Bobcat Tales

I have a tendency to take our abundant bobcats for granted. However, I love watching them, especially at this time of year.

I see two special things in the fall. One is that bobcats start marking like crazy. They love to rub their faces and bodies in the area of the base of a bear marking tree, probably due to the many scents that the bears leave behind there. I'm not sure why bobcat marking reaches a crescendo at this time of year.

A bobcat starting to mark

A bobcat looking up in the middle of marking

The second reason why bobcats are such fun to observe in the fall is that they bring out their kittens to areas where my trail cameras can capture footage of them. For the summer, the kittens spent most of their time in dens, with their mother nursing them and then progressing to bringing them prey to eat in the den. They switch dens frequently to avoid being discovered.

I was absolutely thrilled with some bobcat footage that I captured this summer. In the first sequence of the video below, a bobcat is determined to mark an area in the far left of the frame. A striped skunk is equally determined to chase the bobcat away. I laughed and laughed as I watched the chases!

The second clip is of a mother bobcat and her two kittens who are marking the ground and a rock at the base of a bear marking tree. I adore seeing bobcat kittens - they are so cute! And, I'm thrilled for this mother bobcat. After years of having only one bobcat emerge in the fall, this is her second year in a row of having two!!!

Enjoy the video either here or at Youtube.

Black and White Sunday

 May neither you nor your dogs ever see this sight!