Lynx rufus [VIEW LARGE!] - a photo on Flickriver

            Taking a long walk in the woods this afternoon, searching for owls, the dogs and I were just coming up the creekbed, not far from home, when a flock of about 30 jays and other small birds set up an almighty  uproar in the scrub oaks near us.

Following the sound of mobbing jays has often led me straight to an owl, so I turned on my camera while moving as quickly and quietly as I could toward the ruckus.  The jays suddenly took off from that area and, enmasse, moved to another area a hundred or so yards away.  Still following the birds' racket, I saw a flash of a tail and what I thought was my dog Gracie running through the scub oak.  But glancing down, I was startled to see that she was still right next to me.  A neighbor's dog then, I thought, still moving toward the chattering birds.  

Suddenly that flashing tail went straight up into the single largest ponderosa pine tree in the woods...a tree whose branches are thicker than regular tree trunks.  Oooooh, definitely NOT a dog.  Heart pounding, I dashed to the tree searching the upper canopy for what was a huge, full-grown bobcat.  

All I had with me was my point-and-shoot camera, which was not able to zoom enough to capture the cat, who had climbed about 20 feet up, and who was now surveying me from a crouched position on a stout branch.  Cursing myself for not bringing my DSLR camera, I swung my leg up on the first branch and began climbing up for a better angle.  The startled cat retreated higher up keeping a wary eye on both me, and my two dogs who were milling around below.  About ten feet up, I had a better angle and started snapping pictures...about four or five of them...when the battery died.  

Damn, damn, damn!  Whipping out my cell phone, I called my son (just returned on leave from 20 months in Korea) who was hanging out at the house, waiting for me to return so we could go to the movies.  "Grab my camera, and get down to the creekbed!  I've treed a bobcat and I'm not leaving until I get pictures!!!" I yelled.  He asked me to repeat this a couple of times.  "Are you out of your mind Mom?!  Where are you? Where's the camera?"  

Less than 10 minutes later, coordinating our positions via cell phone, my son came through the scrub oak with my camera.  He hauled himself up too, and the two of us climbed until we were about 20 feet up, and about as far as we could safely go.  The branches were still kind of in the way, but we got quite a few good pictures of this gorgeous wild cat.  We missed our movie, but we both thought it was well worth it to see something this special!  

Oh, and FYI, if this had been a mountain lion, I would definitely NOT have gone up the tree after it!

Taken in: United States / Colorado / Larkspur (show map)

Taken on: February 12, 2010

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lynx

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Sets appears in: • Wild Animals

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Camera: Pentax K10D, f/9.5, 1/60 sec, 50mm (=75mm), ISO 400 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Pentax K10D
Aperture:	f/9.5
Exposure Time:	0.017 sec (1/60)
Focal Length:	50mm (35mm equivalent: 75mm)
ISO:	400
Exposure Bias:	-2 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Auto bracket
Metering Mode:	Spot
White Balance:	Manual
Saturation:	High
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	Unknown (-1)
Software:	picnik.com
Show full info

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