Wildlife Cam Report 2:
Our First Coyote
….And the Mystery Cat
As I mentioned in the first wildlife camera post, the daytime sighting of a bobcat by Preserve Manager Chad Lyman started a quest to get some candid shots of that animal.
In the first few weeks, no bobcat. But we may have gotten our first camera sighting. Why “may have?” Well, there was only one image, it was fuzzy, and it was taken at night.
Bobcat or Housecat?
The image is fuzzy, in my opinion, because the animal was moving steadily through the setup area and didn’t stop. The time interval between photos was such that no second image was captured. That’s consistent with steady animal movement. So this is all we have to go on, especially when working with unsophisticated cameras. These are not NatGeo-level cameras.
Housecat or bobcat? Several viewers of this image, including Bill Dunson, have voted for housecat. Others, including Chad Lyman, are in the bobcat camp, especially noting the length of the legs. I think it’s a bobcat but I have no expertise in this area. I’ve yet to see a live bobcat in the wild.
An enlarged view of the mystery cat.
I’ve included here an enlarged copy of this image in an effort to help examine the animal. Neither shows any markings, especially on the legs. The bobcat in Chad’s video definitely had longer-than-your-average-housecat legs. But its legs also had dark striping. LBC member John Mauser, who has seen many bobcats in his native Pennsylvania, thinks it’s a bobcat. A retired math teacher, he says he could measure materials at the site, compare that to what the camera shows of this animal, and see if it indeed has the longer legs of a bobcat. That’s beyond my limited realm.
If our trail camera had been set to video mode, we might have had a better view and more to go on. As it is, it’s just an interesting fuzzy image — giving hope for a better one in the future.
Coyotes are also in the area, of course. I’ve been told by a few people that they’re occasional Wildflower Preserve visitors. Their scat has evidently been observed, if not the animals themselves. We verified such visitation on January 29th.
The camera that took this image was set to a five-second delay, meaning that it could only take motion-sensitive photos five seconds apart. So I conclude that this coyote was gone from the frame area in less than five seconds (the same has been true, incidentally, of most of the hogs that have come through).
Coyote at Lemon Creek Wildflower Preserve
Unlike our “cat” image, there’s no question that this is a coyote. It was also captured at night, which is unsurprising since coyotes are primarily nocturnal animals, especially in urban environs.
Is this a resident coyote? An occasional or frequent visitor? Are there others here or visiting? I don’t think we’ll answer those questions. But we’ll share more photos if we get them.
Photos copyright © Lemon Bay Conservancy and Ken Schultz
Please note:
- Trail cam images are the property of the photographers and Lemon Bay Conservancy, and may not be copied or re-used without permission.
- Our wildlife trail cameras are motion-sensitive and set to take still images or videos. They’re situated in off-trail locations not likely to be traversed by preserve visitors. If you happen upon a wildlife trail camera, please do not disturb it or the area being photographed.
- This project has been approved by the Directors of Lemon Bay Conservancy to help learn more about wildlife matters at Wildflower Preserve, and to engage LBC members by publishing images of wildlife at the preserve. Individuals are not permitted to set up their own motion-sensing trail cameras.