Colorado Nature Narratives

Few people can hike through our mountain forests without being scolded by a pine squirrel. Also called a chickaree, this little gray squirrel is very noisy and territorial.

The chickaree gnaws through the cones of ponderosa, spruce and fir trees to reach its preferred food—conifer seeds. Similar to the way you and I eat corn-on-the-cob, the squirrel holds the pinecone between its front paws. Then, it turns the cone as it chews off the woody bracts all the way down to the pinecone’s core. Between the bracts, it finds the nutritious seeds.

Chickaree eating a cone. (Photo by Bret Tennis)

Usually the squirrel has a favorite feeding tree where it eats and then drops leftover pinecone pieces. The shredded cones at the base of its feeding tree may accumulate into huge piles, called middens, that are sometimes several feet across and over two feet deep. Very large middens are evidence that several generations of chickarees have used the same feeding tree for decades.

Pine Squirrel Midden (Photo by Bret Tennis)

In summer and fall, the chickaree gathers pinecones and buries them in the midden to serve as its winter and early spring food supply. On cold winter days, the well-prepared squirrel retrieves and eats a few of its stored cones.

As you walk or picnic in the higher elevations of our Colorado Springs mountain parks and open spaces —Garden of the Gods, Red Rock Canyon, Section 16 or North Cheyenne Cañon—look for a chickaree’s midden at the base of an evergreen tree. And if you hear a chattering squirrel long before you can see it, no doubt it is a chickaree.

On this frigid February 1st, our outdoor thermometer reads -9 degrees F. The backyard pond is frozen except for a three-foot circle of open water surrounding our circular pond heater. Overnight, a mix of light snow and sleet sprinkled the icy pond, creating a surface like frosted glass.

The smooth snow covering the front and backyard remains untracked all day. The usually active mammals – rabbits, squirrels, fox, deer and occasional bobcats – are nowhere to be seen. The only wildlife visible on this below zero day are birds, their feathers fluffed to trap extra air for insulation.

Cedar Waxwing photo by Winston Walker

Five American Robins fly to the pond in late morning, gathering around the small circle of water. After dipping their beaks into the water, they tilt their heads back to swallow. Soon, they are joined by two Cedar Waxwings, elegant winter visitors to our neighborhood. This is the first time I’ve seen them this year. With my binoculars, I note their sleek, gray feathers and back-swept crest. The Waxwings look like they are wearing a black mask and a cape hemmed in red, black and yellow threads.

This brief glimpse of winter’s Cedar Waxwings reminds me of Henry David Thoreau’s quote, “Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each.”

Photo Credit: Thanks to my brother Winston Walker for his beautiful photo of the Cedar Waxwing perched on a Crab Apple branch.

A scrabbling sound was the first indication of unusual activity in our backyard. I rushed to the window just in time to see the blurred motion of a red fox jumping up our fence, then turning 180 degrees to jump down and run in the opposite direction. Almost within reach of the fox’s tail were two bobcats! They pursued the fox for about 50 feet, and then abruptly stopped when the fox jumped out of our yard. Then the bobcats leisurely stretched out on the grass, yawned and were joined by a third bobcat. The fox was lucky that the bobcats gave up the chase, at least for today.

Bobcats lounging

The bobcats relaxed in the sunny part of our yard for about two hours, then roused themselves to drink from our backyard pond and to play in our pond’s filter tank. They looked liked overgrown housecats as they tussled in the tank. Then, one of the bobcats began scratching on an aspen tree, stretching upward 34 inches (I measured the next day), and dragging its claws down the soft bark. According to Timothy Mallow in his article Bobcat Ecology, “the vertical scratches made by the bobcat’s claws leave a visual marker and also leave a scent on the tree that originates from sweat glands in bobcat’s paws. Bobcats maintain and defend their ranges with the use of territorial markers, such as tree scratches. The home range of a female bobcat averages 2900 acres.” That is more than twice as large as Garden of the Gods Park (1367 acres).

Bobcat drinking from backyard pond

Bobcat scratching aspen tree

Bobcats playing in filter tank

The backyard bobcat drama lasted all day. By mid-afternoon, I noticed a fox squirrel at the tiptop of an aspen tree, anxiously flicking its tail and chattering. Half way up the same tree was one of the bobcats! When the squirrel jumped into the top of an adjacent aspen, the bobcat slowly backed down the tree trunk, then turned and jumped to the ground. I thought the hunt was over. But no, the bobcat looked up, located the squirrel and proceeded to climb the second tree. Then I observed that a second bobcat was patrolling the top of our back fence, near the squirrel’s tree.

At this point, I guessed that the squirrel would outlast the bobcats in patience and would remain at the very top of the tree until the bobcats left the neighborhood. I decided to check back in 5 minutes, but by then, I had missed the action. There was the bobcat strolling through the backyard with the lifeless squirrel in its mouth.

