The Moose Are Coming!

About 5 years, ago, I was camping west of the Divide, not to far away from here.

I was surprised to see a Cow Moose and her baby munching their way through a swamp at about 10,000 feet.

Now comes word from a neighbor (Jennifer) that she's spotted a momma Moose and her yearling right here in the neighborhood last night.

Excel Energy Bird Cams

As a regular reader of my blog, you've noticed that I like to keep up with natural phenomena in the Colorado Rockies area.

I just came across this cool set of birding webcams

I'm sure this is a nice little public relations move for Xcel Energy, but, as the old saying goes, "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth."

Anyway, enough blabbing, here's the link:
Birding Webcams

The Bear and Hummingbird feeder video, Part II

Linda writes:

---

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Sun, 16 Mar 2008 10:12 am
Subject: Bear in Hummingbird Feeder Photo


Hi Mike,

this is Linda Masterson, author of Living with Bear: A Practical Guide to Bear Country (www.pixyjackpress.com)

Wendy at Sinapu forwarded me your bear in the hummingbird feeder photo last year, and somehow I misfiled your info and just discovered it.

I wondered if you had any other photos of this incident (or any others) I am looking for a good photo showing a bear with a hummingbird feeder - tried looking at this one in b&w, and it does not show up very well.

I am also working on a redo of all of the Division of Wildlife's bear literature (as a volunteer) and we are collecting photos for use in brochures and fact sheets...

So, if you have anything you are willing to share and give permission to use, we'd be very grateful. I'd be happy to send you a copy of my book as a thank you if you'll send your address.

Thanks a bunch,

Linda Masterson
Living with Bears: A Practical Guide to Bear Country
livewithbears (at) aol.com
Practical Guide to Bear Country

---

My reply:

Dear Linda,

The picture looks like it came from a video I took.

You can find the video at video.google.com
Bear, Hummingbird feeder


Since the video is about 10 seconds long, and I think it's showing at 15 frames a second, you should have 150 frame (pictures) to choose from. However, all were taken from the same angle. I chased the bear off right after this. I did not want him to think that coming onto my deck was exceptable behaviour. Also, and the bear broke the feeder with his bite in his hurry to get to the sugar water.

I personally do not have a bad relationship with this bear. It once watched me for about 20 minutes while I was busy doing something about a mile from my home(where the video was taken). Te bear sate uphill on a jeep track and could have charged. But it just sat there after giving a snort to let me know it was there. It seemed that the bear was just letting me know I was its' guest at the edge of it's territory.

Yes, I did have a exit to a nearby tree planned in case it charged. ...And I'm good at climbing trees.

As it was, I got done what I doing and left without incident.

However, my next neighbor has had endless trouble with bears. One night a bear used it's powerful claws to bend the top edge of the door frame away from the body of the minivan. The bear appears to have left when the safety glass suddenly shattered because the frame had been bent out by about an inch.

The year before that a bear made off with a 150 lb goat. That was a shame because I would borrow the goat to mow my lawn, thistle path and cheat grass patch. Now I have to pay the same neighbor's kid to do the same.

A bear also went right through an electric fence to make it's way into a chicken coup a couple of years ago.

If you send me the time stamp of the exact frame you an want, I can probably find it on the original video and extract a black and white version of it. A proper adjustment of the contrast should fade out the background trees so that the picture works in black and white.

---

By the way, this morning I heard a familiar chirping sound in the neighborhood of the hummingbird feeder. I had put it up last summer again, once it was clear that the bear was ignoring my house in favor of having a territorial spat with the neighbor.

There was still a bit of sugar water in it from last summer. The water has been frozen for much of the last 5 months. But a familiar woodpecker had to check to see if his favorite nectar was available. I'm sure he'll keep checking back until it melts.

I wonder what will happen come May when the hummingbirds will want their share.






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The Bobcat came by

I'm always amazed that any animal can survive the winter here without going into hibernation.

But the bobcat came through the yard today. At one point he scratched in the fresh snow, as if looking for something. Then he moved on and wandered of.

His paws where wide enough to keep him from breaking through the snow crust. He just had to "post hole" through a couple of inches of fresh, light powder.

Instant Newspaper Logs without a Rolling Device

It's been quite cold that last few weeks.

I can always tell because my normally perfectly tuned wind chimes start to sound strangely out of tune. That's because the extreme cold makes metal extra stiff and brittle. So the chimes de-tune.

Fortunately, we put in a few months stash of firewood. But, in this cold, the pile is getting smaller at an alarming rate.

That's when I learned about a sneeky trick for turning the morning's newspaper into tight, long burning logs for the evening fire.

