I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend with family and friends. I know we did. The past few days have been pretty busy for me between Thanksgiving dinner preparations, visiting with our son, and reopening the preserve. Oh yea, and we sighted the mountain lion again on Friday evening while sitting outside our motorhome. I think the mountain lion has decided to stay.
2 Too Many Cats
Anyway, I did not have time to put together a blog for QuiltinCats, so here's the one Dan posted on our travel blog. All the photos are from Dan over the last 3 weeks on the preserve.
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| Javelina momma and twins |
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| Red Tail Hawk |
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| Western Screech Owl |
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| Coues (cow) White Tail deer |
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| Hawk with rodent meal |
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| Arizona Alligator Lizard |
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| Squirrel gathering acorns |
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| Gambel Quail |
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.
Happy Trails!
Thanks for the great pictures, the animals are fascinating.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like it may take more than noise to move that cat out. At least it isn't sorting through trash bins and harassing the public. Stay safe!
ReplyDeleteOh no! Keep away from that mountain lion! The quail are so neat. Really liked seeing that picture.
ReplyDeleteoh my gosh! your pictures are fabulous! really fun to look at. my kids would love to be where you are!!
ReplyDeleteI bet they would enjoy walking along the creek. This preserve is open year around. Spring is the best time to view a lot of different birds and wildlife.
DeleteGreat photos!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if there is something that fires at a target without killing or hurting it badly, but would scare it with a slight sting? Kind of like someone shooting a rubber-band - those things HURT! Like a big rubber-band, mountain lion size! ;)
Funny, you should mention such a weapon. They are considering a bean-bag rifle. Loud and it will sting if it is close enough to its target. The question is who is going to carry it around and will that person be the one to run into the mountain lion.
ReplyDelete