Bobcats

Along the north edge of Tucson run tall mountains which give the skyline its wild look. The first row of foothills are moderate enough that they can still be built on, and the houses are on steep streets connected by winding  roads and are considered desirable with their desert vegetation and wildlife on the very steepest lots. I mean why wouldn't you want to immerse yourself in the exotic desert and still have the  convenience of a city right at hand? Farther up where it is too steep for houses, natural corridors occur for the wildlife to come down from the heights.

 People are tolerant of, indeed proud of their wildlife, and the stars are the bobcats, which must be in astonishing numbers. You can't meet someone in such a neighborhood who won't brag he met a bobcat out walking or had one sleeping under a bush in his yard (no matter how small the yard), or has had them bring their kittens in to his yard where they can play safely.  

I suspect the cats go out of their way to find a person to live with. What the people and the cats there both seem to like are small yards with very tall hedges around them to give them a bit of privacy.

What you get from bobcats in return is beauty and grace and absolutely no trouble at all. Javelinas tear up and break everything, and they can kill a dog or boss you in your own garden. And we keep reading about people getting bitten by coyotes. Pack rats can nest in your car and ruin the wiring behind the dashboard, round-tailed ground squirrels will eat every flower you grow. I won't even mention Western Diamondbacks or bark scorpions. But from a bobcat only an offhand look before it gets interested in something else.

And think of it, they are the wildest looking of the common larger animals, with their surprisingly spotted skins, their burly legs, their large feet, the ease with which they go  up a tree, or leap a fence. We ourselves live at the farthest north edge of Tucson on small foothills which quickly climb Mt. Lemmon. We seldom go more than a week without seeing a bobcat, and they almost always leave a sharp image behind. Here are some of those images.

 

 This cat is as spotted as any cheetah.

 We were out on our porch  having dinner with friends when this cat walked in the gate, casually walked the length of the porch, and walked  out the other end.

 

 Here a momma cat walked in the back gate with her two kittens. We thought they were pretty cute.

 

 

We keep a dish of water outside our front-room window for any creature who wants a drink. I pulled the curtain open one boiling hot day and a bobcat was stretched out around the dish. It glanced at us once then went on staring outward. Note the white patches on the back of its ears. When it is teaching its young to hunt, its prey will not be alerted by its ears from the front, but the kitten following behind the mother will be able to keep track of her movements through the grass by following the bright lights on the back of its ears.