This evening in the last moments of daylight, we were sitting out on our patio, and heard a swishing of leaves on the neighboring property. Looking that way, we saw one of the resident bobcats with a wild turkey in its grip. The turkey was alive and thrashing around a bit; thus the noise. The bobcat proceeded to drag the turkey a short distance away, and at times paused to look at US with feathers in its mouth. Eventually it dragged the turkey upslope out of sight.
Within minutes, many crows gathered and made a massive ruckus of cawing -- typical behavior around the bobcat, as in the past the bobcat's movements through the landscape was trackable by following the noise of the jays and other birds.
Tomorrow we'll look around to see if the turkey carcass is still in the area.
Hi Robyn, this is Manny.
ReplyDeleteMother Nature still works! :-) Say Hi to Gery.
Hi Manny -- yes, good to know some wild stuff is still out there...! Gary says hi!
DeleteDo you think that there will be any feathers left behind? I guess everyone has to eat. Poor turkey.
ReplyDeleteI'll look around today, but I would suspect MANY feathers. That is an ambitious cat.
DeleteThose Turkeys have been a success story as far as increase in populations and spreading to new territories. So the Bobcat's menu has adapted and adds another component to the checks and balances scenario to an introduced species which won't get out of control.
ReplyDeleteYes -- of course these turkeys are not "natural." These Bobcats in our neighborhood have also been coming onto decks and patios (and in MY garage once) looking for food, it seems. One looked in through the glass door in our bedroom where a kibble bowl resided. So these are very adaptable, and like coyotes, I suspect would not turn down a domestic cat on the menu. But you make a good point about them keeping those non-native turkeys under control.
DeleteI wish someone would reintroduce Pronghorn antelope to those Cuyamaca grassland plains
ReplyDeleteThat would be interesting. Many mountain meadows hereabouts.
ReplyDelete