought that they were a friendly pair, perhaps a bonded male and a female. Then, I put my glasses on, and I saw that neither of them had the red stripe on their face that a male Flicker has. I was puzzled as to why two female Flickers were staying so close together.
They seemed to move in parallel from one perch to the next.
When they were perched, I noticed this odd head bobbing behavior that they seemed to direct at teach other. They were in the midst of it at this moment. You can see the eye contact between them.
Thank goodness for Shyla watching me because I was completely engrossed in this new-to-me bird behavior. I shot some video with a very long lens so that you could see why it caught my attention.
After the pair finally flew off, I saw them land next to a male Flicker on a dead tree. I was really puzzled as to what was going on.
I read up on their behavior when I got home, and it turns out that the females were likely vying for the male. Their ritualized head bobbing is a way to resolve things without fighting. Apparently, if neither of them wins the "head bobbing" contest, the next step can be actual fighting with the two birds on the ground attacking each other.
What a fun day we had! Shyla is my partner in exploring our world. She's the best - watching over me when I really need it. I love that we can share our mornings together.
It's just an average Ponderosa Pine tree in the forest. It has a deep bed of dead pine needles below it and sweeping low branches reaching out from a rotund trunk.
Although its appearance is normal, it is located in an auspicious spot at the top of a deep gully that channels cold air from a hillside down to a canyon. Mountain lions love spots like this one.
Indeed, visits by mountain lions outnumbered all other species combined this winter by a ratio of about 10 to 1. They adore this marking spot.
Here was one arriving on March 10, almost hip checking my trail cam.
Prior to the lion's visit, a mule deer buck had innocently wandered through, thoroughly sniffing the lion scrape and scent.
And, just after the lions visit, a hulking bull elk had ambled through, nose glued to the ground as he sniffed.
Here is a video of the animals coming through that spot, including rare daytime footage of the mountain lion on March 10.
It's full moon time! I think that's why Shyla has howled so much lately. You must be getting tired of photos of her howling.
This month is a Pink Super Moon. It's "pink" because it's springtime, and not because the moon itself is pink. It's "super" because it's closer to Earth than usual, rendering it about 15% bigger from our viewpoint than usual.
The forecast looked very clear - which made it highly likely that I'd actually see the moon. However, it does make the view of it slightly less dramatic than when it's partly cloudy.
Full moon my time to get up very early to go see it set over the Continental Divide. I was not disappointed!
I said "wow" as soon as I reached the ridge where I could see it. It was further south than it has been in recently months so it wasn't over the highest nearby peaks. But, with a very long lens, I discovered that the terrain below it was craggy and beautiful.
In this very odd and upsetting time, I find myself filled with gratitude for the fact that nature is still following its monthly and yearly pattern. Its beauty makes me smile, no matter what.
Look who arrived yesterday! It's the first of our tree swallows to occupy a favorite aspen grove of theirs. They are such social birds that it was extremely odd to see a loner. He must be the fastest flyer among his flock.
The look that he gave me made me wonder if he remembered me from last year. I stalk them with my camera every year!
These two were nearby too. Every year, the Mountain Bluebirds claim the nest holes in the towering aspen trees very early in the spring.
Then, the tree swallows arrive and kick out the bluebirds. The bluebirds stay in the meadow but in less popular nest holes. This swallow is already eyeing the most sought after nest hole in a big aspen. It is the first one to be claimed, year after year.
While the mountain meadows are filled with spring birds, the deep forests still have deep snow. Bear sows with new cubs are definitely still in their dens. The cubs are starting to find their walking and climbing legs. They need to do lots of practicing of clambering and climbing around the forest before they can leave the den with their mom in May. Four years ago, it was such a blast to watch the cubs emerge around now.
If you have time, check out video. These are my favorite videos from my trail cams. I hope that they make you smile!
"Happy Hachi" is his nickname when he has that joyful spring in his step. He almost always has it during our evening hikes. He's at that age when he spontaneously leaps just for the fun of it.
I think that Shyla loves their afternoon romp as much as Hachi does. She gets amped up as we walk toward our favorite meadow.
They trade off who initiates each round of chase or wrestling. However, Shyla still appears to be the leader during play. I think that she's teaching Hachi important lessons with her playful and never aggressive demeanor.
Hachi is doing fantastically with his counterconditioning for nail clipping and general handling. We do it when we return from our evening hike, and Hachi voluntarily goes to the spot, lying there waiting for the session to start. That's such a good sign that he is not at all stressed out by our sessions.
He now gets happy when he sees almost everyone on our forest trails. He's ready to be friends with anyone who appears to behave normally. We have observed, however, that he can pick up on unfriendliness from a long distance.
