This tiny waterhole in the Sonoran Desert is generally really popular with birds and small mammals. Recently, though, a bear has decided it’s a great place to rest and relax. He spent about an hour there, just hanging out. The spines in his muzzle are from prickly pear cactus and, based on the nearby bear scat, he was eating the cactus fruits.
Category: Earth
Cool Coyote
Every day now for a couple of months, this male coyote visits the backyard pond for a refreshing dip. The daily high temps have been between 100 and 109 degrees over that time, so I can appreciate his dedication to staying cool.
Thirsty mountain lion
The Sonoran desert monsoon season has been a disappointment so far. Overall, not much rain. While some areas have had localized heavy downpours, other areas have been missing out and remained pretty dry. For a few years now, a couple friends and I have been hauling water to important dry waterholes that would otherwise be full from a decent monsoon season. The water this mountain lion is drinking is water hauled to the site. Thankfully, since this video was captured, there have been a few more rain showers that filled this waterhole and others in the area.
Bear cub antics
It was a nice surprise to check this trail cam today and find that a family of bears visited the spring-fed wallow. Momma bear was just trying to relax, but her two cubs had different ideas.
Isle of the Albatross
A few days ago I arrived at Midway Atoll (Pihemanu), joining the rest of the team that will be conducting the annual albatross census. The annual census, which began in 1991, is an important aspect of understanding population trends of both Laysan (Mōlī) and Black-footed (Ka’upu) albatross. This first week will be spent re-setting the boundary lines of all the nesting areas that will be counted on each island within the atoll, Sand and Eastern. Once that is accomplished the counting will begin and may take three weeks or more. In the meantime, here are a few sights from today. Enjoy!
Laysan Albatross (Greg Joder, USFWS Volunteer)
Bobcat kittens at a desert pool
This is the second year my cameras have caught a bobcat family in this drainage. Last year there were also three kittens. The male operates from one eye, as his left eye appears damaged. He’s the one who took down a deer fawn last year in front of the camera.
A mountain lion rests at a desert oasis
This mountain lion has been caught on my cameras on and off for nearly a year. The drainage she frequents also supports javelina and white-tailed deer, primary food sources for mountain lions in this region. When I was going to check the cameras, I came across the carcass of a deer fawn that was partially eaten and cached. I suspect that the mountain lion had very recently killed and eaten part of the fawn and was relaxing by the waterhole with a full belly.
Metamorphosis
Queen butterflies have been visiting my milkweed vine garden for a few weeks now. Recently, there’s been a few episodes of metamorphosis like the one I filmed here:
Little Bear cools off
It’s been a pretty dry monsoon season so far here in the Sonoran Desert. The main waterholes used by local wildlife in my area are drying up due to sparse rains. The low water level at what we’ve been calling Little Bear Pool didn’t stop this black bear from taking a soak to cool down. Thankfully, more rain is forecasted for this week.
Bighorn Sheep in Arizona
It was a really nice surprise to check this trail cam and see bighorn sheep drinking from the seep. These are likely progeny of the original bighorn sheep that were released into this mountain range around a decade ago.
My Earth 