The Voice of a Bobcat

My trail cams have heard a lot of mountain lion caterwauling over the past year. In contrast, our bobcats have been mute. That recently changed.

Starting around mid-June, a bobcat first let out a "meow" in front of a cam. She sounded just like a house cat. Then, later that night in June, that bobcat started calling in earnest. She yelled and yelled.

She was still calling in mid-July much to my surprise.

I first thought that perhaps she had lost her kittens and was trying to call them. This is the time of year when this particular bobcat usually brings her kittens out onto the trail to move them to a new den, and I've had no kitten sightings. I tend to doubt that she'd continue calling over three weeks if it was mis-placed kittens.

Another thought is that she's in estrus. That would be unusual - bobcat estrus is usually in February or so here. Over the many years that I've had trail cams, I've never seen a bobcat looking for a mate in mid-July. However, the literature says that it's possible.

I hope that the reason becomes clear from trail cam footage. Maybe she'll be kind enough to bring her mate to show to one of my cams!

Check out the short video if you have time!