Mountain Lions in Marin County

Would you believe that prior to some recent efforts, the last published, scientifically verified, mountain lion in Marin County was in 1931!  This charismatic animal had accumulated many fleeting sightings in local lore in the following decades, but there was sparse verifiable evidence (e.g. a clear photograph or museum specimen) that could bump the sightings up a notch to merit a place in the scientific record. 

With the relatively recent increased availability of motion-activated wildlife cameras (camera traps), wary species like the mountain lion are more readily documented.  I highly recommend checking out Nature of a Man and Sebastian Kennerknecht to see masterful camera trap imagery of this species. 

Local biologist, Ginny Fifield, combined good, old-fashioned tracking prowess with the technology of camera traps, and did a lovely job of documenting our local mountain lions.  She has been consistently documenting one local male since 2010.  Her work was recently published, and is available here, including photos of this fellow and a description about what makes him unique.  He is still quietly living his life here, and photos and videos of him are continually being added to  http://wildfelids.smugmug.com in the "Mountain Lions in Marin County" gallery.

There are now a number of other project which have also been documenting this species locally, and I look forward to learning more about this species in the coming years. 

And if news of this species occurring here is new to you, I encourage you to be excited and not concerned.  Mountain lion attacks on humans are VERY rare, in the past 125 years, (since 1890) there have been only 16 verified mountain lion attacks on humans in California, and few of those were fatal.  Taking a bath or owning a puppy is much more hazardous statistically.  Mountain lions really prefer to avoid people and enjoy their deer dinner in peace. 

For additional information on Mountain Lions in California:
https://www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/lion/lion_faq.html
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/lion/
http://bapp.org/
http://www.mountainlion.org/FAQfrequentlyaskedquestions.asp
http://www.felidaefund.org/?q=species-mountain-lion
http://www.mountainlion.org/CAL_ch1.asp

Spring Babies

It seems like there are little babies starting to come out and about all over these days.

There was the little deer that came by the kitchen about 2 weeks ago.

Then the turkey brought her flock of poults by for some foraging.  

Then the lone duckling catching the first morning sun with it's mother.

Then the young turtle basking on a log (about the size of two silver dollars).

The froglets, many still with their tadpole tail

For size reference, these are a child's hands

Then just today, the Chickadee fledgling getting fed by it's attentive parents in the front yard.

Hawk Spa

One of the great things about camera traps, is the glimpse into the behavior of wildlife when they are quite sure no one is watching.

I know that birds take baths, many of us have just fantastic bird baths to encourage this!  However, it seems that passerines are a bit less shy than raptors about bathing in public.  I never had the honor of seeing a hawk take a bath before I checked the cams last week.



This bird took it's sweet time in the creek.  From the time it first triggered the camera, until it flew off, it was in the water about 20 minutes, just before 10am.  That water is really chilly, it is in a nice shady riparian area.  It seems like it was moving in nice and slowly, getting it's toes and tail feathers used the the water, before going in for the full plunge.

The rest of the videos from this set are from wood ducks, floating upstream and downstream in front of the camera, and repeating, and repeating.  At least they are very pretty birds!  Hopefully we'll see them with babies in a couple months.

Bobcat Whiskers

I've gotten a number of bobcat images at this location, but they are all facing away from the camera, and most are at night.  I was thrilled this time, when this lovely critter came down the trail February 9 at 8:30 in the morning, came in for a close up, and even paused for effect.



This set covered much of January and half of February.  The previous few months there were a lot of deer images.  However, this set of images just had one deer trigger, and the deer was moving slowly, as though it may have an injury.  This set is in a suburban area, with lots of irrigated vegetation.  We have had a very dry fall and winter so far, and finally had a few days of rain in the past couple of weeks.  I wonder if the deer I've been seeing were hanging around the houses for the irrigated vegetation, then moved back to the open space areas when the rain brought up the natural vegetation.

More cute kitten videos (the bobcat kind)

This last month, the bobcat and her kitten returned up the trail together, this time during the day.  I love how rambunctious this kitten seems.

Although Bobcats can be born throughout the year in this area, most are born in the late spring to early summer.  The young begin accompanying their mother on hunting excursions at about 3 months, and remain with her until the next litter is born.  I imagine this young one has just a couple more months with Mom.

The adult came up the trail first, and from the looks of the "Bobcat Boogie" footshake, possibly stepped in something wet and/or unpleasant on the way.


References:
The American Society of Mammologists Species Account.  http://www.science.smith.edu/departments/Biology/VHAYSSEN/msi/pdf/i0076-3519-563-01-0001.pdf