A strong cold front moved through yesterday and this morning, for the first time in long while, it was cold. I decided this would be a good day to hike over to Baldwin Spring and hide in my blind to see what would come in. As it turned out, lots of birds were coming to water. I saw a few obvious migrants, including Orange-crowned Warbler. One Virginia’s Warbler is still present, I assume a bird that has been here all summer. The numbers of Townsend’s Solitaires was amazing, sometimes there would be a dozen or more at the spring. One Clark’s Nutcracker came in too.
A few days ago, I put out the trail cam on the dirt road going by camp. I got over 500 photos of branches and grass blowing in the wind, so I took it down. That next night, a Mountain Lion came strolling down that road and right by my camp, about 50 feet from where I was peacefully sleeping! The photo above is the proof. I guess I had better leave that trail camera out there. I would have had some nice video of the lion if I hadn’t taken it down. As for the mystery tracks of my last post, I think I have a solution. Probably not a Wolverine, but maybe two Mountain Lions, one walking behind the other. That could explain the pattern or 3 or 4 tracks grouped together. I have to wonder if a female with a kitten could be in this area. If so, would the cat walking behind place its feet in the tracks of the cat in front with a purpose or just coincidence? The lion that came by my campsite was apparently alone. Perhaps more evidence will be coming soon.