January in the mountains of Colorado is usually pretty cold, and this day was no different. Late afternoon, snowing over the mountains to the west, no sun and a nice wind were blowing. I got a phone call from an elderly neighbor that lived a little less than a 1/2 mile from us and described 3 smallish cats hanging out by her solar panels. After a couple of questions to her about what they looked like, I knew they were mountain lion cubs and pretty young.
Grabbed a camera and drove up the narrow dirt road to her driveway, and stopped. The solar panels were, maybe, 200 yards away, and on a little 2-track road leading farther uphill, an adult lion was heading out. So I waited until I lost it in the boulders and trees and walked toward those solar panels.
I was greeted by a lion cub lounging on a boulder, watching me approach. There, the 3 small lion cubs were in the brush and boulders, watching me watch them. I grabbed our Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 with Nikon D800 attached, and I needed that 2.8 speed because the light was going fast. I managed several images until it was too dark to photograph and too cold to continue. This image was of one little guy that may have thought he was hiding behind that tuft of winter-worn grass. I shifted to one side to get this image of him looking directly at me.