aguilita's Favorites

My first time to photograph bobcats. I saw my first bobcat around a month ago, but didn't have my camera out in time to get photos. This time I saw what I initially thought was a domestic cat wandering through some weeds only about 5 or 6 feet away. It was walking toward me and stopped when it saw me. The lighting was perfect for some great closeup photos, but I didn't have my camera out of its carry-case. I could only see the front of the cat, but as I looked at it carefully, I realized the markings were not quite like any domestic cat I've seen before and the ears were a bit different.

So I started getting my camera out and ready to go, but by the time it was ready, the cat had wandered into taller weeds nearby and I couldn't see it. Then about that time I saw two more cats walking slowly from my left to right farther into the brush, about 15-20 feet away. At first I thought these might be the parents and I could see the tell-tale stubby tail to confirm bobcats. With camera ready now, I managed to get some photos through the intervening brush as the cats stopped and looked at me.

I could tell there was another cat under a nearby tree to the left and it finally came into view, at which time I realized it must be the mother of the cubs because it was quite a bit larger in size. I managed to get a couple of photos with mom and the three cubs all together, but the best view of the mom looking at me was unfortunately not in sharp focus. Soon afterward, the mom slowly led the cubs deeper into the brush away from me.

I found this female in my backyard presumably dead. I now believe she was in a bit of a trance while laying eggs. I transported both the eggs and the dragonfly to a nearby pond. She began to come out of her trance as I was leaving the pond area. The eggs were placed in some submerged vegetation.

A nymph of the Desert Firetail on a lily pad making the transition to adult stage of a damselfly. Instead of pulling itself from the exuviae, the damselfly expands its abdomen to slowly push its body out of the shell.