While I would be totally chuffed to have obtained such a pic of a bobcat (Lynx rufus) in the wild, alas, this is not the case, and this was taken in the NC Zoological Park, part of the reason that it’s only appeared once before. The other part is that, while I’ve seen bobcats twice before to my memory, both times were fleeting and far too brief to bring a camera to bear. As I look at this however, I chide my older self for not framing this better, but I’m fairly certain I slammed the frame out in the bare moment that the bobcat made eye contact.
Bobcats are common throughout North America, and in fact there are now two recognized subspecies: Lynx rufus rufus in the east, and Lynx rufus fasciatus in the west – given that I took this in a zoo in North Carolina, I’d tend to believe this is the former, but who knows how they obtained their specimen? Yet while common, bobcats are also quite shy and tend to be nocturnal, so the chances to spot one are rare, and you largely have to be either very lucky or specifically trying for the subject; up until this writing I’ve never spent enough time in an area they were known to frequent. Both of those that I’ve spotted have been bounding across the road ahead of me, come to think of it: once on Pilot Mountain in NC, actually on the drive into the park (late morning,) and once in Merritt Island in Florida (late afternoon) – that one was huge, and crossed the two-lane road in three bounds. There was a chance that I saw one near Jordan Lake right around here, but it was a fleeting glimpse (true to form, seen in the headlights of the car,) and I’ve found no evidence of them there before or since, so I may have been mistaken.
So let’s put it this way: if I ever discover that they’re frequenting an area that I can spend a little time in, I’ll definitely make the attempt to snag some truly “wild” images – much more effort than I’d put into chasing any songbird, for instance. Or if, you know, there’s some chance of commensurate income from such photos, I’ll even make a dedicated trip – we can deal.