Bobcats may be the most common wildcat across most of the contiguous United States and southern Canada, but that doesn't mean they're frequently seen. These heavily spotted little "bay lynxes" camouflage themselves in brush and tall-grass swards, sack out in dense thickets or up in the trees, and commonly pursue a nocturnal lifestyle in areas well populated by people – all of which means they tend to stay out of sight most of the time.

Most of the time, we'll emphasise, because this week we have not one but two videos to share from far-flung corners of bobcat country that prove the carnivores aren't opposed to daytime backyard visits.

In August 2017, Marissa and Casey Moore filmed a young bobcat kitten on the deck of their Lower Michigan home. The stub-tailed pipsqueak – just starting to transition from roly-poly to lithe – leaps into view and spends a few moments casing out the activity around the Moores' bird feeder.

"Its behaviour was very playful and curious," Moore told MLive. "The birds and the chipmunks were not thrilled about this visitor – one brave chipmunk remained close to the house outside the door and was sitting up on its hind legs issuing a loud trill, I expect to warn others of the danger of this young predator."

Meanwhile, a couple thousand miles northwest, Hamish Dunlop managed to film a female bobcat and her two kittens peeking into his basement window in Coldstream, British Columbia.

It's a pretty fabulous close-up look at these fetching felids, which in B.C. are nearing the northern limits of their range. (Roughly speaking, the Canada lynx takes the bobcat's place in North America's boreal zone, though the two cousins – the lynx lankier and snowshoe-pawed, the bobcat stubbier and feistier – overlap quite a bit.)


 

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Top header image: e_monk/Flickr