Month: August 2018

Of Mountain Lions …

When I first learned about game cameras I was immediately interested in how such camera traps could catch activities of wildlife undisturbed by human presence. I was also excited by the possibility of catching images or video of large predators in action, specifically mountain lions. I am no hunter and do not support trophy hunting or predator hunting and abhor these practices for many reasons. That said, so-called ‘game cameras’ are an essential tool for wildlife research and monitoring.

It took me several years to learn how to find the right place to set a camera trap that would catch large predators like mountain lions, but I finally caught on and learned to see their activity by tracks and associated preferred haunts.

Here are a few mountain lion videos that my camera traps have captured this year.

Mountain Lion & Fawn:

Mountain Lion in the Desert Heat:

Bear, Skunk, Bobcat and Mountain Lion:

Mountain Lion on the Move:

First Mountain Lion of 2018:

Monarch Butterflies

The pollinator garden in my yard has been a pretty good place for Monarch butterflies. So far this summer I’ve counted a couple dozen Monarch caterpillars, a number of chrysalis’s and have seen about 15 butterflies successfully emerge. I was able to catch some of the action.

Monarch caterpillar:

Monarch, chrysalis to butterfly:

Hummingbird Nest in the Patio

This little Broad-billed Hummingbird is likely the same one that built a nest in my patio last summer. Either way, she was able to successfully fledge two youngsters. There were plenty of hanging-plant options on which to build her nest, but she chose the green hook.

During her time incubating the eggs and feeding the nestlings the temperature in the patio was between 100 and 111 degrees (38 to 44 c.).  She had her work cut out for her.

Here she is incubating her eggs:

Here she is feeding her kids a few days before they fledged: