Bobcat

Ever since the big Cedar fire just over two years ago, our once-abundant local bobcats have been very scarce — and in our valley, almost non-existant. This is very sad for us, as these bobcats used to be one of our favorite things to spot as we were walking.

In the past few days, we’ve had two bobcat sightings. First, a few days ago Debbie spotted one while driving through Lyons valley. This is one valley over from ours, about two or three miles from our home. Then yesterday we had a much closer encounter. Debbie was sitting in our living room, reading, when she glanced up and saw a feline silhouette against our patio door, about 30' from her. She called to me (I was in the next room), but by the time I got there it had gone. She was sure it was a bobcat. I crept out as quietly as I could, hoping to catch a glimpse. When I went through the doorway where Debbie had originally spotted it, I couldn’t see a thing. So I walked around to the side of the house, in the direction she thought it had moved, and when I looked around the corner — there it was! It was loping away, not looking all that concerned. At the moment I spotted it, the bobcat was about 25' from me — but it was only about 6' from the window Debbie had moved to, so she got a terrific view of it, from the side. I had the butt view <smile>. The bobcat was a male, roughly the size of Lea (our female field spaniel); I’d guess it was 25 to 30 pounds. It’s color was a little unusual — more pale than most of the bobcats we’ve seen here. So far as I could tell, it was in good health.

I sure hope this is a portent of things to come…