No Lions, Just Cats

A Cat's Greeting (Patagonia, AZ)

Our son, Shaun visited us for a second time this year, this time during his Christmas break. We kept it very low key just enjoying each others company. Even the cats were happy to see him again...well, except for Hitch. He is a little anti-social unless you have something he wants. He did let Shaun walk him around on the leash for a little while.

Squirrel looking for attention or some food.
He's happy with both.

I managed to capture some great moments between our cats and Shaun.

Dusty comes running when Shaun calls his name.

Pet my head

Yep, that's the spot

Mad Max loves to greet all of us in his own way.

Okay, hold your hand right there

Perfect! I can reach your hand

Okay, a little harder

Oh yea, right down my back

keep going..

Right to my tail! purrr

We hope everyone had a pleasant holiday with family and friends.

Merry Christmas! (Patagonia, AZ)

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!

Motion Sensor Activated Wildlife Camera

A quick short post with a couple of wildlife camera pictures/videos from 20 December, approximately 100 - 125 yards from our visitors center and motor-home (across the creek and in the woodline). 

 

 

 

 

 

Tired Lion Resting

The preserve was closed today so the two of us were able to walk together.  We were walking up on the old railroad bed that runs through the preserve, and Dan was looking down hill at one of the game trails with an open area that is a Coues Deer hot spot, when he spotted the Mountain Lion.

The lion was laying under the edge of the brush along the outer fence line of the preserve.  He was within 10-20 feet of the dirt road that goes past the preserve, and cars and walkers would be going right past the lion and never see it due to brush.  We were approximately 50 - 75 yards away, and the cat looked at us, but mostly ignored us, even closing it's eyes for a bit.

The cat was clearly resting.  After we shot some pictures, we walked onward.  About 100 yards further down the path we saw several deer down the same hill moving through the brush.  If lion is hungry he will likely have a meal around dusk.

 

 

 

You tube video clip of Lion: http://youtu.be/eJQdir_hYVI 

 

 

 

Javelina and Blue Heron a couple of days ago:

 

 

 



 

Lion Updates

Motion sensor activated wildlife camera shot across the creek, about 100 - 150 yards from the motor home.  We have not seen the Mountain Lion in the flesh since 23 November, but others in the local area have sighted lions recently.

On 4 December, two lions together were spotted at Patagonia Lake State Park 6 miles south of us.  The creek here on the preserve dumps into that lake, with ranches in between. It is unknown if these 2 cats were siblings, mother and offspring, or mates.

 On 6 December at 5:15 pm, a lion was in the backyard of a house 1 mile north of us on the outer edge of Patagonia.

The hills are dry, so the deer, javelina, lions, and other critters are staying near the water source and food supply.



Apparently in other areas of the nation a few cats are also near humanity.

Lions and Critters and Birds - oh my

Pics from the last 3 weeks on the preserve.



Javelina momma and twins



Red Tail Hawk



Western Screech Owl




Coue (cow) White Tail deer



Hawk with rodent meal

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Arizona Alligator Lizard

Squirrel gathering acorns

Gambel Quail

Mittens




Our son Shaun is visiting from Albuquerque, and the three of us  saw the mountain lion Friday evening at 5:20 pm.

We were sitting outside the motor home, and the lion was on the wood line about 200 - 250 yards away. It was out past the preserve well pump, near a little game trail that leads to cement footings across the creek.

Sandy saw the movement, then we looked with binoculars and verified it was the mountain lion. Dan walked out about half way across the open field and fired one shot into the ground as a noise maker as the cat was sitting looking our way The cat laid down but did not retreat.
Shaun walked out with the binoculars so Dan could better see what the lion was doing, and the lion sat back up. Dan closed a little more distance towards the cat and it started moving into the wood line out of sight. Dan put one more round into the ground as a noise maker as the cat was leaving.  Dan was never closer than about 50-75 yards with open field and good visibility.

AZ Fish and Game documents advise "hazing" the cat with noise and aggressive behaviors to teach the cat to keep more distance. Fish and Game documents detail lion behaviors, and this cat is not considered a direct threat at this point in time according to their guidelines.

Dan has now seen this lion 4 times, Sandy 3 times, and our son once. And no, Mittens cannot move into the motor home - we have enough house cats as is.

Lion Around

Dan walked up on a Mountain Lion today on nature trail, about 30 yards across the creek from him and approx 150 yards from the motorhome.  We think it is the same lion we posted pics of just above in our October blogs, but some of the facial markings are different. Perhaps it was dried blood spatter last time and he cleaned it.  Dan shot lot's of pics and some short videos which he  posted to youtube.

