Finally. After years of trying, I got good looks at a bobcat today. This was taken early this morning (yesterday morning by now) in Irvine, California. I had to be in Irvine on Monday for work and decided to fly out early to try and see what I could find over the weekend. I had read about the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary, only about 3 miles from the hotel I was staying in. Despite being in the middle of LA’s suburban sprawl to the south, the reserve supposedly harbored the occasional bobcat. Of course, you still needed to be very lucky to see one. I figured I’d take my chances. I went on Saturday morning and barely even saw any birds. I tried a few other wildlife hotspots I had read about in the area and didn’t have any luck at those either. No sense wasting my time, so I decided to drive well up the coast to a place where I knew I’d find plenty of subjects to photograph — the elephant seals north of San Simeon. Upon returning to Irvine on Monday, I decided to check back in on San Joaquin. Still nothing. I’d have to settle for the seals. This morning I got up, checked out of the hotel and started driving to LAX. I was early though, and I had about 45 minutes to spare. One more try. But after the 45 minutes were up I hadn’t snapped a single frame so I turned to head back to the car. And there it was. Then I lost it before getting any shots. Then I saw it again briefly and got a horrible snapshot (not much better than the previous few times I had seen bobcats). This game of cat and mouse — with me as the cat — went on for a while. I would see it, it would see me, it would disappear into the thick vegetation along a ravine before I could get a good look. I eventually decided to start mimicking the bobcat and when it saw me, I headed into the thicket. Maybe it was a coincidence, but this seemed to work and eventually the bobcat felt comfortable enough to go about its business of hunting rabbits and ducks while I watched. I think the other thing that made it comfortable was that I would lay on the ground (something you’re never supposed to do with mountain lions as it’s an indication that you are prey, but with a bobcat no problem). It was when I was down on the ground that it started to stroll toward me, passing only about 10 feet away. As most you you know, I love that low angle of view and I was able to snap off quite a few shots before it passed and eventually leapt about ten feet across a small river and disappeared. I was happy. More posts to come.