There seems to be a definite pattern to Mainers’ observations of wildlife during the course of the year.
That stands to reason, given that some animals are more active, and therefore more visible, at certain times.
Winter is the perfect season to catch a glimpse of one of our gorgeous bobcats. They’re out scouring the landscape in search of food and their potential prey are doing likewise — while dealing with the snow, ice and cold.
The wildlife menu at the Hampden home of Conrad and Lauren Lumm appears to be enticing, and includes wild turkey.
Conrad, a Bangor Daily News colleague, sent along today’s video offerings, which were filmed by Lauren in mid-January.
Conrad said Lauren is an avid birdwatcher and often checks out visitors to their backyard feeder. Apparently, so does the bobcat.
“It was keeping an eye on the birdfeeder in the middle of our yard, where the turkeys wander through to do their feeding every day,” Conrad said. “It followed their tracks back into the woodlot — and we know this because we saw its tracks, too. I’ve never seen anything like that!”
The bobcat in the video strides across the lawn deliberately, checking out the potential for a meal. It even hung around for a while, taking a nap in the yard, Conrad said.
The Lumms haven’t seen the cat again, but they are fairly confident the animal has taken advantage of offerings in the not-so-frozen turkey department this winter.
“We started out this fall with 32 turkeys, and now we seem to be down to around 24,” Conrad said. “Reading between the lines, I think that cat is keeping well fed; we don’t have any other predators that we know of besides, rarely, coyotes.”
Many thanks to Conrad and Lauren for sharing their video of the bobcat! Take a peek out the window into your backyard. You never know what you might see.
Do you have an outdoors photo or video to share? Send it to outdoors@bangordailynews.com and tell us, “I consent to the BDN using my photo/video.” If you are unable to view the photo or video mentioned in this story, go to bangordailynews.com/outdoors.
