(Photo: Laurel Swope-Brush)
Earlier this week, Forest Society staff member Laurel Swope-Brush snapped a photo of a bobcat right outside the Conservation Center in Concord. There were so many questions about the sighting — "a bobcat?!" — that we asked Forest Society naturalist Dave Anderson to tell us more about this special creature and why you might spot more across the state going forward.
Dave said: "Bobcats are enjoying a population rebound across New Hampshire. The combination of recent milder winters without severe cold or prolonged deep snowpack and with an ample prey base that includes mice, squirrels, birds including more wild turkeys and a booming eastern cottontail rabbit population, the chances of seeing bobcats is increasing.
Social media posts confirm that homeowners in suburban settings are seeing healthy bobcats expanding from forests and ledges into the backyards of what had been former farmlands in southern and southeast NH.
At the Forest Society Concord Conservation Center, beaver wetlands of the Mill Brook and along the Merrimack River Floodplain lie adjacent to a steep, south-facing forest — perfect habitat for a hunting for lunch on a late summer afternoon."