A bobcat and kitten saga

I arrived at my trail camera the other day to find a fascinating series of photos. First, I saw that the mother bobcat who we've seen on numerous occasions in photos walked along the path and then took an abrupt turn up a steep embankment.

A few minutes later, the lagging kitten walked along, looking fragile and very spotted compared to his mother. The surprising part was that he didn't follow her route up the hill. He continued on the animal path.

It took only a few steps before it appeared that he knew that he'd lost her trail. His nose went to the ground, searching for her scent.

The kitten disappeared out of view of the camera, using an odd slinking gait. Maybe the gait reflected fear because he'd lost his mother's trail? Just a guess.

The next photo was about 45 minutes later, when the kitten came down the slope from the direction where his mother had first disappeared. He seemed to be alone. However, remember that his mother might have been just outside the view of the camera, moving in parallel with the kitten. That's the frustrating part of interpreting trail camera photos - you have no idea what's going on just outside the view of the camera.

A close-up of the kitten...

Late that afternoon, the kitten showed up at the same spot again. This time, he headed straight up the hill in the direction that his mother had climbed earlier that morning. Now, I was puzzled. Was he still searching for his mother? Alternatively, was his mother hanging out up the hill for some reason? Or, was his mother traveling with him but just out of view of the camera? Questions and curiosity...

Zoom in...

I couldn't resist checking the camera this morning, even though we had a deluge of frigid rain overnight, and I usually get no trail camera photos in terrible weather. Indeed, that pattern held. Consequently, I have no more insight to share about what is going on with the bobcat mother and kitten.

I wonder if this mother bobcat is the one who we saw photos of back in mid-March, traveling with another adult bobcat, likely a mate. If that's true, then the kitten was probably born in late May and is close to 4 months old now. I've read that bobcat kittens start traveling with their mothers on some hunts when they are about 3 months old. That timing fits with approximately when I captured my first bobcat kitten photos. Usually, a bobcat kitten stays close by his mother's side for 6 months or so. Then, according to biologists, the kitten starts hunting more independently within the mother's territory for several months - getting some help from the mother bobcat if they have a bad hunting phase. Finally, sometime before the kitten is a year old, he disperses from his mother's territory to find his own stomping grounds.

All of that means that we should be seeing this kitten traveling closely with his mother again. It's not time for him to become independent yet.

I've compiled all the photos from the past couple of days into a flipbook video which you can view here or at Youtube.

In the meantime, the stormy weather continues but K and I went for a mountain bike ride anyway. My happy girl led the way into the clouds.