Track Question

Track with a quarter for reference

We went to the food market the other day, and had our regular conversation with the woman who works behind the fish counter. We always stop and say hello, talk about our little neighborhood, and the latest wildlife sightings. She lives up the road from us. We had told her about the bobcat sighting in our yard a few months back. This time she asked us if we heard about the cougar. Nope. She said that a cougar had been spotted not a mile from our houses, crossing the main highway from the airport to our side of the road. Oh. Uh-oh. Sure doesn't make us feel too safe about letting Bonsai out by himself.

Lately the cat hasn't been wanting to go out anyway. He's been displaying the same behaviors he had right around the time the bobcat was in the yard. He sits by the door looking longingly out to the yard. When we open the door for him, he runs away from it. If we go outside he steps out on the porch and sniffs the air for a long time. He's very wary. His typical behavior, when he's not afraid, is for him to play outside most of the day. He especially likes to hunt mice and voles. Now he's stuck in the house with us, and he's been whining and crying like a spoiled child. "Play with me. Play with me. I like it so much when you pull the string and I chase it." (I'm paraphrasing.)

So, we went into the yard today to survey the snowy wonders. The pirate noticed these interesting tracks. We are baffled by them. The paws leave a print that are parallel, which made us think rabbit, but they also seemed too large for rabbit. So, we're posting them here, and hoping someone out there might be able to identify the animal that was walking around our yard last night.

There's a quarter in the center for reference

In the meantime, we're pulling the string around the living room, and the cat is merrily chasing it, dreaming about voles.

Here's a bonus quail photo. They love the feeder.