Dr. Glasscock was talking in chat the other day about how the drought at Welder is putting lots of animals under stress, and forcing them to move to places they otherwise wouldn’t. The feeding station in front of the camera is apparently one of the few good sources of food and water on the refuge. As a result, we might see some animals we’re not used to seeing. This was discussed as a possible explanation for the arrival of the American alligator yesterday (which was not there today, apparently; he or she must have moved on in the night).
Then tonight I logged in, and idbirds said a coyote had just walked across under the deer feeder, heading right to left. A frozen camera prevented her from getting a shot, sadly. We looked around for a few minutes, but didn’t find anything. Then idbirds logged out, and… about five minutes later look what walked through the same area:
I’m pretty sure that’s the game’s first (photographed) bobcat. (A few users have believed they’ve seen one before, but they’ve never managed to get a photo.)
I’m curious how well idbirds saw the coyote. If it was just a passing glimpse, I could imagine that it might actually have been this bobcat that she saw. But if she got a good look, then we just had two previously unphotographed mammals cross in front of the camera within minutes of each other.
Now that’s what I call an exciting few minutes on the birdcam. 🙂
Update: No official ID for the shot yet, which is partly my own fault; I was one of the people who ID’d it as “Other Mammal”, and now that “Bobcat” has been added as a possible ID, all the people who did what I did have to be out-voted 2-to-1 to get the ID. *sigh*
What a great catch — Congratulations, John! Just shows the merit of your comment on Chat earlier about needing to check in on CONE more frequently. 😀