Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Look Who Visited Us Today...




...Bob. As in Bobcat! This morning one of the scrub jays was outside having an absolute fit. I looked out the window and saw a cat under the lilac bush. I, of course, assumed that it was "Marmalade", my little friend who visits fairly regularly. I went outside and called him, but he wouldn't come out, which was very unusual. He usually runs out to greet me. I said, "Marmalade, what's the matter with you?" and upon looking more closely I realized, that's not Marmalade - THAT'S A BOBCAT! He was smaller than one we had that visited us back in January of 2008. I had some errands to run and when I returned he was laying on the cement in front of our windows that face out to the backyard. I was able to get these pictures (they aren't the best, but I had to take them through the screen and do it fairly fast as to not really scare him off). He ended up moving to another spot in the yard and was there until late this afternoon when he moved on. I was worried that Marmalade would come sauntering into the yard and become his breakfast, lunch or dinner, but thankfully, that didn't happen. If this had been a mountain lion, I would have been extremely concerned and would have called animal control to come and tranquilize it and move it back up to our nearby hills. They are around and a 200-pound cat was seen up at a popular wilderness park about a mile from here which, needless to say, put a kabosh on my hiking there. The park ranger said, "Oh, they more than likely are around, watching people hiking and you don't even know they're there." Somehow the thought of a 200-pound cat eyeing me and trying to decide if I should be its next meal doesn't make me feel very safe. Call me crazy. I'll stick to Descanso Gardens, thank you very much.

3 comments:

Joy Jones said...

WOW!!! I think you got great pictures! "Bob" is totally adorable even if he is wild. I'd be scared too, especially since our little Maltese is smaller than that Bob cat. Barkley would never go outside again if I saw that!! Thanks for sharing the wildlife : ) ~ xo Joy

Run Lori Run said...

Glad you were composed enough to get your camera! He's a beautiful animal, nice photos!

Marie S said...

Very cool, aren't they beautiful cats?
And him just chillin" on your porch, very cool!
I appreciate your follow. Thank you and good luck!
Love and hugs.