When is a not-with-your-own-eyes-sighting a sighting?
Mountain lion, as seen on game camera
For several days and nights this summer, I’ve been ponying the horses down to a small parcel of Bureau of Land Management land for some grazing while I camp overnight. Years ago, the parcel had a grazing allotment which meant that sheep grazed there for months at a time. The shepherd was not a terribly good steward and that the allotment went away, according to a BLM official.
In any case, it has been a fun place to camp with the horses, who are bound to a few hundred acres by virtue of the steep canyon walls and barbed wire fencing of private land to the south.
But it all came to an abrupt end this month. At about midnight one night, I heard a bit of a crash, then nothing more. I decided against investigating, erring on the side of sleepiness (Later, I would thank myself for this digression.)
In the morning, I inspected the horses. My big mare, Shea, had a bad scratch on one hind leg and lesser scratches on her chest. Nothing of terrible concern.
Cat scratches on our burro, Wallace
But Wallace, the burro, had scratches that clearly, obviously, frighteningly, indicated he’d been attacked by a mountain lion. They were three parallel scratches on each side of his tail.
I talked to several locals about what happened, including a game warden. They speculate that the lion was either quite young or quite old and trying to see what it could manage with this attack. Thankfully, not much. Wallace needed only minor medical care. I swabbed his superficial scratches with diluted iodine.
I’m not one to tempt fate, though, especially when it comes to the welfare of our animals. We’re done with BLM overnights.
Perhaps not coincidentally, I caught this big fella on the game camera. (photo at right)
Read about a dog’s death in the rural West.
Mammals:
Coyote
Elk
Mule Deer
Cottontail Rabbit
Bears are hungry and more visible due to lack of acorns (because of a late frost)
Brush Mouse
Rock Squirrel
Golden Mantled Squirrel
Chipmunk
Pocket Gopher
Skunk
Raccoon
Abert’s Squirrel
Muskrat
Marmot
Bobcat
Mountain Lion
Black Bear
Spotted Sandpiper
Birds:
Golden Eagle
Bald Eagle
Lewis’s Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Nuthatch
House Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
Red-Winged Black Bird
Canada Goose
Mallard
Gadwall
Great Blue Heron
Townsend’s Solitaire
Mountain Bluebird
Western Bluebird
Kingfisher
Red Shafted Flicker
Red-winged Blackbird
Steller’s Jay
Black Capped Chickadee
Mountain Chickadee
American Crow
Common Raven
Scrub Jay
Magpie
Turkey
Dark-Eyed Junco (and its many varieties)
Ringed Turtle Dove
Rock Dove
American Kestrel
Turkey Vulture
Red-Tailed Hawk
Cooper’s Hawk
Spotted Sandpiper
Lesser Goldfinch
Starling
American Robin
Great Horned Owl
Western Screech Owl
Rufous Hummingbird
American Coot
Broad Tailed Hummingbird
Common Poor Will
Nighthawk