Woke up to a delightful morning of fresh snow sprinkled like icing sugar over the fields and an exciting surprise outside the chicken coop. Some unusual footprints of a definite feline character. Our (slightly educated) guess is bobcat (Lynx rufus) The prints are about 2-3 times larger than the prints of our house cat, Miau-miau.
The cat prints (wild or domestic) have one toe higher than the others. The print is slightly more rounded and more a-symmetrical compared to a dog print (canine). These prints are about 5 cm long and about 25-30 cm apart. The pattern on the prints are in a narrow trail, with back paws stepping in the prints from the fore paws at times. The back pad has a scalloped pattern with three lobes. Four toes can be seen but no claw marks. With coyote or dog prints you see the claw marks clearly. Most cats can retract their claws and do so while walking.
Compare the photos below to tell them apart.
Bobcat tracks Note one front toe slightly higher and scalloped pattern on pad. Tracks often doubled by front and back paws.
Bobcat track top, house cat bottom
Coyote track (above). Note oval shape and signs of claws.
While we're on the topic of bobcat I thought I'd share with you a photo of a skull that we found in the woods here on the property the other day. We believe that this skull is also from a bobcat. The kids and I followed the bobcat trails into the woods to see if we could deduce what it had been doing. It's like a really good mystery where you have to follow clues and keep an open mind. By piecing together the clues the plot thickens. Last night around 1am I heard a sound outside I'd never heard before. It sounded like a combination between a cat and a screech owl. It started with a meowing and ended with a high pitched call. Having seen the prints outside this morning and doing some further research on the bobcat's call I now believe that what I heard was its call. The plot thickens...
The bobcat is a solitary animal that only gets together with other bobcats for mating, this usually happens in February. The female will give birth to 1-7 (usually 2-3) kittens in late April-early May. After only 2 months the kittens wean. Their diet are other small animals, although they can kill foxes and deer too if they need to. Like all cats they are carnivores. Often they hide larger prey in caches and comes back to consume it at intervals.
Their scat resembles a dog's but it's often haphazardly buried with scratch marks in the ground around it. They mark their territory using urine, scent glands and scratches on trees. They can climb well and are even known to swim if need be.
I
love that the forest around here have such a variety of animals and
that we can see bears, coyotes,
bobcats, weasels, deer and squirrels, to name just a few. We had three glorious elk roaming
in the woods a few years back, but I think someone shot them. I heard
gun shots in the back of the forest and haven't seen elk here since.This saddens me. Biodiversity
is healthy and the more variety we have, the better the forest feels.
The better the forest feels, the better I feel. The better I feel, the
more I can do to care for the forest and its inhabitants.
