Bobcats!

Bobcat kittens - Image by Mark Musselman

While on patrol for destructive wild pigs on the east side of the swamp nearly opposite the Francis Beidler Forest nature center, I walked up on a female bobcat and her three kittens tucked inside a standing hollow tree.

Wild pigs numbers were greatly diminished after the extreme high water resulting from the 1000-year rain event in October 2015 and Hurricane Matthew in October 2016. However, since the water level in the swamp has dropped, wild pigs have been rooting up every foot of exposed moist soil and reproducing and reproducing. Therefore, I was patrolling to survey the damage and was prepared to shoot any pigs that showed themselves in the open. Unfortunately, the damage was extensive and no pigs were spotted.

I was making a less-than-stealthy march through the dwarf palmettos on the way back to the truck, when a reddish-haired mammal began slinking away in front of me. It was obviously a mammal, but looked initially like a woodchuck low to the ground and somewhat flattened around the edges. It was not a woodchuck, as they are not in this area and the body proportions were wrong. The animal in question was longer. I thought maybe a red fox due to the hair color, but there was no tail. Even when the animal stopped, turned broadside to me and stared, I remained unconvinced it was a bobcat. Cat, definitely, but the hair was so reddish. It was too big to be a domestic cat, but a bobcat would not stand 20 meters from me and stare...unless there was something she really wanted to protect. Just as I began to scan the area for a possible den site, the sounds of young kittens began emanating from the base of the tree to my right. Bending forward and peering around the side of the tree, I could see it was hollow and occupied by three kittens.

Before mom decided to return and possibly fight for her offspring, I captured the short video linked below. I made an even noisier retreat to ensure the female bobcat knew that I was gone and it was safe to return to her kittens.

Video

15-minute Bird Blitz

Sometimes, we have to work indoors at the Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest, but at least we have windows! Between 11:15-11:30 a.m., we were treated to a bird blitz just outside the office window. (Note to staff: We need to clean the outside of the windows!)

All the birds, except for the Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus), were foraging for food. The Dark-eyed Juncos (Junco hyemalis) were looking under leaves on the forest floor. The Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) and the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) were searching for their food opportunities on the trunks of trees. The Blue-headed Vireo (Vireo solitarius) was inspecting every dried, curled leaf in hopes of finding a delicious cocoon resident. The Pine Warbler (Dendroica pinus) was sticking its bill in crevices between the vine and the tree trunk. Finally, the Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) pair appeared to be in search of berries, but they'll need to be quicker than the American Robins.

The Carolina Wren was carefully selecting bits of dead leaves from the forest floor. We're not sure what qualifies as suitable nesting material, but several bits of leaves were picked up and then discarded. The leaf bits that made the cut did not appear any different than those that were deemed inferior.

Here are the bird images in not particular order:

Later, we saw the Eastern Cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus piscivorus) at the swamp's edge. As it was not sunny or particularly warm, it is odd for the snake to be out and exposed. It is possible that this snake selected a winter den that has gone under the water with recent rain. Note the caterpillar under the snake's eye. We think these are all signs that the Pennsylvania groundhog got it wrong and winter will end sooner than predicted!

Finally, we spotted this Bobcat (Lynx rufus) resting under a leaning tree. Not really...it's the cat that was taken to the taxidermist years ago after being hit by a car. However, we needed a bobcat image for the Francis Beidler Forest boardwalk-specific iPhone/iPod Touch app that we will be sending to Apple for approval next week. Once approved, the app will be available for free at iTunes.

Images by Mark Musselman