OT: Bobcat sighting

[desertbluesman]

This is too cool; I just saw a bobcat crossing our street, it went between the Stotts lot and mine (The Stotts live next door) It was the size of a medium sized dog, beautiful in color at the prime of it's life. Very bright aura like, happily prancing across the street. You can bet the rabbit population is going to suffer big time. The coyotes live in our development too but they seem to hunt less well. Lynda went out to track it while I typed this in. Lynda says it caught a bird and started eating it right behind my air conditioner. I guess I will have to clean up the mess tomorrow. Way cool folks.

[desertbluesman]

I live on the edge of the raw Sonoran Desert. One mile west of us there is nothing but open desert except for a few little towns until Palm Springs/Indio California. About 240 miles of fine desert landscape without the interference of humanity. So we are on the edge of the wild.

[Larryz]

I have had Bobcats in the yard a few times and have had to put our house cat (who is pretty wild himself) in the garage for the night. I have seen them and the coyotes along with the deer, skunks, squirrels, quail, doves, turkeys, buzzards, crows, etc., several times on my gravel road hikes in my neck of the boonies and enjoy the encounter every time...

[Dannyalcatraz]

I live in a small suburb of Dallas, and we STILL get significant wildlife- coyotes, rabbits, hawks, owls, possum, snapping turtles, herons. BEAVERS.

 

The BIG surprise...well, besides the beavers- was a couple years ago when a couple of huge vultures moved into the neighborhood. Saw them eating roadkill in the middle of the street, @50 yards from my house.

 

And then, 3 weeks ago, I spotted 4 juvenile vultures doing likewise on the side of the road near my church.

[Scott Fraser]

I live 15 minutes from downtown LA, but we have a healthy population of skunks, possum, lots of coyotes (who have killed 2 of my cats,) raccoons, squirrels, crows & a family of red tailed hawks live in the pine trees in my garden. Lotta nature right here in the suburban hills of a major city.

Never any bobcats around here. But just 5 or 10 miles from me, where the city ends against the San Gabriel Mountains, they have frequent mountain lion & bear sightings.

[Dannyalcatraz]

I understand there are lots of "cougars" in LA, too.

[hurricane hugo]

This is too cool; I just saw a bobcat crossing our street, it went between the Stotts lot and mine (The Stotts live next door) It was the size of a medium sized dog, beautiful in color at the prime of it's life. Very bright aura like, happily prancing across the street. You can bet the rabbit population is going to suffer big time. The coyotes live in our development too but they seem to hunt less well. Lynda went out to track it while I typed this in. Lynda says it caught a bird and started eating it right behind my air conditioner. I guess I will have to clean up the mess tomorrow. Way cool folks.

 

How much of a mess is it gonna leave? We had a hawk around here that was f-ing the pigeon population up. It killed and ate one in my driveway once; all that was left was 2 or 3 feathers and a few spots of blood.

[DocPate]

No bobcats here in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia, but we do get lots of deer, turkey, and other usual critters. We did get a 600 lb. black bear in the back yard recently.

 

You must have a few snakes around too huh?

[Sharkman]

I live in a nice neighborhood in suburban Detroit. I get loads of squirrels, rabbits, and the occasional raccoon, skunk, and possum. A squirrel just ran across the top of my backyard fence as I wrote this. My brother lives a half mile away from me, and in his neighborhood, in addition to the above critters, he's seen deer in his backyard, and his neighbor had a coyote. There have also been foxes seen in the neighborhood, but not recently. I should set up one of those game cameras in my backyard, just to see what kinds of wildlife comes out after dark around here.

[Delta]

There's nothing like observing a wild animal in it's element, even if it's in the suburbs. Growing up in a small mining town in Northern Ontario, Canada with our house on the edge of wilderness we saw plenty of wildlife including black bear, moose, deer, wolverines, weasels, bobcats, coyotes and wolves. One that sticks out is when I saw a full grown Canada Lynx padding across a snow bank in the middle of winter. It probably weighed about 25 lbs., but with it's gorgeous winter coat it looked much larger.

[Scott Fraser]

I understand there are lots of "cougars" in LA, too.

 

That's what I understand, but at my age being cougar bait is pretty unlikely.

[whitefang]

I live in a nice neighborhood in suburban Detroit. I get loads of squirrels, rabbits, and the occasional raccoon, skunk, and possum. A squirrel just ran across the top of my backyard fence as I wrote this. My brother lives a half mile away from me, and in his neighborhood, in addition to the above critters, he's seen deer in his backyard, and his neighbor had a coyote. There have also been foxes seen in the neighborhood, but not recently. I should set up one of those game cameras in my backyard, just to see what kinds of wildlife comes out after dark around here.

 

I don't know which Detroit suburb Shark lives in. I live in the southwest downriver suburb of Lincoln Park. Not too far from some slightly further south wetlands, but 'round here the biggest problem is the proliferation of jack rabbits. In some of the northern suburbs there've been some coyote sightings, and sometimes in these parts an occasional deer will try to cross major roadways like Michian Ave. and Telegraph road. (Shark would know these) in Dearborn, Taylor or Gibralter.

