Big Canada lynx is hanging around the house

I snapped these photos of a Canada lynx walking in our driveway out the living room windows the other day. It's the first time we've actually seen this wild cat but his tracks have been all around most of the winter.
Last year we saw several family groups of lynx but not this winter. There have only been single lynx leaving tracks.
The deep snow is meaningless to lynx and their prey, snowshoe hares. Both have Dr. Seuss-like fluffy feet that keep them up near the surface.
Lynx populations go through wild 11-year cycles, the same as do snowshoe hare. The hare population has dropped since last year but there are at least a few still around. Next year may be a different story. At the low point in their cycle you can barely find a track all winter.
Although lynx eat almost nothing but hares, they have been known to kill house cats. The way this one hangs around the house makes me wonder if he might make a grab at our new chocolate lab puppy, Cork, who is about half the size of the lynx. We never let him go outside alone, just in case.
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