As the successful predator settled down to eat its prey, the other two bobcats watched neighborhood birds from the vantage point of our deck and took another nap. The three bobcats finally left our backyard in the late afternoon.

Bobcat sitting on our deck

The bobcats are probably three of the four kittens that were born in our neighbor’s yard last spring. Although the mother bobcat and her four kittens left their den in early July, neighbors occasionally saw one or more of the bobcats during the fall. Just last week, in mid-January, one neighbor saw all five bobcats – presumably the mother and the almost-grown kittens – parade across her deck in single file following the lead bobcat that held a dead squirrel in its mouth. The bobcats will soon deplete the easy prey in our neighborhood and move on to another part of their home range. Sometime between now and May, when the kittens are almost a year old, the mother will “evict her kittens from her home range.” Until then, we fortunate neighbors may glimpse the “wild kingdom” in our own Westside Colorado Springs neighborhoods.

2 young bobcats nuzzle, creating a mirror image

Bobcat jumping off our deck

Photo Credits: All photos were taken by author Melissa Walker.

Ten months ago in one of my first blogs, I used a quote from my favorite nature writer Ann Zwinger. The year 2010 marked the 40th anniversary of her classic natural history book, Beyond the Aspen Grove, still my favorite. I chose my nature blog’s tagline “always something new to discover” from Ann’s words:

Beginning to know these mountain acres has been to discover a puzzle with a million pieces already set out on a table. Occasionally a few pieces fit together and we gain another awareness of the land’s total pattern of existence, of its intricate interdependencies, enhanced by knowing that the puzzle will never be completed. There will always be something new to discover… (From Chapter 1, Beyond the Aspen Grove)

As I write today, a snowstorm has settled over Colorado Springs and every shape outside my window is now etched in white. With 2010 drawing to a close, I am reflecting on the turning seasons of this year and thought I’d share a few of my favorite Colorado discoveries with you, with homage to Ann Zwinger.

Sandhill Cranes and Sunset, Sangre de Cristo Mountains, late winter

Northern Flicker, late winter

Bobcat with two of her four kittens, late spring

Alpine Tundra Wildflowers: Alpine Forget-Me-Nots and Dwarf Clover on the west slope of Pikes Peak, mid-summer

Golden aspen leaves paint the mountainsides in autumn

Snow-covered Backyard with pond, aspen trees and tall stalks of teasel, early winter

Happy New Year!

Photo Credits: Cranes, Bobcats, Wildflowers, Aspen and Pond by Melissa Walker; Flicker by Les Goss

Frequent readers of my blog may be wondering what happened to the mother bobcat and her kittens that I wrote about earlier this summer. Our westside Colorado Springs neighborhood proved to be a good wildlife habitat for the bobcat family.

The mother bobcat successfully raised all 4 of her kittens in our neighbor’s (the Bracketts) backyard until the kittens were ready to move to a new territory. The kittens practiced climbing trees, and as they got older, climbed the Bracketts’ backyard fence to follow their mother, probably to learn how to hunt squirrels and rabbits. On hot days, the kittens stayed in their den until early evening. All of our neighbors were alerted about the bobcat family, and there were no negative encounters between “our” wildcat and pets or people. Soon after the first week of July, the mother bobcat and her kittens left “the nursery” and haven’t been seen since. I still miss them. Many of my neighbors also observed the mother bobcat during her 10-week stay in our neighborhood and we were all fascinated by this glimpse of one of Colorado’s most beautiful species of wildlife.

Mother Bobcat in early July

To read earlier posts about the bobcats, click on the “Bobcat” category.

Photo credit: Les Goss

On June 1, Laura Brackett, my neighbor across the street, called with exciting news. “The bobcat is in my backyard and has 4 kittens!” So, the bobcat that has been ranging in our westside Colorado Springs neighborhood since April 22 is definitely a female and has found adequate food, water and shelter to make this her temporary home. The bobcat has hidden her den and kittens underneath thick juniper bushes in the Brackett’s backyard.

During the past week, Laura and I have tried to photograph the growing family without disturbing the mother bobcat. We quietly observe and photograph from the Brackett’s second-floor deck. We think that the kittens are about five weeks old and were kept hidden the first few weeks.

Laura and her husband Dave observe the bobcat family in the morning and early evening when the mother nurses her kittens next to their juniper-sheltered den. Watching with binoculars, Laura and Dave report that the mother bobcat is successful in finding prey for her kittens. In addition to a fox squirrel, the Bracketts have also seen the remains of both a red fox and a skunk.

On June 9, the mother bobcat nursed her kittens closer to the house and Laura captured some great images. My thanks to Laura Brackett for providing the following photos that record part of the mother bobcat’s daily life.

