Traffic Jam

 So it is getting crowded in the yard. take a number ! Bobcat tracks in the foreground curving through 14 inches of snow . This is what is left of the repeated snows over the last 6 weeks. The first night Bob ran across the front porch and jumped down onto the snow berm from the roof. He/She trotted along the top , jumped down by the nice miniature Alberta spruce and headed west into the woods. This time Bob came down by the East side of the house and snaked across the front yard before heading south for the day. Bob was trotting with a 29 inch stride. The paws were circular with less than a 2 inch diameter. Distinct pads were noted. Bobcats are said to be 17 pounds or there about. So I am thinking "not too much to worry about ".  Then my student informed me they were 17 pounds of teeth and claws and I should think " disemboweled " instead. Now that changes everything when considering the run to the garage in the morning.

 Ginormous turkey tracks . That is my boot and basically the turkey track is about as big as half my boot. probably not a good idea to tick off Tom.

 Meanwhile in the drive Bob is on the move and something small is scittering past the cat tracks . not sure what this is and can not find the tracks in the Scat and Tracks book. I will continue to look.

 Close up of Bob's paw. distinct even after a couple of days of thawing and freezing . We also have Canadian Lynx which are in the same weight category but have bigger paws at about 4 inches. They also have fuzzy paws so their prints are more indistinct. So we are voting for the Bobcat this time around. And yes I was running around in the yard this morning with out a coat ( it was a sunny 26 degrees ) with my tape measure checking paw size and stride size . Quite fun.

long view of the tracks snaking across the yard. Perhaps I will see the visitor in person some evening .