A bobcat mother and kitten

We have a bobcat with a kitten in our neck of the woods. I had my first clues that a kitten might be nearby more than a month ago. A bobcat seemed to be working a small area relentlessly and carrying prey toward one spot on a regular basis.

I've never seen so much bobcat activity in a relatively small area. This post chronicles all of the hunting activity of the mother over the past month or so, and then it shows photos of the mother and her kitten. If you want to skip to the cute part, go toward the end where the kitten photos are!

The mother bobcat hunted on a hillside.

Soon thereafter, my camera caught the mother  carrying a squirrel along a nearby animal trail.

The very next day, she carried a rabbit along the same trail in the same direction.

A few days later, she moved with purpose along that animal trail in the opposite direction of the previous photos.

Less than ten minutes later, she returned carrying lunch toward her den. I don't know exactly where her kitten was hidden but I was getting a good idea of the general area.

She was still in the area more than a week later again looking very determined.

She passed the same camera in the opposite direction, with empty jaws the next day.

I think that she moved the kitten between 8/3 and 8/11. About a mile to the east, she carried prey away from where I thought that she'd previously had the kitten stashed.

On the same day, more than a mile further east, she still walked carrying prey. I'm guessing that she had hunted a long way from the kitten's den that day.

Another four days later, the bobcat mother carried a rabbit, very recently killed (based on the eye glow of the rabbit).

She hunted at all hours of day and night. Here, she searched for prey on a hillside.

Then, the BIG day. I spotted her kitten on camera. The kitten is crouched in the brush to the left of his mother in the photo.

Here's a closeup. See the distinctive black and white ears on the kitten?

Mom accelerated past the kitten who stayed crouched.

A closeup shows the kitten better...

Finally, today, I found a great kitten photo on one of my cameras in that area. The kitten looks very young and cute! The mother bobcat is almost out of the picture in the lower left of the photo.

I hope that we can keep following this mother and kitten as the kitten grows up!