It was a moist, foggy Sunday morning. The day before, I had set up my portable blind near Brushpile #4, thinking that I would watch for some of the small songbirds that seem to like the tangled and brushy hiding spots.

I got settled in the blind, and for almost half an hour, I sat and saw nothing.

"Where are all the birds?" I was thinking to myself.

Then, this bobcat walked in view, about thirty yards away. I thought, "OK, that's why there are no birds around!"

I started snapping photographs. The bobcat stopped at the sound of my camera shutter and looked straight at the blind, realizing that something wasn't quite right. I knew how shy wild cats are, and expected it to run off. But it never bolted the way deer do when they hear a camera. The bobcat just stared for half a minute, then casually walked off.

Out of a dozen or so photographs, this is the best of the bunch. Face on, it's striking how similar a bobcat looks to a domestic cat. However, this bobcat was twice the size of even a large house cat. And from a side view, the bobcat definitely has a different body structure--heavier and more powerful--than a domesticated cat.

This was the first time I had ever seen a bobcat on the farm. A very exciting morning!

And, after the bobcat had passed by, the small songbirds began showing up in the brushpile.