A bobcat has been spotted chilling out on a backyard shed roof on the North Shore.
Stunning photos of the animal encounter on a rainy January day were shared by North Vancouver hobby photographer Steve Toombs, who says he was lucky to capture the moment.
Toombs who has lived at his home in Lower West Lynn, which backs on to Lynn Creek, for two decades said he had never had a bobcat stop by in all his years at the property, until recently.
He said the big cat had visited the yard briefly a few weeks ago, but he wasn’t quick enough to snap a photo at the time.
“I caught it briefly once, chasing a squirrel in my yard a few weeks back,” he said.
“I saw it run up the tree and by the time I got my camera I didn’t get even a single picture of it – but it’s come by now a couple of times to sit on the roof of my shed.”
The bobcat made another unexpected visit around 11 a.m. on Jan. 4. This time, Toombs was ready and had his camera close by when he noticed the big cat relaxing on the shed.
“The first pictures I took, I shot through my window, because I didn’t want to scare it away – but the pictures didn’t turn out very well, so I tried going outside, but it was raining quite hard,” he explained.
Source: Steve Toombs
“I went out in the rain and managed to capture one of the bobcat sitting out on the roof, and then the others I went back into my dining room and I slid open the sliding door so I could photograph it from there. Once I started clicking, you basically see a series of the bobcat getting up and leaving.”
Toombs was using a Nikon D810 with a 200-500 mm lens when he managed to capture the bobcat hanging out before it got up, stretched, and walked away casually. He estimated the bobcat was about 12 kg or up to twice the size of an average house cat.
“It was pretty cool because they’re fairly elusive,” Toombs said. “I’ve known they’re around, but I’ve never seen one before, so it was great.
“It was just hanging out on the shed in the rain.”
Living so close to Lynn Creek, Toombs said he often had critters and larger wildlife visiting his backyard.