Neat!

2 cords of hardwood for $400

I had a dump truck show up with 2 cords of hardwood this morning.

The hardwood consists of the remmant ends of 6 by 8 inch untreated railroad ties. The remnants are between half an inch and 6 inches.

I think this is a awesome deal, and I almost hesitate to write about it because I don't want to drive up the price because more people want it.

If you are interested, and you live around Boulder, Colorado, give Rod of RC Construciont a call at 303-935-6231

Blogging course

I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a now, they're letting you get it for free if you write about it.

Ok, the simpleolgy folks bribed me into doing just that, but that's because I like the rest of their stuff.

The course is about:

• The best blogging techniques (Let's find out if I'm trainable?)
• How to get traffic to your blog (Ummm, writing about something more people are interested in would help, which exclude long diatribes about the content of my navel lint.)
• How to turn your blog into money(I've made $4.49 with this blog so far - Guess I'm not in it for the money) .

I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it's still free.

Fences don't make good neighbors when the elk are around.

The following is from a neighbor that has a little farm. During the summer months he has a farm stand where he offers truly locally grown produce.

I know what he means about the elk knocking down fences. It got so that I gave up having a fence.

hello everyone, just wanted let the list know that we found the
horses. they did a little tour of the twin sisters area and made
their way back home this morning. it turns out the elk herd had
knocked some of our fence down, so thanks to everyone who was keeping
an eye out.

peace, josh and family

The Elk came through

Last night, the a herd of elk, probably the same ones that I saw in the last entry, came through the yard.

The moon was nearly full, and reflecting from the fresh, cold snow, so it was easy to see them.

It was about 7 degrees F, so we thought about inviting them in, but then we realized we couldn't fit all 30 of them. Besides, they looked hungry, and they don't eat turkey.

The Elk Are Back

I've been waiting for the elk to come down from the high country to these mid-altitudes. There is a herd of elk that prefers to spend as much of its winter around here as possible.

At this time of year the high country becomes snowed in and the plains are to populated and dangerous. So the elk pick the area around here as a suitable compromise between a rock and a hard place.

Anyway, I saw the Elk at the top of Lazy Z the day before yesterday.

Almost Cloud Nine

One of the joys of living in the high country is that sometimes we get sun up here while the clouds settle below. In other words, we have a completely different climate up here.

This picture was taken today about an hour after sunrise. The view is toward the south east, which is toward Denver from here. The clouds are at about 7000 feet, and the picture was taken at 8400 feet. There is a cloud bank at the top edge that is hiding the sun.

Janet Bychek

I've been slow to get these pictures up that I took while on a hike with my friend Janet Bychek up.

The first picture is of "Solstice Rocks." I call it that because the winter solstice sun appears to shine through a small arch at the very top of it.

The second picture is of Coal Creek canyon, about a mile downstream from Pinecliffe. The creek flows through a very rugged, remote gorge at that point on its way to Gross Reservoir. The picture was take from the north shore at a bend in the creek.

The two pictures where taken about a hundred yards apart.

The Rest of the Story about the Mountain Lion

The following was published on the Daily Camera today. Of particular note is that the person that claims to have shot the mountain lion is from out of state, and that it is implied that he shot the lion in self defense.

This is a great angle if you're trying to minimize the consequences of shooting a mountain lion.

Man shoots, kills mountain lion near Gross Reservoir

Cougar had attacked a puppy chained on the property

By Vanessa Miller (Contact)
Originally published 12:27 p.m., October 8, 2007
Updated 12:27 p.m., October 8, 2007

A man shot and killed a mountain lion outside a home up Flagstaff Road near Gross Reservoir after catching it attacking his puppy, which was chained on the property, according to the Colorado Division of Wildlife.

Wildlife officers are investigating the shooting Friday and are trying to determine whether the man was within his legal rights when he killed the adult cougar, division of wildlife spokeswoman Jennifer Churchill said.

“We’re investigating what will happen to the person who shot the lion,” Churchill said. “We do have laws that allow people to protect their safety and the their livestock. But this is the tricky gray area of it being a dog.”

The shooting happened about 1:30 a.m. Friday in a neighborhood just east of Gross Reservoir, at the west end of Flagstaff Road near its intersection with Lakeshore Drive.

Churchill said the shooter, whose name, age and hometown haven’t been released, is from out of state and was visiting a person in the west Boulder neighborhood. Three dogs were chained up outside the home, and several people inside the home heard the mountain lion attacking the dog in the early-morning hours, Churchill said.

“The people went outside and started yelling at the lion,” she said. “It wouldn’t drop the dog, so he got a shot gun to scare it.”

