Bobcat

One of the things I most love about being at this house is living so close to the wild things that also live here. Besides the quail, bunnies, pack rats, many types of birds, javelina, coyotes, there is also a bobcat family who raise their young here and consider this little stretch of open desert to be their turf. Thanks to them, coyotes are now seen less frequently. Competition is not just a human trait.

The neighbors say the bobcat will sit on their front porch. They have watched their young grow up, something we miss by being here less frequently. We have seen them come past but this is the first actual photos we got as last year's was with a camera set to photograph movement.
Tuesday I watched a young bobcat walk past our porch and we got some telephotos of him or her taking a nap in the desert flora right below the house. I don't take them casually as some people have been bitten by them but generally that happens by approaching too close, threatening them, or when they are rabid.I put in the top photo to illustrate how beautifully their coloring suits this piece of desert. You have to really look to see its ear and top of head. Enlarging will help. It's not surprising that we can walk right by and not see them. It also means clearing out our little piece of desert too much would not be a good idea. They like the thickets.