Beautiful bobcat in my back yard.
I looked out the window this morning, so early, the sun wasn’t up yet, and there was an unexpected visitor in my yard.
There are many people where I live who deny that there are big cats around, and this is a BIG cat – maybe 8 to 10 times as large as any of my domestic felines, and Sakhara is a hearty 11+ pounds. This is the first time I’ve ever seen a live bobcat in my yard or anywhere in the wild, so I was excited.
At first it was difficult for me to be sure what kind of cat this was. It was crouched down at the far back of the yard and I could tell it was a tawny color, but my distance vision isn’t what it used to be. When I got out the camera and started zooming in, I was certain that this was either a big bobcat or a small mountain lion. There have definitely been mountain lions spotted in southern Connecticut, but I haven’t heard of any this far north.
It was the ears that first gave confirmation that this was a bobcat.
It wasn’t very bright outside yet, and the cat was crouched close to the ground and it’s head was very low at first. This made it hard to see any stripes or spots, but when the cat turned it’s head further away, I could see the ear markings. Definitely a bobcat!
I don’t know what he was hunting. Something up in one of the trees kept commanding his attention, but I couldn’t see what it was.
Hattie, the feral cat who lives in my yard and who had already had her breakfast, was nowhere to be seen. That’s Hattie’s fail safe way of staying out of the way of predators.
So I just kept on snapping photos.
I didn’t even take the time to speak with this magnificent beauty. I got 129 photos all together, although most are now in the computer trash bin.
Bobcat was perfectly at home and acted as though this space belonged to him.
Finally it was time for a bath. Both forefeet and forelegs required attention before the bobcat finished grooming.
If you’d like to experiment chatting with a very wild feline, you might tune into this exquisite beauty. I can’t guaranty that you’ll be able to have a conversation, as some wild animals have no interest at all in speaking with us. But if you do, please share some of it in a comment on this post.
One final photo to show off his magnificent self before disappearing.
I turned away for just a moment, and when I looked back, bobcat was gone without leaving a trace.
Hi, Nedda!
I’m replying to the bobcat visitor item you posted, which invited comments from anyone who has had luck communicating with a wild animal. I attended your free telecast via telephone last Thursday. When you opened the session for picking an animal to communicate with, I chose a friendly female hummingbird who has visited me several times this summer. I silently asked her, wherever she was, that if she could hear me, would she please show up so I could confirm that she heard me. Well, after the telecast, I went out into my greenhouse. It has three doors which are kept open all summer. No sooner was I seated when she came buzzing in one door, hovered in front of me for several seconds, as if to say, “Here I am! See? I came! It’s me! I’m here!” Then she zoomed out the opposite door, not stopping to to visit any of the flowers. Her visit was clearly intended just for me! Wow! It’s great that animals can hear me — and PROVE it — even if I can’t yet hear them! Thanks for your telecast, BTW. I’m the tongue-tied person from Maine you spoke to just before the telecast began.
Very cool! You have a wild hummingbird friend, and that’s awesome!
How gorgeous and how scarey. I know cats usually look very confident but this one looks a bit over confident to me. I love hearing about the wildlife in your garden. Can’t help thinking though if I lived where you do I’d never be able to let the dogs play in the garden. Harry would have gone over and tried to kiss the bob cat. Hope Hatti is OK.
Yes, this pussy cat definitely had total confidence. There aren’t many predators around that would bother a bobcat, although we do have wild coy-dogs (coyotes who have bred with dogs) and brown bears are quite numerous. The other really fierce animals in Connecticut are Fisher Cats, who live near water – rivers, streams, and sea inlets. We have plenty of foxes, too.
Hattie is totally fine. As I said, she’s very quick and very wise and knows how to stay away from trouble. When I fed her breakfast this morning, she commented that the bobcat was female. I asked how she knew and she said she could smell it.
This bobcat was gorgeous! I can’t help thinking that if she was feeling at home and comfortable, it was probably because the energy at your place is so different from what can be felt in other places.
Great pictures!
Hi Jennifer,
I too thought she looked quite at home and wondered if that wasn’t her first time there. Or, was she planning to move in? I had thought she was a he but see that Hatti is saying she is female. I’m sure Hattie knows best!
Hi ZoomaPood,
For sure, Hattie knows best! 🙂
What a treat! Especially that it stuck around long enough for you to really observe it.
As soon as I saw the picture I just had to have a go at communicating. It is funny I have just read that the cat was a female, when the voice I got was male and very much so! Initially very reluctant to cast his “pearls before swine” (my interpretation) He talked to me about the role of the big cats in maintaining certain frequencies for the rest of the world’s felines: such as majesty, courage, magnificence and honour. These frequencies are then available to the others. He says the lions for instance are feeling much pressure and their gradual loss is having its effect on other felines at a soul level. Bobcats vibrate the frequency of serenity: they are the gently twinkling diamonds in the crown of the feline species. Bobcats are very much “in the game” and are aware of how humans are creating great imbalances in areas of the world, they can feel this over vast distances. Bobcats message is to stay centred in the midst of this. “We feel that to hold your own natural vibration in whatever circumstance is enough”.
Needless to say I felt very privileged indeed to have received this wisdom!
I am not sure how accurate my antenna is, because I got the male energy. I wonder if I tuned into another bobcat, a male, this has happened to me with a horse, when I tried to connect with a female horse, I actually got a “walk in” communication with her old stable mate who was very put out he had been moved to another yard. Just an idea that it might have happened in this case. Any comments from Nedda appreciated! 🙂
Hi, Lesley,
Well, to be honest, I was so taken in by the beauty of this cat that I never tried to speak with him. I was too busy taking photos and admiring the shear wild beauty of this being. It was Hattie, the feral female, who lives in my yard, who told me the cat “smelled” female. I will say that the energy of the cat was very male, as I look at the photos.
I’ve had conversations with other animals where the sex of the body and the chi (male vs. female) didn’t align with each other. Sometimes, as being who has had many lifetimes in either a male or female body brings an abundance of that chi into a body of the opposite sex. It makes for an interesting experience when you speak with them and/or scan their energy bodies.
I’ve also had the experience of intending to speak with one animal and a different one slides into the conversation without letting me know. This doesn’t happen very often, and using a photo can help sort it out, but as a result I’ve made it a regular part of my routine with clients to find out who all the animal family members are at the start of the first session just in case someone craving attention, but not the client’s focus, decides to take over the conversation.