Bobcat and White-faced ibis

     Well, it's been quite a week.  It began with a phone call from good friends who rent a condo about a quarter of a mile south of us.  They had seen three wild cats, one considerably bigger than the others, in a field opposite their unit and wanted me to know about this rare photo-op.  The bad news was, we were all the way down in Merritt Island, and it would take us about an hour to get back up to the site of the cats.  Hoping for what could be a once in a lifetime opportunity, we headed north and made the return trip in close to record time.  As we neared the site, we called friend Jack who said he had just seen the cats again and to get over to his place ASAP.  We arrived just after he had seen the larger of the cats.  We did get a view of a distant cat which emerged from the woodlands and came out for a late afternoon session of posing for the camera.  We pushed the ISO to the limit and managed to get a couple of passable photos.  This cat was identified as a bobcat once we could get a closer look at the photos.  We decided to try again in the morning for a look at the larger cat or at least another shot of this one. 

       In the morning, we took the short drive down to the field.  Not seeing any sign of either cat, we walked out into the field and were headed around a very large pile of construction debris when around the corner, from the opposite direction, came the bobcat!  We stared at one another while I fumbled with the camera and managed to get several close up shots before he bolted for the woodlands edge.  What a sight!  The question of the id of the larger cat is still up in the air until we get a better shot.  Until then, we assume bobcat.

      Later in the week, we ventured out to Orlando Wetlands following reports of a rare White-faced ibis.  We followed the excellent directions and found the bird just as promised.  Although not in breeding plumage yer the red iris was hard to miss and we got excellent shots of this life-bird.  All in all, this has been a great start ot our winter in Florida.  More to come......