But the lion approached the man with a gun, Churchill said.

“So he shot it,” she said.

The puppy that was in its mouth is going to survive, Churchill said.

“He had a couple lacerations on his belly, around his neck,” she said. “He was in the lion’s mouth for a few minutes, so he had to get stitches and antibiotics. But he’ll live.”

Wildlife officers confiscated the lion and sent it to a lab for testing, Churchill said. She expects results back in a day or two, but it’s unclear when officers will make a decision on possible charges against the man who killed the cougar.

“We are still looking into it to make sure it was done appropriately,” she said.

One area resident, who didn’t want to be named in this story, speculated that the slain lion was responsible for killing a man’s pet miniature horse in the Nederland area Sept. 2 and a couple’s 60-pound Australian shepherd in Nederland on Sept. 27.

Officers with the Division of Wildlife in September tried to capture and euthanize the lion after it killed the horse, named Bodacious, but traps weren’t successful in snagging the cat.

Comments

Correction - Mountain lion picture not the local lion

It turns out that there is a miss-communication about the picture that was published in yesterday's blog entry. I now find out that this picture is an EXAMPLE of a mountain lion, not the actual lion that was shot.

Local Mountain Lion Shot Dead

The mountain lion that was referred to in previous posts appears to have been shot yesterday because he attacked a puppy. This is likely the same mountain lion that ate a miniature horse a few weeks back.

[UPDATE: the picture at the right is NOT the mountain lion that was shot, lthough I initially had the impression that it was. I'm leaving the picture in as a EXAMPLE of a mountain lion]


As reported in a email on the PUMA email list:

"A neighbor to the east of here with 2 small children felt compelled to shoot a mtn lion dead yesterday morning about 1:30 am. This cat moved towards him when he went outside to rescue their puppy who was being attacked by the cat. This neighbor immediately reported his shooting to the DOW and is now facing possible consequences as a result of his decision to shoot the cat.

It is believed by other neighbors who saw the cat after it had been shot that this same cat had killed another large dog earlier in the week. In the same area east of the CR 68J deadhead and up the 4 x 4 trail past Fred & Betsy's property about 3/4 of a mile. There may be a DOW investigation report that provides an opportunity for residents to voice their opinions on this matter. "

More Fun With Bears

A met a neighbor on Lazy Z today and he told me the latest on the local black bear.

As there was some chatter on the local PUMA email list, I posted the following to it:

---

There is a bear here at the end of Lazy Z that has repeatedly tried to break into his cars. I myself saw the bent frame of a passenger door from a minivan. The bear had tried to peal away the door the top edge with its claws. Eventually the door glass shattered as the fame was bent outwards.

Now my neighbor keeps the doors unlocked and the windows down. This seems to keep the bear from trying to peal away doors, destroying them in the process.

First Frost of the Fall

This morning there was a coat of white frost on the ground. Also, yesterday's rain had frozen on blades of grass.

However, the Goji Plants and house plants seem to have survived it, so it was not a hard frost. Does that make a soft frost?

I suspect this frost will the trigger for the turning of the Aspens.

Livestock Puma will not be trapped and killed

Thank you Sue (see below) for doing all this wonderful research and summarizing it in a email. I can picture the incident in great detail because I knew the horse and I've wandered through the pasture where it happened.

****

Hi Everyone,
An update about the lion situation: The trap has been pulled.

At this point they are not planning on taking any further action other than to keep a close eye on any further incidents that arise.

Here are the facts as shared by the DOW information officer, Jennifer Churchill who was very informative and nice. Most of you already know these but here it is for those who don't:

