I WAS TRICKED. So, as you know if you’ve been following this blog for a while, I had my first confirmed bobcat sighting – and a really momentous one at that – on January 1st of this year. Later in January, I saw, but was not able to photograph, a bobcat in nearby Coyote Hills Regional Park. In March, I was again at Coyote Hills and spotted another bobcat. I was so very proud of myself, too, for having such a great eye, because he was very far away and hiding in the long grass.
Now I know you are going to see this picture and say, “that’s not a bobcat!”, but keep in mind that I was REALLY far away and this photo was taken with a large telephoto lens and was heavily cropped after I got home. To my naked eye he looked even further away than the photo above. I did zoom in a bit on my camera’s LED and think he looked awfully fluffy for a bobcat, but I also really, really, really wanted to see a bobcat and I had previously seen one in this park. So I jumped to assumptions.
After taking a million pictures of my hidden bobcat, I realized I needed to be out of the park within half an hour and I was a mile and a half from my car, so I reluctantly continued on my way. The trail made a U-turn and took me up a hill. As I got further away, my cat got brave and walked out for a bit of a stroll, so I stopped and set up the tripod a second time to get more photos. AND THEN I SAW HIS TAIL…and knew something was gravely wrong. Bobcats don’t have tails, obviously. This was just a feral cat. DAMN IT.
Be First to Comment