Handsome Bobcat

Portrait of a handsome bobcat.
Handsome Bobcat

I saw this bobcat for the first time a couple of days ago.  He’s very well-marked.  I’m used to seeing bobcats in Point Reyes National Seashore with little or no distinctive markings on the torso.  This guy has very pronounced spots and stripes on his trunk.  I think I’ll remember him as “Handsome Bob.”   Unfortunately, Handsome Bob didn’t stop in the prettiest place.  It looks like a badger has been through here shortly before Bob and really tore the place up.  I saw a coyote stop here and hunt a couple of weeks ago.  It must be (or was) a good spot for gophers and/or other rodents.  Click here to purchase a print of this image.

Bobcats Are Special

A bobcat looks for its next meal.
Bobcat, Point Reyes National Seashore

I enjoy seeing and photographing all wildlife, but some species are more special than others to me.  Bobcats are one of those species, along with wolves, bears and eagles.  I’ll never get tired of photographing them.

Bobcat Hunting Gophers

A bobcat stops in a field.
Bobcat, Point Reyes National Seashore

This bobcat was hunting gophers.  Gophers are plentiful at Point Reyes, at least in the agricultural areas.  They are an important food source for coyotes, bobcats, badgers and other predators at the Seashore.  If this bobcat could talk he would probably say there is no such thing as too many gophers.

Bobcat, Point Reyes National Seashore, Marin County, California

A bobcat rests in a field.
Bobcat, Point Reyes National Seashore

A bobcat takes a rest in a field.  I’ve been seeing a lot of bobcats and coyotes at Point Reyes lately.  I saw a bobcat and three coyotes last Friday.  I saw this guy the previous visit.  Don’t recall what else I saw that day, but I have photos of a coyote from then.  I often see things, but don’t get a chance to photograph the animal so what I’ve photographed isn’t a good record of what I saw on any given day.  When I started going out to Point Reyes somewhat regularly beginning last summer I didn’t see as many bobcats or coyotes as I’m seeing now.  I don’t know if it’s luck lately or that I’m getting better at spotting them.  Probably both, but with emphasis on the luck side of the equation.

Bobcat, Point Reyes National Seashore, Marin County, California

Photo of a bobcat running.
Bobcat on the Run

I went out to Point Reyes for a while today.  I saw two bobcats and a coyote, not to mention the more common things like elk, deer, various hawks, a burrowing owl,  and other birds.  When I first saw this bobcat it was lying down in the grass.  I wasn’t sure if it was a bobcat or a tabby cat.  One of our two tabby cats has a face that looks just like a bobcat’s face and there are plenty of farm cats in the Seashore.  Anyway, as you can see from the photo, it was definitely a bobcat.  Point Reyes is a good place to spot bobcats, but they exist in suitable habitat throughout Marin County.