• The pony was killed on Saturday night at the top of the lower meadow of the Kellogg's property. He was then dragged down near the corral which is near William Kellogg's house.
• The lion did not kill the pony at Otsie's house, nor did it ever go to his house, it was seen only on the Kellogg's property.
• The main concern was after Otsie had his farrier down to work with his remaining horses (I believe on Sunday or Monday). The lion stayed next to the pony's remains for the hour or so that Otsie and his farrier were working with the horses. Again-the lion was in the open meadow next to the pony's remains. The Camera reported that it was in an open meadow and neglected to mention that it was next to it's cache, very typical lion behavior.
• We discussed lion behavior and she agreed that some lions do stick closer to their cache than others, but it always makes them more cautious when they see lions who stay near their prey in the presence of humans.
• For what it's worth, I'd like to share my perspective on such behavior: I have done research on Open Space properties for the past decade and work in an area where road killed deer (and lion-killed deer who are taken too close to residential areas) are dropped off for lions to be able to eat in a safe location away from people. Many rangers have commented that they will often have to shoot lions with rubber bullets in order to get them away from their caches and I have pictures here, here, and here that show a lion in my study area in South Boulder doing just that, hunkering down on his cache, despite the rangers watching them and taking photographs from a truck.
• The only other killings that she said concerned them were of a llama and a pony. One was on Flagstaff and she couldn't remember where the other one was (I believe the llama was Sugarloaf). She said there was no way to know if this was the same lion, but they were concerned that the lion had possibly shifted it's prey choice to livestock rather than deer/elk and they target lions who start focusing on livestock.
• I asked if there was any regulation regarding responsible livestock or pet ownership and she said no. She agreed completely that the lion is the one who pays with his life when we choose to let our dogs run free or we don't keep our livestock in safe enclosures at night. Even if you don't report it to the DOW when your dog is killed, it's clear that word of mouth spreads the story and then, when an event happens as did with the pony, the stories fly such as "I know of 7 dogs in the Magnolia area that were killed by lions." Unverifiable information but quite powerful when rumors start to make it back to the DOW. When a decision about whether to kill a lion or not is unclear, those stories push the DOW into choosing a lethal option.
• I asked if we could organize a neighborhood meeting with their district rangers and she said she would make some calls and see if they can pull that together. I offered to organize things from this end and will call her next week to see what kind of time constraints they have on their end.
• If anyone has a venue that they know about or could volunteer to host such an event please let me know.
• Please send me a private email stating if you would like to come to a meeting with Sinapu and the Division of Wildlife and I will start contacting everyone to see what dates are best.

Thanks to everyone for their feedback. I still would like to gather as many factual accounts of lion encounters so that we can have the right information available should there be any other lion predation event. I'd also like to hear from people who have had no encounters as those are valuable as well.

Thank you all for taking the time to read these updates,
Sue

Mountain Lion Causing Quite a Local Buzz

We were repeatedly buzzed by two Helicopters this afternoon. The first was red, and the second was yellow with a blue tail.

I was not sure what it was about at first, but I'm guessing the following has something to do with it.

Mountain lion kills horse in Boulder County foothills
In case the Daily Camera link does not work, the articles says:
"Colorado Division of Wildlife officials are responding to property in the Boulder County foothills where a mountain lion attacked and killed a horse, sheriff's officials said this afternoon.

The property's owner reported that the cat was still in the area, located off Magnolia Road near Pineglade Road. "

Also See: http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=76716

***

I've seen the pony that was eaten any number of times. I'm sorry to hear it's turned into cat food. I assume this is the same mountain lion that's been sighted on our land here. The pony lived about a mile from here, on the other side of Winiger Ridge.

True Confessions: I was a unpaid scout for the power company

We've had three lightning caused power outages in the last few weeks. It's fashionable to blame weather weirdnesses on global warming, so I'll jump on that band wagon to explain it.

Anyway...

A few hours after this latest lighting induced power outage, yesterday, a large Excel Energy Truck with a cherry picker shows up.

A "old fat man" (these were his words) jumped out and started asking directions to a pole so that he could replace the fuse.

It was twilight and I knew the moon would come up any minute because we'd had a lunar eclipse the day before. I'd not had my habitual walk either.

So I volunteered to show him the way. OK, I admit, I was curious too how this all worked.

The power pole he was looking for was in the narrow valley on the other side of Winiger Ridge. This meant going up 100 yards, then down 300 very steep yards. At night.

Fortunately, I knew most of the faint trail that would take us there pretty much by heart.

We set off and about 30 minutes later we where at the pole with the blown fuse. This is where it gets tricky. The fuse is nearly 40 feet up and the only way to get at it is with a 40 foot long telescoping fiberglass pole. Given the flex of the fiberglass pole, this is not easy.

Also, if the lightning had taken out more than just the fuse, it would have created a very loud explosion as the new fuse also blew.

After about 15 minutes of fussing, the utility line man was able to install the fuse. It held. No explosion.

My curiosity was also satisfied about how this all works.

On the way back up , I learned that the lineman would retire in 3.5 months, after 37 years. I wondered where the new talent would come from to replace him. Nobody in "the younger generation" seemed interested working in the wilds of Colorado in all kinds of weather conditions.

I had volunteered to carry the collapsed telescoping fiberglass pole back up after seeing how much of a strain it put on the lineman to manipulate the pole to get the fuse back in place. It got quite heavy by the time I was back on top of the ridge.

After we got back, I got to keep the old blown fuse as a souvenir.

Then, it was back to business as usual... at least until the next global warming induced lighting strike.