Have Water & They Will Come ~ Bobcats, Bears, and All Kinds of Critters

Our leaking water faucet continues to attract a number of birds, and many other animals, including this large bobcat. And before we got our taller fence up, a black bear came by a couple of nights, trampling around, leaving paw prints in the mud. More about that in another post. In the above picture, the cat sees me and begins to slowly walk away.

Being a cat, he feels compelled to make me understand that I am but a slight annoyance in his daily routine.

So he sits and scratches behind one ear. Not a second look my way, he sits, superior and calm, scratching. 

Then turns and walks off up the hill and disappears behind the junipers.

I enlarged this last picture so you can see the size of this cat. He hung around for a few days, left his calling card outside our bedroom window ~ it smelled like house cat x 10, at least.

Oh, my, says the cottontail rabbit, I get so scaredy, so scaredy when I see that big cat, I run, I hop away and hide in my hidey hole. 

I agree, says the hare, better known here as the Jack Rabbit. Coyotes are bad enough, but cats are much, much worse. Stalkers they are, and ambushers too, yes they are, they are.

I'll fly away, says the bird.

I'm so quick, says the chipmunk, ain't no kitty gonna catch me! Come on you big kitty you, just you try! 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just as I finished writing this, Samson was barking his special large wild critter alert bark, so I ran outside to see what's up, hoping to catch a glimpse of that black bear from a safe distance. The above is an older picture of Samson, but this is what he was doing, trying to climb the fence, alternating with climbing the picnic table, barking ferociously all along. It was the cat again, sauntering away through the dry grass as if he had not a care in the world.