A Lynx - I Couldn't Believe This Happened

PrescottPhotog

Hi Everyone,

Well I was down at the lake all morning and got some good shots (post them later). The sky was clouding up so I decided to head home. As I was driving along I noticed something out of the corner of my eye on the other side of the road (it is a very busy 4 lane highway). I did a doubletake and couldn't believe what I was seeing. I slammed on my brakes and pulled over. I didn't for the life of me think I would get a shot since my camera with 500mm attached was laying in the back seat. I pulled over, got out of my car and grabbed my camera. I was hand holding it hoping to get just one shot. Low and behold, one of the most allusive critters in the world stayed right there. I have tried for YEARS to even see one of these guys, let alone get a photo of it. I snapped a couple pictures (man that camera and lens is heavy) trying not to get run over. She (I think) disappeared over the bank. I walked across the highway and saw two (I think it was a mom and young one) as they disappeared into the heavy brush.

As I walked back across the highway a Arizona Game and Fish officer was walking toward me. He said he saw me kneeling in the road with my camera and thought he saw the Lynx to. He couldn't believe it either when I told him. He said nobody ever sees these guys and he had never come close. I showed him my LCD and he asked me to email him copies. He gave me his card and drove away (telling me to not get killed in the traffic, LOL).

He left and I hung around and guess what.. back she came. She ran across the highway and into the brush. Then, to my surprise she sat there looking at me, very calm. Then I found out why, the kitten was crying on the other side of the road and she was waiting there for it to cross. She wandered off into the deeper brush to wait.

I didn't want to get them hurt or run over and I didn't want her to abandon her young one (it was about 2/3rd's the size of her when I saw it in the brush) so I left before something bad happened, I would have felt terrible. There was a ton of traffic on the road and I thought for sure they were going to get run over. The amazing thing to me was that nobody even slowed down or looked. That was one brave cat to cross that road in broad daylight on a holiday weekend.

Since I was hand holding a lot of the shots came out a bit blurry (can't shoot to many hand holding a Mark III and 500 with the tripod mount and plates attached), but these turned out great !! Hope you enjoy !!

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jdmphoto

Wow!
Those pictures are great you must have been very excited.

Shasoc

Congrats! these are really great captures.

jwear

now this is a great capture --all time find I have missed the bobcat over and over, know just how you feel

Ann McRae

Congrats! What a great sight! I know I'd be thrilled - good for you - and great shots.

ann

OffTopic

Oh very cool! Congratulations on a great capture. It's such a magical feeling when this happens, isn't it?

kriyababaji

Awesome captures!

But I think this is a Bobcat and not a lynx. Bobcats have the distinctive black bars on the forelegs, tend to be brown as apposed to greyish, smaller ear tuffs, smaller feet and shorter legs than a lynx. To make sure though... did she have a completely black tipped tail?

The desert is not a place a lynx would want to find itself, you could find them in Colorado....up around Telluride, but that is only because they have been re-introduced there - mainly because they get a whole lot of snow, which the lynx loves.

None the less, to capture a bobcat in the wild is a once in a life time shot!


Well done, shane

riddim_maker

You lucky dude!
Great capture, Chris

PrescottPhotog

jdmphoto wrote:

Those pictures are great you must have been very excited.

Hi JDM, Thanks for the comments.. I was excited, I almost got run over, .

PrescottPhotog

Shasoc wrote:

Congrats! these are really great captures.

Hi Socrate, thanks for viewing and for your comments

PrescottPhotog

jwear wrote:

now this is a great capture --all time find I have missed the bobcat over and over, know just how you feel

Hi Jeff.. Thanks for your comments, it was a fun day !!

PrescottPhotog

Ann McRae wrote:

Congrats! What a great sight! I know I'd be thrilled - good for you - and great shots.

Hi Ann, Thanks for your compliments !!

PrescottPhotog

OffTopic wrote:

Oh very cool! Congratulations on a great capture. It's such a magical feeling when this happens, isn't it?

Hi Lori, Thanks for your comments. I was doing double-takes, thinking.. am I really seeing what I think I am seeing, .

PrescottPhotog

Lynx or Bobcat ?

kriyababaji wrote:

Awesome captures!
But I think this is a Bobcat and not a lynx.

Hi Shane. I used to call anything in this class of cat a Bobcat. Today when I captured this one I came home to make sure before I posted it. All the pictures I saw on the internet of a bobcat had spots all over in all seasons (see the two photos below). Plus the bobcat seemed very small compared to this cat.

I even looked it up in the dictionary and the description and drawing of the Lynx looked more like this one because it had no spots anywhere, not even faint, just the leg markings that looked the same in the drawing as my photos. And this one was much much larger than the bobcats in any picture I could find.

Everything around here is called Lynx. I used to live on Lynx Road and there is Lynx Creek, Lynx Estates and we even have a huge lake called Lynx Lake .. so to be safe I called it a Lynx.

