Jim Coda Nature Photography

March 12, 2017May 1, 2018Bobcat

Bobcats; Comparing Point Reyes National Seashore and Yellowstone National Park

Bobcat, Point Reyes National Seashore — A bobcat moves through grass hunting for gophers at Point Reyes National Seashore.

I go to Point Reyes National Seashore (PRNS) often. It’s rare that I go and not see at least one bobcat. I also spend a month or so almost every year in Yellowstone National Park (YNP). Yet, I’ve never seen a bobcat there in spite of the fact that they do exist. I’ve often wondered why.

According to my most recent copy (2013) of the annual “Yellowstone Resources and Issues Handbook,” bobcat numbers in Yellowstone are “unknown, but generally widespread.” It says their habitat is in rocky areas and conifer forests. It goes on to say that they are rarely seen, with most reported sightings being in rocky areas and near rivers. I’ve seen a few online photos of them along the Madison River in winter. Given the lack of stated population numbers, I assume they haven’t been studied much in Yellowstone, if at all. I’m not aware of any bobcat study in PRNS either. I assume PRNS doesn’t know how many bobcats there are in PRNS, let alone what their habitat preferences are.

In any event, why do I see bobcats regularly in PRNS and never in YNP? I can only speculate. My best guess is that it has to do with where the bobcat finds itself in the predator pecking order in each place. In YNP the bobcat has to worry about grizzly bears, black bears, wolves, coyotes and mountain lions. In PRNS it’s just coyotes and a very, very few mountain lions. This may cause them to stick to the forests and other good cover in YNP without the same pressure to do so in PRNS. If so, this reminds me of what I found last spring photographing pumas (aka mountain lions) in Patagonia’s Torres del Paine National Park (TDPNP) and adjacent private land. There are no bears or wolves in TDPNP. There is a coyote-like predator there called the culpeo, but coyote-sized animals are no threat to a mountain lion. While mountain lions in YNP stay in good cover, in TDPNP they feel no need to hide. I saw 18 pumas in a week in TDPNP and all of them were in open areas – like the bobcats in PRNS.

May 23, 2012Uncategorized

Any Day in Yellowstone …

Photo of two black bear cubs. — “Put Yer Dukes Up.”

Any day in Yellowstone is a good day. That is especially true in the spring. In the six days I’ve been here I’ve seen numerous bears and several wolves. Black bears are so numerous that I’ve stopped keeping track of sighting them. I photographed the spring cubs above the first day. I haven’t seen nearly as many grizzlies, but I’ve seen two sows with one cub each and a few other adults. They tend to be much farther away than black bears.

It’s a little early for babies, other than bison calves and bear cubs, but a newborn elk calf was in hiding just inside the Roosevelt gate this afternoon. I’ve been looking for them and bighorn lambs and pronghorn fawns. News of the elk calf will get me looking for babies more intently. The elk calves and pronghorn fawns stay hidden most of the time for the first week or so, but the bighorn lambs can keep up with their mothers the day of birth as well as the bison calves. Deer fawns arrive about a month later.

I’ve had my eyes peeled for badgers, but haven’t seen any yet. I was telling a guy that two days ago and he told me he photographed three of them earlier that day. Needless to say, I’m looking harder now. I got really close to a sandhill crane today. I’ve also been photographing a lot of marmots. Like I said, any day is good in Yellowstone.