Subscribe
- A Cottonwood Seed
- BehindTheBins
- Bird Cinema
- Bird Freak
- BirdChaser
- Birdfreak
- Birding for Handicapped
- Birding is Fun
- BirdingOnTheNet
- BirdNote Podcasts
- Birds, Etcetera
- Central NM Audubon
- Chapel Trail Nature Ctr
- Children & Nature
- Cornell Online BirdGuide
- Cottonmouth moccasin
- Eagle Nest
- Great FL Birding Trail
- Hawks Bluff Park
- Illinois Birders' Forum
- Janine Images
- Jones Meadow Park
- Kane County Audubon
- KidWings
- Laura's BirderBlog
- Les Arends FP
- Lippold Park
- Nature Photography
- Nelson Lake FP
- New Jersey Audubon
- Ornithology Course
- Rick Wright
- S Florida Eagle Watch
- Somewhere in NJ
- South Florida Audubon
- SurfBirds
- The Hawk Owl's Nest
- Tropical Audubon
- Tucson Audubon
- Vermillion River Wildlife
- West Miramar ESL
- Wild Bird Wednesday
- WingAndSong NM Blog
- BirdChat
- BirdNote Podcasts
- Bird News Network
- I and the Bird
- 10 Somewhat Unusual Items I take on Birding Trips
- Our Favorite Kingfishers
- Up and Around the Rouge
- Ask A Birder: Do Turkeys Originate From Turkey?
- Bird Guides of the World: Rolf Nessing, Germany
- A Boat Trip at Tangkoko, North Sulawesi
- Birding Lodges of the World: Ecotours Kondor Ecolodge, Hungary
- My Christmas Top Ten
- 10 Somewhat Unusual Items I take on Birding Trips
- FL Migration Radar
- General
- Birding & Outdoors
- Rutherford & NJ
- NM & SW US
- Florida & SE US
- Medical
- INDEX to Blog
- Hurricane Camille
- Getting Drafted
- Supai Canyon AZ
- Grandchildren
- Sandia Crest
- Capulin Spring
- Illinois
- Birding “Patches”
- Bald Eagle Nest
- Alaska
- MyWorld
- Wild Bird Wednesday
- Book Reviews
- Bird D’pot
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
Posted by: Ken @ 1:03 pm
A couple of days ago, the dew point was high and the air very still when We walked out on the wetlands adjacent to our south Florida home, hoping to get another glimpse of the Bobcats.
A little before sunrise, our patio view of the sky looked ominous.
Watery pearls festooned the spider silk.
Tall blades of grass, weighed down by the dew, drooped over the trail.
Some of my early morning photos had not been as sharp as I expected, and I had an “Aha!” moment when I noticed the fog covering my camera lens. Of course, the camera had spent the night in air-conditioned comfort, and warm, moist air had kissed the cold glass. My microfiber lens cloth came in handy, and I did much better this time.
The first test of the fog-free lens was this Eastern Towhee, which exhibited the white eyes of the southern subspecies; those migrating here from the north have red eyes.
A Common Ground-Dove looked down from a safe perch.
A Prairie Warbler brightened up the morning:
Palm Warblers were everywhere.
By the way, we did not see any Bobcats, but we keep trying…
Okay, now that this is officially a “birding” blog, I’ve got to tell what happened THIS morning. Again, we got out early, about 15 minutes before sunrise. When we stopped to check out the usual spot for Bobcats, we immediately saw three, far ahead to the south on the levee path. It was the same adult female with her two half-grown cubs that we have seen several time during the past month. This first photo is heavily cropped, as they were over 100 yards away, walking towards us. The adult is on the right.
Mary Lou left me to continue her walk, knowing I would remain uncommunicative and glued to my camera as long as Bobcats were in sight. I stalked closer to the cats, keeping to the high grass near the edge of the canal, on the left. To my advantage, there was a slight SE breeze in my face. At first the cubs appeared to be playing, but they eventually moved into the brush on the left side of the path while the adult kept watch over them with her back to me.
I walked a few steps and then took a shot. Since the power of my 420 mm lens system is equivalent to 8X binoculars, each step brought me (optically) about 16 feet nearer to the cats. I reached a point about 40 yards from the adult, then moved out into the path to get a clear shot. She was intent on watching the cubs, so I moved a bit nearer. Suddenly she turned and saw me, and began watching me intently.
She stood up and then walked diagonally in my direction before rather purposefully disappearing into the brush while continuing towards me. A House Wren began chattering near her position. Then I heard the wren, or another, begin scolding more to my right.
In the meantime, the larger cub had emerged onto the trail and was sitting on the path just staring in my direction.
The cub finally began to look alarmed and ran off into the high grasses of the expansive wetlands to the right. Meanwhile, the chattering of the wren started coming from just alongside me, then moved a bit behind me to my right. I assumed it meant that the parent Bobcat was checking me out, but I could not see or hear any sign of her. If she had been a panther, I would have been very anxious about coming between her and the cubs. Then, the second, smaller of the two cubs startled me by walking out only about 25-30 feet in front of me.
The smaller cub looked back towards where its larger litter-mate had disappeared into the brush.
At first it walked slowly towards me. For a while it seemed to be looking past me.
I couldn’t stand the suspense, so I turned my head to see if the mother had moved on to the path behind me, but I did not see her. My movement scared the cub and it twitched its tail before running off.
