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Monday 19 December 2011

Love or War?

You know how cats can be when they meet in the darkness, lots of growling, snarling and caterwauling. Well double the volume and that is what we just had outside our kitchen window. I was just outside checking the last of our Christmas lights when I heard what sounded like several javelina galloping down the path beside the house, straight towards me. I thought cats were supposed to be soft-footed! There were several blood-curdling screams and I wondered if something had caught a javelina but it was too dark to see. Then I saw two shapes rapidly climbing up a mesquite tree. Lots more screaming and then quiet. I decided to pop inside and get a flashlight and see what the drama was. It turned out that there were two bobcats in the tree, one chased up there by the other. The aggressor climbed back down and sat under the tree, leaving its victim/beloved in the top of the tree. If you look very closely amongst the branches in this picture you can just about make out the shape of a cat.


We were able to get a couple of lovely photos of the bobcat at the bottom of the tree by opening our sliding glass doors, it was not the slightest bit bothered by our close proximity, or the flash going off!


The treed bobcat started to growl very loudly which caught the interest of the cat on the ground and he started to circle the tree.


The snarling and growling went on for several more minutes before the cat on the ground seemed to loose interest and wandered off into the thickets. This gave the treed cat the opportunity he had been waiting for, he scrambled down out of the tree and disappeared into the darkness. And peace and quiet once more resumed.


Nature Notes hosted by Michele at Rambling Woods

11 comments:

Rambling Woods said...

Wow...those cats are so few in number aren't they? To have two of them..I can only imagine as when an outside cat comes around the windows here and my two cats get going.. Have a wonderful holiday season Celeste...Michelle

Leora said...

How interesting, to have these right outside your home. We once met a bobcat while up in the mountains in New Jersey (we were camping). It was a bit scary, since we were trying to sleep, and it was sniffing around for something.

eileeninmd said...

Amazing sight to watch. It would be awesome to see a bobcat in the wild. Cool photos. Have a great weekend and Happy Holidays!

Celeste said...

Hi Michelle,
Apparently the Bobcat is still relatively common here but I still consider myself very blessed whenever they choose to visit my yard :)
Have a great Christmas too and stay warm!

Celeste said...

Thanks Leora, I bet it was rather exciting to be visited by a Bobcat whilst camping!

Celeste said...

Eileen, it was definitely a huge treat. Happy Holidays to you too :)

Carver said...

Those are great shots. Amazing to get to see them and photograph them.

Nature Rambles said...

How interesting to see such action in your backyard!

Have a wonderful Christmas!!

Celeste said...

Thanks Carver, I was very excited to be able to watch such a natural interaction right outside my window. Happy New Year :)

Celeste said...

Nature Rambles, you are so right, it was a treat indeed.

Kathie Brown said...

WELL! that was a bit of excitement I must say! I bet you loved it though!

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