I am weird in that rather than have items from Amazon (yes, they are evil and terrible, but I do order stuff from them sometimes) delivered to the condo (with attendant condo-specific issues) I have them delivered to an Amazon locker–but not the locker that’s closest, the one that’s next closest, because I get a little extra exercise walking to it (I occasionally regret this when there’s a downpour but in the summer it’s great).
The route to this particular locker takes me down a street that has a resident Calico cat that is often out and about. Tonight was such a night. The cat was sitting on the sidewalk, chilling out and I said hello, but continued on, as I wanted to just grab the package and get home before it got dark and the werewolves came out. At first, the cat seemed to be okay with this. It looked up but made no move. But as I walked further past, it suddenly bolted ahead of me, then flopped directly in my path, demanding attention and affection. I spent a minute or so scratching behind its ears and petting it, and it seemed content to allow me to move on.
If I ever get another cat, I want one that is as friendly and gently demanding as this one.
You shall not pass (without providing cuddles first)Yep, just gonna chill out right here
After dinner, I went out for a walk to the park with my camera, hoping to catch some birds on digital film. Here is what I got:
Spooked several Northern flickers because I did not see them as I approached; no shots
Did not have telephoto lens attached when a spotted towhee sat on a branch in perfect light, singing away surprisingly close to me; by the time I got the lens on, it had flown off
Did get three shots of a single robin, all of them fuzzy
I thought of shooting a pic of a crow at one point, but even it flew away, too.
So instead I got this shot of a neighborhood cat snoozing on the front steps of its home:
Today I decided to go for a nice walk around Burnaby Lake because it was really hot and I’m kind of dumb. But it did allow me to see that the resurfacing of the Southshore trail is pretty much complete, so my nemesis the excavator will probably not be there to try to run me down tomorrow.
Probably.
In the meantime, as I walked and sweated on my clockwise jaunt, I crossed the 4 km mark, ventured over the rowing pavilion parking lot and entered a stretch of the trail that is characterized by tall grass on the lake-side, giving the area a kind of everglade feel to it. At least it’s what I think an everglade would feel like. I confess I haven’t been to one, not even a fake one like they probably have at Disney World.
I noticed a not-quite-small brown dog sort of shimmying into the tall grass, perhaps to get out of the sun. It was an odd kind of move and looking at the trail up ahead I could not see any kind of owner for said dog. Also odd.
But it was not a dog. It was this:
I think this is a lynx, a bobcat or more likely a lynx/bobcat hybrid. A boblynx.
I apologize for the less-than-stellar quality of the shot. The cat was in the shade and I was reluctant to call it out into the sun, since it was a wild animal and could have ripped my throat open if so inclined.
My first thought was a lynx. I later looked at lynx photos and it appears to have characteristics of both a lynx and a bobcat and hybrids are possible, so I think this was the possibly rare boblynx.
It seemed a bit skittish and unsure and wasn’t acting at all aggressive. I remained calm, trying to remember what I’d seen on one of those TV shows, Survive or DIE! or something like that. They were talking about what to do when you encounter a mountain lion but maybe the advice would translate on a scaled-down wild cat. As I recalled, you are supposed to make noise, stand your ground and if American, shoot it repeatedly with the assault rifle you’re probably carrying. Also something about throwing rocks to prove you’re the alpha. I didn’t have any rocks and throwing them at a non-aggressive animal literally less than two meters away from me did not seem like a good idea.
I clapped my hands and told it to shoo, to scoot. It stood there and seemed embarrassed for me. I don’t blame it, really. I then took a few pictures while it just hung around, undecided on what to do.
At this point I had three choices:
Turn around and head back
Proceed forward, giving the cat as wide a berth as possible
Stand there until one of us got bored and left
Option #1 seemed unwise. Turning your back on a wild animal is never a good idea. Turning your back on a domestic animal is never a good idea. I don’t trust bobcats or cows.
Option #3 seemed problematic as I have a high threshold for boredom and it’s possible the cat had no concept of boredom and would wait until it got hungry instead, at which point I would be the most convenient food source.
I opted for #2 and as soon as I took one step forward, the cat majestically leaped into the grass and disappeared. I mean, that sucker cleared about a meter from a standing position. It was scary and impressive.
I continued my walk, keeping an eye behind me until I was safely out of the immediate area.
I expect to see a giraffe the next time I’m at the lake.
