When Coyotes approach this Bobcat, its all about tension, position, intimidation and openings.
October, 2018 - Late morning finds this bobcat in the very uncomfortable position of being surrounded by two coyotes in an open field. The coyotes spotted the bobcat from well more than a hundred yards away while the cat was staking out a gopher hole, waiting for the best chance to pounce on lunch. By the time the coyotes emerged from behind a screen of scrub brush, they were too close for the bobcat to move out, so it developed into this very tense confrontation with the cat very displeased with the situation and the coyotes very cautious and wary of the cat.
The following sequence of photos were taken at 1/5 second intervals and only span a few seconds of time. But there was much tension for a far longer time beginning when the coyotes emerged from cover, through this potential attack confrontation and continuing for about a minute as the bobcat slowly backed away until it was able to bolt into the brush lined gully that would become its pathway to complete escape.
I was out for the day with Daniel Dietrich and it was Daniel’s sharp eyes that spotted this bobcat as it lay motionless in the field ready to pounce on a gopher. And then we saw the coyotes beginning their approach, it didn’t take long before they were closing in on the bobcat. It was a fairly hazy morning and this action was quite far away so I was lucky to get photos of at least useable quality to show this kind of rarely seen moment. A moment to remember.