We Have Bobcats!
Not long after moving into our new home in St. George, UT, we realized we had Bobcats! We had setup a trail-cam outside in our front yard. It mostly took pictures of Rabbits, Quail, Roadrunners, and other small animals. Then one exciting day, I woke up to see in the trail-cam images a Bobcat after having caught a Rabbit and now carrying it in its mouth into the shrubs outside our house.
Bobby Comes to Visit
There were occasional sightings in the trail-cam afterwards, but it wasn’t until about a year later, when we got our first daytime glimpse of them. It was a mom and her young cub! I have always wondered whether young bobcats are called cubs or kittens? I think it is actually kittens, but I prefer cubs. So that it what I call them.
It was early morning on what would become a hot July day outside our bedroom window. We awoke to the view of a Bobcat cub looking at us through our window. I should probably clarify that my wife woke first and then excitedly woke me up. (The photo below was taken by her.)
It turned out that his mom had caught a rabbit and brought it into our backyard. Presumably, she thought it was more private. Not realizing, of course, that we were watching through our window.
A short while later, they jumped back over the wall to our open side yard. Maybe, they were planning to leave soon. But then Bobby decided to climb the tree on the side of our house. Well, as a photographer I can’t just ignore that opportunity. So out I go into our backyard where I can get a good view of both of them over the wall.
Well mom is not too happy about me noticing her cub. She watches over him carefully. Every now and then, with blood still on her chin from the rabbit, when she thinks I might be getting a little too curious she emits a low growl.
I’m sure she is wishing she could get Bobby down from the tree so they can get out of there, but she doesn’t know how.
And just like any house cat, Bobby is also wondering how he is going to get down. After being up there for a while, he decides to just relax and chill out high up in the branches. I got my amazing close-up photos, so it is now time to leave them in peace and go back inside.
Attempting a Rescue
A couple hours tick by and Bobby is still in the tree. The outside temperature climbs rapidly. It is, after all, summer in the desert. Bobby’s mom decides she can’t just wait there in the blistering heat. Her cub is comfortable in the shade from the leaves and safe in the tree, so she takes off to take refuge and wait until later in the day.
But it worries me that he is left behind. There has got to be something I can do. So, I go outside and set up a ramp and platform, so he can use it to come down. He doesn’t seem so concerned that I am moving around below him setting this up. When finished, I go back inside. Well, he has no interest in using the ramp and just stays put.
But as I watch through a window, still refusing the ramp, he slowly tests out to see if he can find his own way down. And he does! It was so easy after all.
The Reunion
Free at last! Once on the ground, he goes trotting off in the direction his mom left hours ago. But that can’t be the end of the story. Will we ever find out if he found his mom?
The answer to that question came in the form of ring camera videos from a ring camera that we had set up in our backyard pointing at a bowl of water we had left out for wildlife. We were out by the time the reunion occurred, but we could watch it happen on our cell phones.
The video below is a very condensed version of what took place over a period of about 1 1/2 hours. Watch the video to see the exciting conclusion. Please enjoy!
Postscript
Over the last few years since the time of this story, we have seen many more Bobcats come visit. We are pretty sure that Bobby came to visit the following year. That bobcat was living on his own and not yet fully grown, so it would make sense. And possibly he came again the year after that, but this time with his own cubs. And this past year, Bobby’s mom returned with another litter!
If you like this blog post and want a print to remember it by, two of the photos in this blog are for sale in my store. Please click through on the links below if interested.
Or, if you have any Bobcat stories you would like to share, I would love to hear them in the comments section below.
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