The you tube videos came out fuzzy, even though on camera and computer from the sd card it is clear.  The camera was zoomed in about 30 - 40 X so it is shaky footage (handheld, no tripod or monopod). The one labeled Mtn_lion is the one to view first.

5 videos of the lion taken yesterday, plus other critters from videos we took last year:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AC7880

The cat isn't stalking us. It might think Dan is stalking it - second time he has walked up on it. If there were not so many deer and fawns around we would  be more concerned. It looks well fed.

Dan and the cat watched each other for 10 - 15 minutes.  Dan even called Sandy on the cell phone, and she was able to walk over in time to see the cat leaving.

This makes Dan's 3rd sighting and Sandy's second within the last 25 days.

 

Return of Mountain Lion

Well, the  Mountain Lion is back.  On Friday, about 60 minutes before dark, the Mountain Lion returned, and was less than 20 yards from the motorhome stalking a  Coues deer doe and fawn.

We heard the mama deer crying out, looked out the windows and saw her and the fawn acting strangely.

The doe kept crying out. Looked out another window and saw the mountain lion croutched under a tree right off our patio side less than 20 yards from us, and about 20-30 yards from the deer.

Sandy and I had our cameras out and were just focusing when the lion took off after the baby deer, and chased it into the woods towards the creek about 50 - 80 yards away (no pics of the lion this time).

For about 15 minutes afterwards the doe wandered around crying out looking for the fawn.

This morning we saw a doe cruising the edge of the woods - probably the mother looking for the fawn.

Today the Preserve Manager, his ranch cattle dog, and Dan walked the entire preserve trail system, checked part of the creek, and checked the area the cat and fawn dis-appeared.

No sign of the kill, if there is one. But the fawn was small, cat large. It could have eaten some and carried the rest off across the creek a distance - where we did not go.   No sign of a doe and fawn together yet. 

The Manager has closed the  Preserve for at least one week to visitors.  He may contact fish and game who may or may not come out for a look.

Dan weed wacked more vegetation all around the motorhome - 30 yards out for a better visual range. Most of it was already mowed, except under the trees were overgrown with 3-4 foot tall grass.

More of the original Mt Lion pics from Wednesday below.

Welcome Back Neighbor! (Patagonia, AZ)

Dan was walking with one of our preserve visitors today when they saw this Mountain Lion sitting right on one of our trails.  He estimates they were 20-30 yards from the cat.  The  cat ignored them at first, then looked directly at them for a bit before it slowly sauntered down the small hill off the path.

In other news,  we spent our first week setting up for our long term winter stay.  Dan spent more time cleaning up around the office, our site, and along the trails while Sandy spent time cleaning up the office.

Bird feeders and Hummingbird feeders....check!

We believe the cats are quite happy to be back.  As soon as the motorhome stopped, we swear the cats knew our new location.  They tend to beg to go outside as soon as we stop, but this time it was different.  They were constantly in the stairwell trying to run out the door.

All four kept saying:  "We know this spot!  Freedom!  No loud trucks, no people, and no leashes!"  But, we only let them out when we can supervise them and Hitch still needs to be on a leash.   We don't want our cats hunting small birds, nor big birds of prey hunting our cats.  Plus a 3 foot  black tailed rattlesnake was within about 30-40 yards of the motorhome one time this week, and then there are also skunks, coyotes, bobcats, and mountain lions in the general area.  A preserve wildlife camera also captured a photo of a black bear in early October on the 312 acre preserve.

Dusty telling Dan he is one happy cat

But, they had to wait while we setup our site and spent some time with the preserve manager to reacquaint ourselves with the office procedures.

Max

Finally!  We opened the door and all four cats were out the door.  We did not have to ask them twice if they wanted to come outside.  Even Max immediately left the safety of the door to go explore.  All summer, it took a lot of coaxing to get him to take a step outside.

Hitch and Max

Squirrel spent the most time exploring.  We had to keep herding him back.  At least, he did not hiss at us for making him stay near the rig.  He was probably happy to be outside without the leash.  Yep, enjoy it while you can, because this will only last for 4 months.

Squirrel

We have been seeing this one Coues Doe and her little one almost every evening.

 A lovely evening for a walk, right boys?  Meow!

We have been walking the trails almost every day since we got here.  Mr. Owl is still in his favorite tree.

Western Screeched Owl

We're not sure about the look he was giving us.  Sort of looks like a "well, there goes the neighborhood" look.

Well, there's a fine "Howdy-Do!"

Since we came back earlier than last year, it is rather nice to see the area looking green with a few flowers blooming. 

Wetland flower

The hummingbirds greeted us on our first day back by buzzing our heads.  We soon found out there was a nest in one of the trees near our door although it does not look like they are using it at the moment.  There are three of them - daddy? mommy? and baby?  Anyway, they are happy to have the feeders close to their home.