Introducing the bobcat...

Below is a link to a l-o-o-o-n-g jump by a bobcat... sorry I can't actually put it on this blog.

https://www.facebook.com/NSelection/videos/10154299607351244/?hc_ref=ARRF1hqVXTjKDDGFdcDOC2Zkov7tGqjmVwPjJ9LBRUeYHHXG2zRi4SiKiYPYFsmms-8&pnref=story

Thanks to my high school classmate Linda Binns Monteith for this video from BBC Planet Earth.

Plenty of time to observe the cat and compare it to the earlier photo of the lynx in our driveway.

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about bobcats:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobcat

And here's the intro:

The bobcat (Lynx rufus) is a North American cat that appeared during the Irvingtonian stage of around 1.8 million years ago (AEO).^[2] Containing 12 recognized subspecies, it ranges from southern Canada to central Mexico, including most of the contiguous United States. The bobcat is an adaptable predator that inhabits wooded areas, as well as semidesert, urban edge, forest edge, and swampland environments. It remains in some of its original range, but populations are vulnerable to local extinction ("extirpation") by coyotes and domestic animals. With a gray to brown coat, whiskered face, and black-tufted ears, the bobcat resembles the other species of the midsized Lynx genus. It is smaller on average than the Canada lynx, with which it shares parts of its range, but is about twice as large as the domestic cat. It has distinctive black bars on its forelegs and a black-tipped, stubby tail, from which it derives its name.

Though the bobcat prefers rabbits and hares, it hunts insects, chickens, geese and other birds, small rodents, and deer. Prey selection depends on location and habitat, season, and abundance. Like most cats, the bobcat is territorial and largely solitary, although with some overlap in home ranges. It uses several methods to mark its territorial boundaries, including claw marks and deposits of urine or feces. The bobcat breeds from winter into spring and has a gestation period of about two months.

A well-fed cat...

Here, kitty, kitty...

Is this visitor a bobcat or a lynx?  It's walking down the driveway of my house at Trout Lake as if it owns the place... which I guess it does, 90% of the year.

I contacted Telluride native Jack Pera, who has done lots of nature photography around San Miguel County, with this question.

Here's his answer:

The photo of the 'cat is indeed that of a lynx. I can tell by the color. There are other identification marks but the photo isn't good enough to point those out. (Extremely large feet, black tip on the tail, longer ear tufts, etc.) The main food source is snowshoe rabbits (hares.) Their survival depends almost entirely on the population of this species of rabbit. Deb sees lynx tracks on occasion when she snowshoes above the cabin but hasn't seen one yet and neither have I. It's a treat to get to see one.

Donna Nichols reports:

I didn't see it but my nephews did. Tom showed them pix of both.  They said lynx. !  I've seen lynx in that area before a few years back closer to Rico though. [Over Thanksgiving] I saw its tracks in the snow go under the porch of a cabin for sale.  I saw little tracks too...cub?

My neighbor Heather noted:

I actually have only ever seen a cat in our driveway once. I think it was a lynx. But it was like this, broad daylight, and I was out walking [my dog] Maggie. She had a fit and it sauntered off down toward Sue's.

From now on, I'm keeping a log of sightings!  

A few moose have shown up in the last few years, hiking over from Ophir.  Deer, weasels, rabbits, and porcupines are frequent visitors.

Note: Jack is my second cousin.  He used to produce a slideshow of his photos called Mountain Splendor.