This location, it turns out, is not just a random mountain lion scrape, but a latrine where several mountain lions (at least two, maybe three), regularly check scents and mark their presence. The latest was this big male mountain lion.
Tag: Wildlife
Bears being bears
It’s the time of year in Arizona when the temps are hot and the black bears are always happy to find a watering hole, either to drink or wallow. The following three videos are from the last few weeks during one of the hottest and driest periods this summer.
Last Night’s Backyard Wildlife
It was a busy 12 hours from before sundown to right after sunrise last night. An owl, deer, coyotes, raccoons and a bobcat. The first video shows the Great horned owl having a drink in the evening. The second video shows the mangy coyote the next morning. The third video shows all the action from evening to the next morning.
Coyote Pups!
These two coyote pups have been showing up at the backyard water sources for the last few days. It’s been very hot (105+ during the days) with no rain for a few months now and the creek has been dry as well. They appear to be in good health and in the second video they have full bellies so it appears their mama is doing a good job of feeding them. Even at this young age they are rightly very nervous and aware of their surroundings.
Two bears and a mountain lion
Two bears and a mountain lion passed by this cam in the span of three hours. At 4:08 p.m. a mountain lion makes a scrape. At 5:37 p.m. a big black bear goes by and smells the fresh scrape. At 6:42 p.m. the mountain lion returns and makes another scrape. At 7:06 p.m. a smaller black bear walks by and stops to smell the fresh scrape. I find it fascinating how close in time these two wild predators came to running into each other.
Backyard Wildlife Action
Here in Tucson the summer heat is upon us. We’re in the somewhat miserable time between the cooler temperatures of spring and the onset of summer monsoons. The highs have been from around 100 to 110 degrees and with most natural water sources having dried up the neighborhood wildlife have been visiting the backyard water sources more frequently. Below are some of the recent visitors:
Bear sign and wallow
This morning I checked a few cameras in an area where bears have been active over the last few years. Bears have likely been visiting this spot for ages before I placed cameras there. The first clue of recent activity were new tracks and marks at an old bear marking tree. The second was murky water in the spring pool and wet vegetation nearby.
This bear seems to have a new injury to his left ear. It must be brutal out there. The stories he could tell… This will also help in IDing this guy if/when he shows up again.
Bear cubs inspect trails cameras
It look like this is the same bear family as the scat video from a couple weeks ago, even though the cameras are a few miles apart:
Black bear bath time
About two years ago I found an old, abandoned cattle trough that still held water. I realize now that it is an old spring box that still receives water from a nearby spring. The good thing is, it stays full of water during the Arizona dry season (between the winter rains and summer monsoons) and so is an important water source for local wildlife during times of water scarcity. For bears, water is not just a resource to drink, but also to wallow in and relax:
Mountain lion Flehmen response
About three months ago I was checking a camera I had set on an often-used bear wallow. Not far from the wallow, on the trail, was a fairly fresh mountain lion scrape. I decided to move the trail cam from the wallow and mount it on a tree looking at the scrape. This is one of the scenes captured by the trail cam:
My Earth 