Tuesday, February 15, 2011

A Mountain Lion Among Us

Although it is not news that there are plenty of mountain lions in the area, it is still exciting to get confirmation of their presence. Last Sunday evening, as we sat on the patio watching the sunset, we heard a flurry of dog barking from the northwest. Not long after a phone call from the neighbors explained it - one of the dogs had treed a full grown mountain lion! About two weeks ago, as I was driving home on Sandy Creek Road (about half a mile from our house) a domestic cat-sized creature scuttled into the brush in front of my car. What seemed odd about it was its SPOTTED coat (as opposed to tabby striped) and rounded ears set low on the head, combined with a long tail. In retrospect, this creature seemed reminiscent of a mountain lion cub, although my look at it was too brief to be sure.

Perhaps we have a mother with cubs in the area. Deer (and crepuscular or nocturnal human hikers) beware!

5 comments:

  1. Oooh, now I want to come back for more black lighting and maybe seeing the big cats! I'm looking forward to your upcoming blog chapters and will try to get the address on my blog roll.

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  2. Yes, but now I'll be more nervous than ever about setting up black lights farther from the house ; )

    The neighbors who saw the lion the other night are thinking of purchasing a night vision type camera to try to capture some of the big creatures on film. THAT would be fascinating!

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  3. Gary told me about it yesterday. We know there's a bobcat living in CW as well. Rich & I have each seen it multiple times, twice on our property, twice more nearby, and once right on the steps by the bay windows, about five feet away.

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  4. I keep hearing of other people's bobcat sightings, but have only seen one ever in CW -- up Starlight Way. Gary was seeing one regularly right outside our house near the dumpster! And then there was Herb's -- and yours -- don't know if this is all the same cat.

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  5. Oh, and then there was the Stevensons' also -- and they got some spectacular photos of it! I suspect we have a small population of them. They are supposedly much more common than mountain lions.

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