This cat was huge, about the size of a medium dog. The curb that it is stepping off of is very deep and you can tell more by looking at the wire fence in the last photos. Sitting up its ears are almost up to the top wire. So since it didn't have any spots and looked more like the drawing in the dictionary definition I called it a Lynx. I looked for some tail pictures (like you mentioned) but all I got is the black tip, nothing clear and nothing showing the bottom and they are blurry to boot.

You could be right so I changed the title to Lynx (Bobcat) just so it is correct either way. The dictionary classifies them both as Lynx, the bobcat being a Lynx Rufus and the Lynx being a Lynx Genus.

So now it is correct either way.

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#2 (Bobcat photo from the internet)

#3 (Bobcat photo from the internet)

PrescottPhotog

riddim_maker wrote:

You lucky dude!
Great capture, Chris

Hi Russ, Thanks for your compliments.. now I can quit hiking out in the woods looking for one, all I have to do is drive down the road, .

Maestro

Well Heeelllllooooooo baaaaabbbbbbyyyyyy! I love it when this sort of thing happens. Congrats on a great find and those are fine shots for handholding a 500mm! I'd be more than happy with them.

A similar thing happened to me when I was looking for a Crested Caracara in south Texas. I found one on the side of the road eating carrion. I almost had a wreck pulling off the side of the road to take pics.

Harryb

Amazing sequence of shots. You also kept your priorites in order and tried not to upset or endanger your subject.

raptorcaptor

Sometimes you just get lucky! Congrats on the great pics, and not getting run over!

ehughes

Great catch.... Beautiful shots

kdog

Awesome, Chris. Congrats on the beautiful captures of an elusive critter.

I had exactly the same thing happen when I stumbled across a couple of foxes who put on a show for me.

Cheers,
-joel

Ric Grupe

bow

words are useless

PrescottPhotog

Thanks to all for the comments
Hi Everyone.. Thanks for all the comments.

Harry, you don't know how much I wanted to hang around for more shots but I didn't want one to be a big splat on the highway. I'm just hoping they made it together.

Joel, I saw your Fox photos a while back and loved them. I know we have 4 legged critters around here but all you ever see are deer and javelina.

The same Fish & Game officer that stopped put on a Mtn. Lion seminar here a few months back and it is amazing how many we have here. They are capturing them and putting GPS collars on them (15 so far in Az). They overlayed a local city map with the GPS track and one is in and out of a residential neighborhood (close to downtown Prescott) all the time for a poodle and kitty buffet but nobody ever sees it.

Now if I can capture a Mountain Lion (on my wish list) then on to the Bears in Alaska.

Stephen, I thought for sure that as soon as I opened the car door it would bolt.. but as you can see, not so.

Thanks again to Ed, Glenn and Ric for the comments. I'm glad you liked the shots !!

ChadinStPete

I dream of shots like that congrats!!! Great for hand held!!!, nice brokeh too

PrescottPhotog

ChadinStPete wrote:

I dream of shots like that congrats!!! Great for hand held!!!, nice brokeh too

Hi Chad. Thanks for the comments. I took a ton of shots that I wish would have come out. One of it running across the highway (bad) and another showing some very long teeth (blurry).. so 5 out of about 25 for hand held is a pretty good average. Considering the situation I am very happy with the ones I got.

dbaker1221

sweeet!!!!!!!!!!! you lucky dog Chris!!!

Albert Dickson

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Very Very Special Moment. Congratulations, I am sure would remember this encounter forever, even without the photos. In 17 years in Arizonia I only saw these guys a few times and never with camera in hand. I am envious! Thanks for posting these awsome images.

PrescottPhotog

Hi Dave. Thanks for your comments. I think it was absolute luck, a few seconds either way and I would have never seen them, especially with all the traffic.

Hi Al. Thanks for your comments too. I know what you mean. I have seen pictures before but most have been fleeting shots or hidden behind brush just peeking out.

I'm glad the road shot turned out so good cause I was worried they all looked like captive shots.. and totally posed.

PrescottPhotog

kriyababaji wrote:

Awesome captures!

But I think this is a Bobcat and not a lynx.

Hi Shane (and everyone that has posted).

I sent the pictures off to the Az Game and Fish officer that stopped (as he requested) and asked him if this was a Lynx or Bobcat. He said this is definitely a Bobcat. He said they have reintroduced Lynx back into Colorado but they would never had made it down this far this fast, if ever.

So Shane was right.. These were definitely Bobcats.

Thanks Shane !!

Harv

Good eye and a great catch. clap

#3 belongs on the wall... print, frame, hang. Well done.

PrescottPhotog

Harv wrote:

Good eye and a great catch. clap

#3 belongs on the wall... print, frame, hang. Well done.

Hi Harv, Thanks for the compliments. It will definitely be on my wall. One of the shots hit the "Picture of the Week" in our local newspaper.

Capturing that guy was truly a great experience. Thanks again everyone that viewed.