This is the latest in an occasional series on the wildlife caught on two trail cameras set up by The Republican reporter George Graham and his wife, Gerri, in their "backyard" in Westhampton, Massachusetts.

WESTHAMPTON — One of the things that has continually surprised me since we began running trail cams in the heavily-wooded valley behind our home is the prevalence of bobcat.



We capture images of the reclusive cats quite often. With the exception of squirrel and raccoon, they might be the single most common creature that triggers the cams.



One rainy night last month we picked up three separate videos of the cats moving along the edge of the beaver swamp down there.



The first clip shows a bobcat, momentarily startled by the cam perhaps, because it leaps and looks back towards it before exiting the frame. The second, which was taken about 90 minutes later, shows a significantly bigger cat that wags its stubby tail and appears to be listening to something out in the swamp.

That tail, by the way, is one of the bobcat's defining features and a way to differentiate it from from the much bigger mountain lions which many claim to have seen in Western Massachusetts over the years. State wildlife officials say the former is often mistaken for the latter.



I am pretty sure the third clip, which kicks off about 30 minutes later, features a return of same cat that appears in the second



State wildlife biologist Laura Conlee said it's difficult to tell, given the shortness of the clips, just exactly what the cats might have been up to. She said, however, it's too early for them to be interested in breeding, which typically occurs in February or March.



"That's when you hear reports of the sound of a woman screaming in the woods," she said.



It's difficult even to be sure of the gender of the cats, Conlee Although males, which can weigh 35 or more pounds, tend to be bigger. "There is so much variability that it's really hard to tell." she said.



The cats also don't appear to be actively hunting or engaged in any kind of territorial aggression, Conlee said. "There is no raised hair and they don't seem to be on guard or anything like that. They are just kind of passing through and paying attention, she said.



Conlee said bobcats are common throughout the state and are starting to appear more in suburban areas.



"They are just one of those very elusive species. You don't see them often, but when you do you should consider yourself lucky because it might be years before you ever see one again," she said.



It's been fairly quiet, trail cam-wise in that particular patch of woods over the last few weeks, although we have picked up a number of rabbits for the first time ever.

"That's exactly the kind of food they are looking for," Conlee said.