It would seem that my backyard has become quite the bobcat crossing – this collection of clips is just from the past few weeks:
Perhaps these are those same bobcat siblings I spied as youngsters playing in the yard a few years ago.
More recent wildlife visits in the yard – deer, coyotes and bobcats:
I heard a strange, low moaning/growl from the scrub behind the house. It definitely got Pan and Hera’s attention. It sounded like a noise a calf might make – but when I waited around to see if whatever it was would emerge, it turned out to be a pair of juvenile bobcats growling at each other:
Video footage of two bobcats hanging out behind the house (2:31, 51 MB)
Somebody’s been eating my newly planted flowers in my front yard. I was pretty sure I knew who the culprit was, but for fun I moved my motion-activated camera to the front yard, near the house, to see what I might find. Well, it took only a couple of nights to catch a whole range of suspects prowling my yard.
I knew there were a couple of rabbits that have taken up residence beneath some of the tall grasses near the house since I sometimes see them out and about in the mornings. And not surprising to see the coyotes trying to find the rabbits. But it was a surprise to see a bobcat has been trying to catch the bunnies in the yard too. And of course I also caught the true culprits who’ve been eating my flowers! I’ve now installed a motion-activated light and noise-maker now so perhaps the flowers will recover.
I bought one of those motion-sensing wildlife “game” cameras and have been trying it in different spots around my property here in the hills near Santa Cruz. Not so many lions and tigers and bears, but lots of deer and coyotes, the occasional raccoon and squirrel, but also caught a bobcat and a couple of bucks sparring in just the past month:
More local Santa Cruz wildlife:
Just some pictures from taking our bobcat out for a walk from Waddell Beach into Big Basin State Park’s Rancho Del Oso last Sunday. We hiked up to the overlook at the top of the Clark Connector trail. Nice views!
Click through for the gallery:
I had another bobcat visit/sighting this morning at my home in the hills above Santa Cruz — and once again a deer drove it off:
Pan and Hera are my little wildlife spotters. I’ve got to go look whenever I see something has their attention. A couple of weeks after the previous bobcat visit, I notice Pan intensely watching something from the porch.
It’s another bobcat! Cool!
It’s clearly a different one from given the different markings along its side. And smaller too:
… that is, until a buck drove him off. No, really!
I was just letting Hera and Pan out when I see…. oh, a bobcat. Huh. No guys, back inside. No, I mean it. Hey, Hera… come back here — no, I don’t think he would be a good friend for you…
And then I see the young buck. Huh. The buck is facing the bobcat down, making him back away. And he continues to drive him off and down the dirt road, out of sight.
Sorry Pan, sorry Hera, gotta go and you’re staying inside today!
Yeah, yeah… the fence/cat enclosure around the porch is due to go up in a few weeks. Hey, good thing I’ve got guard deer though in the meantime, eh?
