Florida Bobcat family in the wild

zackiedawg

zackiedawg

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A weekend encounter while out doing some birding this Saturday...I happened upon a family of bobcats who didn't seem overly spooked at my presence. ; There was a mom and two cubs...I first noticed her as she was walking away from me towards a clearing:
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Here, one of the cubs steals a look at me while mom sits behind:
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Momma relaxing:
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Then she gave me a glance while the other cub rubbed up against her:
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I love seeing animals like this in the wild - and bobcats can be fairly elusive - this is only the 3rd time this year I've seen them, and only the second time I managed a shot of them - ever! ; Shot with my A580 & Minolta 300mm F4 APO + 1.4x TC.
 
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Wow! ; They are elusive. ; Really good sharp images of the bobcats.

You got a nice rig there. Any trouble auto focusing?
 
Thanks guys.

Scott - no trouble with AF. ; It was in fairly shaded conditions, and you can see I was shooting through some clutter...I needed ISO1600 due to the lower light levels, and I used spot focus on center point AF-S mode to I could lock specifically on the face and not have the camera refocus on me if I moved the spot onto a foreground branch. ; The first two shots were with the camera up to my eye, and the second two shots were actually shot in live view mode off the LCD screen, with the camera held high above my head and the LCD tilted down towards me - this allowed me to get a high enough perspective to get a clear shot of the face without the bush in the way, because she was hiding behind it a bit. ; Holding an 8Lb rig in the air at arms length isn't the most comfortable or easy thing to do, but thank god for the option to do so, or I'd not have gotten the face shots!

Thank you John. ; I am so glad I finally got some decent shots of them, after 6 years of nearly every weekend visiting these wetlands and only having gotten to photograph them 1 other time, in much poorer and more cluttered conditions!
 
Thank you Craig. ; You should have some chances to see them on your side of the state, yes? ; And you even have a chance at the panther, which are more common on your side than mine!
 
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