A bobcat recently spotted by a wildlife camera in a southern Will County forest preserve could complete a bobcat family captured on camera just across the road in September.
On April 12, a game camera caught three images of the animal as it walked along a game trail in the Sand Ridge Savanna Nature Preserve in Custer Township, according to the Forest Preserve District of Will County. Less than six months ago from Sept. 23-25, a mother bobcat and her two kittens were photographed walking in an open area of the Kankakee Sands Preserve, just north of Sand Ridge.
Whether the bobcat the camera captured this month is the same mother bobcat from September is yet to be determined, though the newly spotted animal could be the male partner to that mother bobcat, said Becky Blankenship, the forest preserve’s wildlife biologist.
“Logically, if last year’s photos showed a mother with two kittens, there is a male out there somewhere too,” Blankenship said. “I’d love to get more photos to help piece this wildlife story together.”
Regardless, having two bobcat sightings within about six months is rare because of the animal’s elusiveness, Blankenship said. The game cameras spotting the cats are triggered by motion and help the Forest Preserve District track animal numbers and movements.
This is the fifth preserve in the Will County forest district where bobcats have been spotted. The species has also made appearances at the Braidwood Dunes and Savanna Nature Preserve in Reed Township, the Evans-Judge Preserve in Custer Township and the Sugar Creek Preserve in Joliet.
cproctor@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @ceproctor23
