The monsoon rain this year was hit or miss and so any water source, no matter how small, benefited the animals. Not just for drinking, but for attracting prey species including insects and small mammals. These water sources also offered an opportunity to cool off from the intense desert heat. This bear visited the spring several times over a week, drinking his fill of water and then laying in the water to nap and cool off.
Tag: nature
Mountain lion flehmen response
Last week, this beast of a mountain lion stopped by the latrine area (a spot that multiple cats use for communication, like a big little box). You can see him first respond to the site with the Flehmen response, which helps him smell better, pheromones in particular. He then leaves a urine “scrape”, letting other mountain lions and animals know h was there.
Little bear antics
Bears are still out and fattening up in the Sky Island mountain ranges in Arizona. This sow and her cub visited the bear wallow for a swim several times over the last couple of weeks. It won’t be long before they find their cave and curl up for the winter.
Desert Tortoise
A couple months ago, I set a trail camera at the entrance of a desert tortoise den. The tortoise came and when a few times, often during the heat of the day. Based on her morphology, she’s likely a female. She shares her den with a rock squirrel and a packrat.
Sleepy bear
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.
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.
Bobcats
Bobcats have been pretty active lately, both in my yard and out in the wilder places. Bobcats live around 7 to 10 years in the wild. The oldest bobcat in captivity lived to be 32 years old. Bobcats can give birth to up to six kittens, though two or three is more common, depending on available prey.
This bobcat has a territory with the best view. Seasonal rains fill up this spot dubbed the Infinity Pool.
Judging by body size and spot pattern, this young bobcat appears to be new to the neighborhood. My backyard cameras catch her regularly.
Bear wallow heaven
This bear takes some serious down time to relax in his private pool…
Owlet nestbox action
There are a few interesting things going on in this video: gular fluttering, nictitating membranes, and head bobbing. Owls and other birds use gular fluttering to stay cool when the temps are high. Owls nictitating membranes (essentially a second eyelid) help protect their eyes when attacking prey. Lastly, head bobbing (motion parallax) helps owls triangulate their sight on a given subject since their eyes are fixed in their skull and cannot move on their own.
My Earth 