Do you see it!?!(click any Nature ID pic for a larger screen view)
Let's zoom in a little closer.
Oho! Very exciting! Finally! Today I saw my first wild bobcat... and got some crappy photos of it. It's too bad that moments after we decided the log tucked in among the tall dried grasses had moved and really was a bobcat, a large dog came bounding down the trail towards us. During a 4-hour hike, we only met one other group of hikers. Per our typical trail luck, this 2nd group was loudly chatty to each other and oblivious with a loose dog that I was somewhat concerned would bite me before I could continue taking crappy photos.
This bobcat didn't seem too disturbed by their barking dog, nor did it seem to be in much of a hurry to depart the scene. After we pointed out to the other hikers the presence of the bobcat, we took a side trail to see if we could follow it. We didn't find it again, although we spotted an agitated CA gray squirrel high in a tree chirping out a high-pitched alarm call that seemed to spread through the trees.
For much better pictures of local subspecies of bobcats, check out other CA nature bloggers John Wall and Nature of a Man. I've been so keen on seeing a bobcat out in the wild that I've even collected a list o' links from various other bloggers on bobcats. I feel like I could easily retire this ol' blog with a sense of completion. It's as if Christmas came early for me this year.
This bobcat didn't seem too disturbed by their barking dog, nor did it seem to be in much of a hurry to depart the scene. After we pointed out to the other hikers the presence of the bobcat, we took a side trail to see if we could follow it. We didn't find it again, although we spotted an agitated CA gray squirrel high in a tree chirping out a high-pitched alarm call that seemed to spread through the trees.
For much better pictures of local subspecies of bobcats, check out other CA nature bloggers John Wall and Nature of a Man. I've been so keen on seeing a bobcat out in the wild that I've even collected a list o' links from various other bloggers on bobcats. I feel like I could easily retire this ol' blog with a sense of completion. It's as if Christmas came early for me this year.
13 comments:
Oh wow, I am really happy for you. I still wait for my first sighting. Congratulations!
Thanks, John. It's been a serious goal of mine ever since I started this blog. I figure since you're further north, you'd see them regularly at Tennessee Valley or Point Reyes.
Mutluluğunuzu paylaşıyorum.Başarılarınızın devamını beklerim.Sevgilerimle.
Thanks, A. Kadir! This is the result I get from google translate, "More beklerim.Sevgilerimle paylaşıyorum.Başarılarınızın happiness." I'm sorry, but I can only decipher based on google translate; it does not do a decent job. Also, I am sorry I could not entirely understand your last reply to my comment on your lovely strawberry tree.
That's a moment to savour! Happy, happy, happy!
Great sighting!!!!!
I'm guessing bobcats are creatures of habit and I know they like to sun during the winter, so if you return to this spot on sunny, cool winter days or other such locations, I bet you will see a bobcat again. If you keep your distance, they are reluctant to leave their sauna and will just sassily ignore you. I was up early for the lunar eclipse and as I returned to the house, I saw a bobcat from my backyard. It did that dragging-butt-slink-away thing they do when you surprise them moving in the open. hilarious. Here's to more bobcat sightings for everyone (except the dog off leash).
Congrats on the Bobcat!! I'm still trying to get my first on the trail cameras.
Nice capture. It's been really hard for me to get decent photos of wild bobcats, but I love to spot them. they're always very cautious, even though they seem to have supreme confidence in their natural agility and evasion skills. But they are a really beautiful animal.
Thanks, everyone! I'm still really chuffed about seeing this bobcat. Several hikes I've done were because Andy saw a bobcat during a trail run and then we go out the next day with hopes to see it again. I'm hoping, like with rare plants, now that I've seen one, I'll start seeing them everywhere. It's probably good the scary dog came along, because I would have broken my trail-only rule to get a closer picture and would have tried to cross the meadow which was likely filled with poison oak stems and ticks.
A. Kadir's comment translated, "I share your happiness. Expect continued success. Yours."
'bout time!!! Congratulations...the only place I've seen them reliably is Tennessee Valley Trail (going back as far as 1984 for sure).
Thank you, Janet. I may have to get my butt up to Tennessee Valley. John Wall, who I linked to above, seems to have great success in finding bobcats there. As you know, he regularly has the most incredible bobcat photographs.
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