A few weeks ago I found some bear tracks and a marking tree and decided to set up a trail cam and see what action it might capture. At the very least I was hoping to catch a bear simply walking by. After a week, I checked the camera and here’s what it captured:
A few days after the sow and her cubs passed by the camera site, this big male bear came through. He almost missed the scat pile, but then noticed it:
This old abandoned spring in one of Arizona’s Sky Islands is a favorite place for black bear bath time.
I’m just back from a few days exploring one of Arizona’s sky islands. After receiving a bit of monsoon rainfall, the wildflowers and wildlife were quite abundant and the formerly dry landscape had turned green with new plant growth.
While exploring I also checked three trail cameras I’ve had in the region for several months. It was exciting to see all the critters captured by the cameras, including a sow black bear with two cubs.
I also had the chance to get this beautiful rattlesnake to move off the road:
Here are two interesting camera trap videos, one from my yard and one from Arizona’s Sky Islands. The first video shows an alarmed Western screech owl in a birdbath during the day. She was trying to escape the 107 degree temps and her nestbox was too hot. I think a Cooper’s hawk landed on the fence near the birdbath.
In this second video, a black bear cub has a swim with her mom then takes an interest in my camera trap:
A short video describing a recent camera trap check in one of Arizona’s sky islands.
On a recent camera check I found that something had dragged a skunk carcass near the camera (not me). The carcass attracted some attention from a coati, turkey vultures, and a mountain lion and her sub-adult offspring:
This week I spent a couple days and nights in one of southern Arizona’s sky islands checking and setting new camera traps. The vegetation included oak woodlands and pine forests at elevations ranging from 5000′ to 8500′.
Here’s a selection of photos showing the range of beauty in the area:
The camera traps caught a few interesting animals. First, a group of wild turkeys. Watch with sound on:
Only one black bear came through since the last camera check a month ago. This one chose not to relax and wallow:
In all, it was an enjoyable two days away from all that’s not right in the world right now. Nature and wildlife are the best medicines. Zipper had a great time too, including naps:
This morning I checked one of my camera traps and was happy to see it captured a sow and cub as well as a “cinnamon” black bear. According to Wiki, a cinnamon bear is a subspecies of the American black bear. Either way, it was so good to see a black bear cub and also a different color morph of the American Black Bear:
One of my new camera trap locations recently caught an adult female mountain lion and one of her yearling offspring:
Yesterday I made the hike out to check on two camera traps I have set up in a wash in the Sonoran Desert. This is the same wash where my cameras captured three mountain lions when the cubs were nearing a year old (Second video below).
The following video was captured just last week. I’m so happy to see they are alive and well!
My Earth 