Praise Ceiling Cat: reader Tara Tanaka, photographer and videographer extrodinaire, has returned with an awesome video featuring both cats and d*gs (well, a bobcat and coyotes). Tara filmed it from her living room in Florida (Tara and her husband own a large tract of wetland). Tara’s Flickr page is here and her Vimeo page is here.
Tara’s Vimeo notes, which assure us that this is genuine:
“A Bobcat’s Encounter with Two Coyotes (Not AI)”
We had seen one or two coyotes around 9:30 the last two mornings. Hoping they would return for a third day I got my camera ready in the living room to try to record them. About 9:00 my husband said he saw one, so I made some final adjustments for the lighting and began to search for something moving in the distance. When I finally centered the subject in the viewfinder, I said “I think I’m looking at a bobcat.” Almost immediately the cat stood up and as I panned with it I was shocked when two coyotes ran into the frame, one on each side of the cat. Enjoy the interactions between the two species and between the very bonded pair of coyotes. I believe the female is pregnant.
After I finished filming I just sat in disbelief that I had had the opportunity to record something so unique – and from my living room! I feel like I could have gone to Yellowstone and spent a month in the field and not witnessed an encounter like this. Because of the dramatic temperature difference between the thawing ground and the sun heating the brown grass, the waves of heat shimmer intensified as the sun got higher and you can see them rippling across the screen. Despite the extreme conditions, I was thrilled that I was able to record the interaction so clearly from 1000′ away, and through a double-paned window.
We should have a pond full of water with waders arriving to nest right now, however due to a severe drought that started over a year ago, the entire swamp is dry. Without water to allow our large alligators to patrol under the nests and protect them from predators, I’m afraid that our hundreds of waders that nest here every year will not feel safe and will likely nest elsewhere.
Filmed with a Panasonic GH6 + Nikon 500mm f2.8 lens. Since I filmed it from inside the house, I used the audio from a video I shot from the yard last year.
The bobcat and coyotes don’t seem to mind each other, though the bobcat eventually climbs partway up a tree. Be sure to enlarge the video and put the sound up to hear the birds singing.
What an experience watching this – very special, thank you!
Amazing. Thank you🐾🐾
I’m envious! I never see the bobcat on our land except on trail cam pics. One will often come by ten minutes after I leave an area, so I am quite sure they see me!
Beautiful way to start the day–and I’m so glad you had the sound enabled. Thank you.
Wow… that is awesome. The Bobcat clearly did not want the Coyotes around, and meanwhile the Coyotes were just curious.
Our town Facebook group regularly gets posts of frightened people who see Coyotes, and they want them Gone. But they belong here, I say.
That’s quite a video. Very exciting encounter to watch.
I didn’t think the encounter would end so well.
Thanks for posting.
Very nice! When we lived on Orcas Island our resident herd of deer arrived the same time each day. They started browsing at sunrise in a meadow below the house, and then worked their way up the hill to the forest boundary above our house. At night they retreated to a bedded down area in the woods. You may see these creatures again another day.
The only way this video could be even more perfect (I know. Better than perfect isn’t a thing.) would be to have the birds in the background screeching out alarm calls, which they probably would have under the circumstances.
Impressive! Thank you. 🐾🐾
Very interesting encounter with each species seemingly calm and sure of themselves. So much nicer than the fake drama we see on most wildlife programs.
Yes. This is fine to see — great soundtrack that seems seasonally appropriate. As already commented here, a surprise to see this apparently calm interaction. I would think the bobcat would get up a tree asap.