Die Manchmal Gruene Weide: December 2013

Bobcat Track

Four weeks ago while camping with Kenny, we took a nature walk on the trails and on one trail, this track caught my eye. It was bigger than most and it had no sign of claws. So I snapped a picture so I could compare to googled bobcat track images and this is a dead-on match for a bobcat track.
One place I saw a similar track was in one of the creek beds so I set up the trail cam to point down that creek bed. Imagine my surprise a week later, after a lot of rain, to find the creek bed was no longer dry. I had to execute a yoga-like creek straddle to rescue the camera from the tree where I had planted the camera.

Pond with water and snake

The photo above shows the pond full of water. As we approached the pond, Penny, as always, leapt into the pond with a huge splash. Next thing I hear a huge hiss and look up to see Penny face to face with a snake, fangs barred and hissing loudly in fear. It scared the heck out of Penny too, who leapt out of the water in fear and as I had my camera handy, I took this picture of the snake swimming rapidly in the opposite direction. Penny no longer leaps into the pond with such abandon.

Coyote with prey

Today, my birthday, I went out to Die Weide to feed and water Herbie and took a very long slow walk on the land - the kind where I walk two or there steps, then stand still and listen for birds to spot with binoculars. I spotted a new woodpecker species today and I need to get my bird book to identify it.

Then I grabbed the memory stick from the trail cam which I had placed pointing to the dam on the natural pond. What a haul! Above the trail cam captured a Coyote carrying something obviously it wishes to eat.

Bobcat on pond dam!

And here, for the first time and standing as confirmation of my bobcat track spotting skills, is the whole series of photos of the bobcat on Die Weide's pond dam.