Yellowstone National Park                                               February 14, 2017

Friends and Patience Required –

First, you have to find a bobcat.  I’ve made it easy for you …

Of course I didn’t have to find it.  A friend saw it come down the hill and move into its hiding spot as it hunted for dinner.  And where one photographer sets up a tripod we all converge….

Out come the telephoto lenses.  The wait begins.

We watch as it searches the river …

But then the bobcat goes to sleep.  Almost 2 hours later – as the sun set – we all had to abandon the cat in the fading light.

Day Two

After the bobcat was sighted, a coyote wandered by and the bobcat climbed the tree. It settled in.

The bobcat moved around only to tantalize the photographers.  After about a 90 minute wait, my patience wore out.  I moved on.  The few photographers who waited were rewarded as the bobcat came down and searched for dinner before moving on.  I missed out.

A sad success

I don’t know why – the bobcat laid the duck at the base of a tree, climbed up and waited.  No chance for a picture among the heavy branches and so we waited.  For over an hour the bobcat watched and napped.  We left for a bathroom break and when we returned the bobcat and kill were gone.  The guides began to look around – as they searched the riverbank, they spooked the bobcat.

I picked up it up swimming across the river.

Caught its backward glance.

Watched it load for the jump.

Caught the jump,

And saw it run into the woods.

Our guide was very upset!  He had violated the cardinal rule of wildlife photography – Never get close enough to effect the behavior of the animal.  The bobcat lost its dinner and in the cold winter of Yellowstone that is a serious result.   We can only hope it survived …