Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Canada lynx families passing by our home




For the second straight day, family groups of Canada lynx have passed right past our home in Nolalu.
I took this series of photos about an hour ago.
This was a mother lynx and two half-grown kittens.
Yesterday we saw a mother with four kittens passing by the same direction on almost the same spot. I was not able to photograph that bunch.
Aren't these beautiful creatures?
They are all on the prowl for snowshoe or varying hares which would seem to be abundant this year. I say "seem to be" because they are snow white, except for the tips of their ears, and are basically invisible. All we see are their tracks.
Click to go back to our website
Click to see the latest on the blog

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those are awesome pics! How big are they compared to Sam?

Dan B. said...

The large one is basically the same height as Sam but would weigh half as much. Lynx are very fluffy and appear larger than they really are.
They are sort of the mammal version of an owl -- all softness -- which makes them deadly quiet.

Anonymous said...

Great pictures Dan. Not every day that you get to photograph a lynx, let alone a whole family. Dave M.

Dan B. said...

Thanks, Dave. I was indeed fortunate to get these shots. I wish lynx were so abundant that these would be common scenes but they are still rare.
Interestingly, there have been stories in the newspaper about lynx killing house cats in the region. I've never heard of that before. As someone pointed out, the house cats have been turned loose outside by their owners and do more damage to wild birds than any other predator. As a sportsman and a conservationist, I don't like to see people losing their pets but I wish they could appreciate the harm their pets do to the wild. We are all responsible for our pets. Letting them run loose is shirking that responsibility.