Bobcat Kittens in constant motion.

Bobcat nursing her kittens

Bobcat Kitten after nursing

Kitten plays in leaves

Mother bobcat & curious kittens

Almost finished nursing

Morning feeding completed

FYI: The white object visible in some of the photos is part of the drip sprinkler system. For more information and photos about our neighborhood bobcat, please visit my April and May Colorado Nature Narratives Blog postings.

It has been one week since our last sighting of “the backyard bobcat.” On that day, May 17, the bobcat surprised us at 7:00 p.m. Right after dinner, my son exclaimed, “It’s the bobcat!”

The bobcat was sitting down with its back to us, about 15 feet from the sliding glass door to our sideyard. While my husband Les Goss rushed for the camera, my son and I noted how similar the wildcat looked to a really big house cat. We also noticed the prominent black and white markings on the back of its ears. The bobcat’s triangle-shaped ears are tipped in black with a white rectangle shape at the base of each ear. The bobcat then began to move, and for several minutes was out of sight on the other side of our deck.

Then it jumped up onto our fence.

And looked into the neighbor's yard.

It marked territory in 3 locations in the neighbor's yard and covered up its scat.

Then the bobcat leaped back up our 5.5' fence.

And back down into our yard.

It didn't take much foliage for the bobcat to begin to disappear. Its protective coloration definitely works.

We have seen the bobcat 8 times in the last 5 weeks:
April 16 at 4 p.m.
April 18 at 6 p.m.
May 8 at 2 p.m.
May 9 at 9 a.m.
May 10 at 9:30 a.m.
May 12 at 10:30 a.m.
May 13 at 9:00 a.m.
May 17 at 7:00 p.m.

Perhaps the bobcat ranged through our yard on other days but we didn’t look out the window at just the right time to see him.

So when will the bobcat reappear in our backyard? That is the question.

For more information about bobcats in general and this particular Colorado Springs bobcat, please visit my two previous posts dated April 22 and May 12. Les Goss, my husband, took all the bobcat photos. Thanks, Les!

After a two-week hiatus, the Bobcat is again ranging through our backyard. We have seen it four out of the last five days, including today. Last Saturday the Bobcat was rolling around in the tall grass in our aspen grove; on Sunday, it was drinking from the filter tank of our backyard pond; yesterday it was carrying its prey – a fox squirrel – in its jaws; and this morning it simply ambled through the backyard sniffing the air. In my April 22 blog “A Bobcat in the Backyard,” I expressed my wish to see the Bobcat again. That wish has come true. Seeing the magnificent Bobcat reminds me of one of my favorite quotes:

“Those who dwell among the wonders and mysteries of nature
are never alone or weary of life.”    by Rachel Carson

Bobcat in Backyard Habitat, photo by Les Goss

On the afternoon of April 16, the clouds were darkening. Even though it was only four o’clock, it seemed much later. Anticipating rain, I glanced out the window to see if any raindrops were puncturing the smooth surface of our backyard pond. No, not yet.

Just as I was turning away, a movement caught my eye. Suddenly, a furry leg stretched up out of the pond’s filter tank. Then two triangle-shaped ears appeared – ears with pointed tufts. A bobcat was in our backyard!

Backyard Bobcat

My heart began to race. I watched the wildcat stand up and slowly stretch just like a house cat. When it climbed out of the tank I rushed to get my camera. Luckily, the bobcat was still in view, warily weaving a path through the edge of our small aspen grove. Then it disappeared into the thicket.

Bobcat blends into its surroundings

I’ve occasionally heard of bobcats being sighted in the Pikes Peak foothills. Yet, for the many years that I have been hiking, backpacking and watching wildlife in Colorado, this was the first time I’d ever seen a bobcat. I hope it won’t be the last. Continue Reading »

On February 19, I went on a snowshoe hike in the San Juan Mountains about 60 miles west of Alamosa, Colorado. The light wind, temperature in the teens and new snow combined to make perfect conditions for navigating the forested trail at 9500′ elevation. Every branch of the Douglas Fir forest was traced in white.

Most of the wildlife tracks we saw were Mule Deer, with one very obvious exception. What mammal in the San Juans would leave very deep 5″ round prints with a 4′ walking stride? A Moose! Although we never saw the Moose, it was the first time I’d ever seen the tracks of this largest member of the deer family.

Later the same day, just by looking out the window from where we were staying, I saw a Mule Deer bedding down in the snow. Its eyes were closed for part of the time, and it remained in the same spot for about 2 hours. While there, it was visited by an opportunistic Black-billed Magpie that slowly pushed its beak through the deer’s fur, looking for ticks and other insects to eat. The deer lay motionless as the bird worked its way from the deer’s tail to its neck, gleaning insects for about 15 minutes.

Continue Reading »