scat cat

sunday afternoon when i went out for my ride i came across two exceptionally well-formed and prominently placed piles of bobcat shit.

the prominent placement (middle of a busy trail) is the bobcat's way of marking territory.

and because i knew it was fresh, of course i had to poke at least one pile apart with a stick.

and lucky you- i took pictures!

sadly, i did not get a good picture of the second pile all covered with grasshoppers and butterflies who were either feeding on it or extracting moisture; that was pretty cool.


but the hunting has been good for the bobcat. there was a lot of coarse animal hair in it, probably deer.


the real surprise, though, was somethin' ewwwwier entirely. there was some kind of bone and connective tissue in there, which i don't usually see so of course i had to really get in there an have a good look, and while it was the second grossest thing i have ever encountered on the trail and it made me gag, it was also really cool.

there was an entire intact claw, like a chicken claw only small. i know the neighbors raise chickens and that some of the layers have been sneaking off into the tall grass to try to get some chicks. that'd be a nice snack for a bobcat.