February 1st, 2007. Bobcat Felis rufus. (2) North Hatfield, Hampshire County, MA. An evening visit to the North Hatfield Christmas Tree Farm on Mountain Road on the Whately/Hatfield townline produced only a relatively small Robin roost, with perhaps less than a thousand birds. The trip was more than justified however, with a fantastic observation of two Bobcats, probably a male and female, actively hunting birds coming into roost in the spruce trees. I watched the female stalking juncos, and the male looked liked he was getting into position to try for the Robins. I noticed that many of the arriving Robins would start ground feeding soon after alighting on the trees, making them easy pickings for the Bobcats. This was a real treat having only seen Bobcat once before in Massachusetts. That was with Val Miller in Brookfield, whilst carrying out the Sturbridge Christmas bird count in December 2005. On that day I tragically forgot to bring my camera! First three images show the presumed female. Last three shots show the larger, bulkier male. All images taken with Canon Powershot A540 at about 150 metres range through Swarovski HD telescope. |
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