The Columbia Audubon Sanctuary is an excellent destination for wildlife viewing throughout the year. On winter mornings, visitors are likely to see white-tailed deer, barred and great horned owls, pileated and red-bellied woodpeckers and a large variety of songbirds. This morning, just before dawn, I encountered a bobcat, which ducked into a wooded gully as I approached.
Recognized by their long legs and bobbed tail, these predators are found in forests, open woodlands, swamps and deserts across North America, from Southern Canada to Mexico; long common in the Ozarks of Missouri, they have been spreading northward and eastward in recent decades. Bobcats feed primarily on small mammals and game birds and are most active at dawn and dusk; they often maintain several dens within their territory.
Solitary for most of the year, bobcats mate in mid-late winter and kittens are usually born in late April or May. Weaned within a couple of months, they learn to hunt throughout the summer and then disperse by autumn, establishing their own territories. Increasingly, those hunting grounds overlap with human communities but, like coyotes, bobcats have learned to adapt to urban environments and are more common and widespread than one might suspect.
Recognized by their long legs and bobbed tail, these predators are found in forests, open woodlands, swamps and deserts across North America, from Southern Canada to Mexico; long common in the Ozarks of Missouri, they have been spreading northward and eastward in recent decades. Bobcats feed primarily on small mammals and game birds and are most active at dawn and dusk; they often maintain several dens within their territory.
Solitary for most of the year, bobcats mate in mid-late winter and kittens are usually born in late April or May. Weaned within a couple of months, they learn to hunt throughout the summer and then disperse by autumn, establishing their own territories. Increasingly, those hunting grounds overlap with human communities but, like coyotes, bobcats have learned to adapt to urban environments and are more common and widespread than one might suspect.