We will be continuing the very slow ramp up in his Paxil. So far, it seems like a breath of fresh air in our lives. I think that it's made him able to learn that many things that used to scare him are okay or even fun.
Hachi doesn't mind the "stay at home" and "social distancing" rules. Aside from the excess energy that he has due to being a young dog who'd like to run all day long, he seems happy.
Our Black Dog has no idea that anything is different with the outside world. He is getting stronger, day by day since his surgery. I must admit that I keep thinking that he's gotten as strong as he's going to get but then he surprises me.
He's also getting much better at navigating our house because he is boldly trying to move from one place to another by himself. One of his new favorite places is on a bed that we recently placed next to my computer. That melts my heart.
When I take our Black Dog out for photos on his own, he gets so waggy and wiggly. He knows that it's his special time as the center of attention. I love making him so happy.
Since going completely blind, he seems to think that I'm about 6' tall (almost a foot taller than I am). I talk to him all the time to let him know where I am. However, most of the time, his eye is pointed way over my head. He thinks that I am larger than life!
Each week for Black Dog Sunday, I search through my photos of him to find ones where he's not gazing way over my head. It's a small percentage but there are a few. I love this one because he looks like a classic Black Lab.
Getting him to gain weight has been a continued struggle but he's still a bit over 50 pounds (we are aiming for 54 lbs). The vet suggested another 25% increase in his food so he's now getting FIVE meals per day. He's laughing because now he's eating twice as much as before his splenic tumor was found. For a Lab who loves to eat, this regimen is heaven on earth.
Let's all channel our inner Black Dog this week. His hallmarks are pure joy over the smallest of things, optimism even as his own world has gone dark, and an urge to seize each day no matter what physical hardships he's facing. That's our Black Dog!
Shyla and I had the gift of another absolutely glorious bluebird day together this week.
Shyla was as happy as a puppy! The temperature was in the teens and new snow was on the ground. Those are her favorite conditions.
The day started out as clear as a bell which highlighted the crystalline pine needles and aspen branches.
As our ride went on, some clouds moved in which made the sky even prettier. We were having such a relaxed time together. Shyla and I stopped to gaze at the peacefully quiet world a few times.
After we climbed up higher, Shyla was still happily prancing through the frost and snow covered meadows. Her easy gallop makes me smile.
By the end of our ride, heavy clouds had descended over the Continental Divide but it was still sunny over our meadows. It was time to head home, relaxed and tired.
Shyla was the best partner for exploring this beautiful world that I could imagine.
Thick fog rolled in again the other day, making me wonder what was lurking out behind the curtains.
I love that we have predators who live in our area and who might be out behind the thick fog. I smile every time I see evidence that they are flourishing despite the ever bigger sprawl of humans. More and more land has new homes on it - and usually it's not just a house but also multiple other buildings. Our shy predators won't go near the "compounds" even if the land used to be on their usual travel routes.
Yet, so far, they've adapted, and they still manage to live and hunt outside of human view. If growth keeps going, there will be a tipping point but we haven't reached it yet.
This male mountain lion came through our neck of the woods recently. He stayed just on the edge of civilization, in a thin slice of wild land. He left a scrape under a pine tree.
Soon thereafter, a bobcat came through the same marking area. Like I've seen in the past, this bobcat crept along with his belly low to the ground, sniffing the scent left by the bigger cat.
After he sniffed one scrape, he moved onto the bigger one. If you look at the photo above, you can see a mound of pine needles ahead of the bobcat. Those pine needles were kicked into a pile by multiple lions who marked this spot. The bobcat then went onto sniff the bigger scrape.
After sniffing, he hurried away, still using a crouched and low posture.
I love bobcats - they're so bold and feisty. It was such a treat to get video of this one.
I have a short video of the mountain lion and then the bobcat. Please check it out if you have time.
My time outdoors is keeping me sane, as I can watch for teeny signs of spring each day. The mountains still look wintry!
However, our birds are acting like it's spring! Big flocks of Crossbills have been foraging in our neck of the woods. This is a male, and he's so colorful! Look closely at his beak to understand the origin of his name.
The mountain bluebirds are making me smile every single day! I love taking photos of them.
After each spring snow storm, the snow melts from the pine trees near us while the mountains remain snowy. This view is one of my favorites in the world.
Of course, I am also thankful for our pups. Their antics keep me smiling especially when it's pelting down spring snow! They love it.
Now is the time to focus on what can make us smile. Smiles and gratitude will help us get through this crisis with our good attitudes intact.
