Delbert Olson submitted these awesome photos. See his comment below.
On Tuesday 6-24-08 I was riding my bike on the east trail around 7 pm. I had just passed under Collins headed east when an approaching cyclist announced she had just passed a bobcat. I slowed down and came around a bend in the trail. Down the trail I could see a bobcat walking in my direction. I stopped and got out my camera. The bobcat was too far away for a decent photo so I just stood there and watched. As he approached I could see he had a very large rat hanging from his mouth. To my surprise he continued to walk towards me and passed within two or three feet. I took pictures as he approached and after he had passed.
Fantastic encounter! We went to River Legacy for the first time tonight, and I was really hoping to see a bobcat. No luck, but your pictures are great!
Posted by: Mo | September 16, 2008 at 07:41 PM
These photos were taken in River Legacy Park (Arlington, TX) on Wednesday, 08Oct08 between 10:01 am and 10:09 am. I was on the east trail walking south-south-west from mile-marker 5 about half way to mile-marker 4 (just before the trail turns westward).
The first picture (the wide shot) was one of the intial 2-3 pictures I took. And I took it to purposefully demonstrate two things. First, I wanted to show that I was not standing right on top of her. My camera simply has a pretty good zoom function and makes it look that way. And second, it would actually have been quite easy to walk right on by and not even notice her, even though she was lying only inches from the trail. In the dappled sunlight, her camouflage was startlingly effective.
She certainly didn't seem too concerned about me or my fellow-walker standing next to me at the time. Even more surprising was her complete indifference to the bicycles whizzing by now and then. Thankfully no one came by/through with any dogs though. I somehow doubt she would have been quite so accepting of them.
After "hanging about" for almost 9 minutes (from the time I had first walked up on her), our furry lady-friend decided that she had had enough and strode imperiously off into the brush. On examining the "walking away" photo later, it also appears that she had been nursing cubs recently.
Posted by: B. Barrick | October 21, 2008 at 08:02 AM
Brad, Thank you for the awesome pictures. They are posted under a new Blog title, called Bobcat Photos from Brad's Post. I hope everyone takes the time to check out these awesome photos. Thank you for sharing!
Posted by: Kristi | October 21, 2008 at 08:42 AM