 

Bobcats sound as if they'd be kinda cool to see every now and then.

 

The PIT BULLS 'round here might not like it, but TOO BAD!

 

Oh, and I'm not too far from GROSSE ILLE, an island community in the middle of the Detroit River, which still has several acres of undeveloped land on it, and I will on some occasion spot a pelican flying overhead.

 

Oh, and I now live about a block away from a branch of the Ecorse creek( two branches run through the city...one through the southern end, which is me, and the other through the northern end.) and the coolest thing(to me) that I saw since living in this end of town was a mother duck leading her ducklings around my backyard, looking for a way out or something. How they got there I don't know, but it was funny seeing them look just like I've seen in cartoons.....the ducklings followed Mama so close and obediently....each time she stopped, the ducklings behind her would run into each other in a "chain reaction" they were also stopping so quickly!

Whitefang

[Sharkman]

Whitefang, there is a nice sized deer herd living in the strip of land between eastbound and westbound I-94 at Inkster Road. I saw a huge eight point buck there a few years ago.

[Caevan O’Shite]

We've got bobcats around here near Watkins Glen, NY, Seneca Lake in the Finger Lakes. Briefly looked right into the eyes of one that was (outside) just on the other side of a window-screen in the cellar one night; and I found a string of what were certainly bobcat tracks in the snow in our back yard one Winter years ago.

 

There are occasional, if rare, panthers around here, too, though the State officially denies it. I've known a number of reliable witnesses who've seen them. Bears, coyotes, and I could swear that I heard a couple of wolves howling late one Summer night years ago. A friend whose judgement and observation I would trust very much said he saw one up North in the wilds on Fort Drum (US Army) near Watertown; it's not too much of a stretch to imagine a few wolves temporarily making their way through my part of the country.

 

Of course lots of deer and most other indigenous wildlife of the North East US and Canada. Bald eagles, and great horned owls, too! I'd gotten to see some of both of those up-close a number of times over the years.

[whitefang]

Whitefang, there is a nice sized deer herd living in the strip of land between eastbound and westbound I-94 at Inkster Road. I saw a huge eight point buck there a few years ago.

 

Yeah, that's up near Metro airport. Lots of open land out there. And someone else told me about those deer too. But...

 

Back in the late '90's( before my medical retirement), a co-worker of mine was hospitalzed after he hit a buck running across Telegraph at the Michigan Ave. overpass. He was travelling Northbound.

 

But also...When I lived in Southwest Detroit, I'd sometimes spot possum crossing Central Ave. near the RR tracks that run parallel to John Kronk. I once(and not intentionally) ran over a half dozen racoons that for some reason were stretched out across Hines Drive one morning on my way to work.

Whitefang

[SEHpicker]

When I lived in Colorado we were on the edge of the White River National Forest. We saw lots of creatures on our property at one time or another - bear, mountain lion, bobcat, elk, deer, coyote, fox, etc.

The rarest was a badger. Those are bad-ass mofos.

[jimmac]

I have spent a lot of time in the woods and semi wild land in Michigan and never saw a cat. I saw tracks in the upper peninsula while deer hunting and know others that claim they live nearby (I have lived around farm country west of Ann Arbor Michigan all of my life) but I understand they tend to be night creatures. Wildlife is interesting.

[Caevan O’Shite]

I have spent a lot of time in the woods and semi wild land in Michigan and never saw a cat. I saw tracks in the upper peninsula while deer hunting and know others that claim they live nearby (I have lived around farm country west of Ann Arbor Michigan all of my life) but I understand they tend to be night creatures. Wildlife is interesting.

 

Bears, bobcats, and panthers/cougars/mountain lions, among others, see us far more than we see them. It's their job to be unseen, and they're professionals.

[wraub]

I get coyotes, rabbits, hawks, vultures in my hood all the time (not far from DBM, actually.)

No bobcats, though.

[Delta]

When I lived in Colorado we were on the edge of the White River National Forest. We saw lots of creatures on our property at one time or another - bear, mountain lion, bobcat, elk, deer, coyote, fox, etc.

The rarest was a badger. Those are bad-ass mofos.

 

Badgers and wolverines are both in the weasel family. Wolverines are twice as big as a badger on average and twice as mean. A full grown male can weigh up to 70 lbs., all teeth and claws. It's one of the most aggressive animals on the planet.

[desertbluesman]

I get coyotes, rabbits, hawks, vultures in my hood all the time (not far from DBM, actually.)

No bobcats, though.

 

Where is your hood, generally speaking?

[desertbluesman]

Badgers and wolverines are both in the weasel family. Wolverines are twice as big as a badger on average and twice as mean. A full grown male can weigh up to 70 lbs., all teeth and claws. It's one of the most aggressive animals on the planet.

 

I saw a PBS show dedicated to Wolverines, they are the baddest asses on the continent pound for pound, yet they are as happy as can be prancing around in snow 2x as deep as they are tall...... Amazing creatures.

[Eric Iverson]

I live in Queens, NY. Apart from the usual dogs and cats, we mostly see squirrels and birds in my neighborhood.

Lots of unusual TWO-LEGGED wildlife, however..........