Chris Swarth witnessed a Bobcat successfully hunting a Pocket Gopher. Chris wrote, “I snapped this photo from my kitchen window in The Sea Ranch near the airport. I’d been watching the Bobcat crouched motionless with twitching tail, nose in the grass, for one to two minutes. I grabbed my camera and a few seconds later watched as the Bobcat snatched the gopher from its hole and walked toward me. The Bobcat then sat nearby in the shade and within a few minutes had consumed its prey. It was a large gopher, probably a male.”

I noticed the Pocket Gopher had something in its mouth and queried Chris about it, mentioning the photo shows the food chain in action. Chris wrote, “Yes, the gopher does hold a bit of grass or other plant in its mouth. At the base of this plant, at the gopher’s mouth, at first I thought this was a small bulb. But now I think that this light spot is a bit of distended cheek pouch – the ‘pocket’ which gives the gopher its name: the Pocket Gopher.”

Thanks to Chris for allowing me to share his photo with you here.

Warm with absolutely no wind, and clouds overhead...it sure seems strange for February.