October 9 was a great day for a walk around Blandford Nature Center. Warm air, lots of sunshine, light breeze, and all the animals were out soaking up some mid-autumn sunlight. Click the photo to see the rest of the set on Flickr.

The above was taken this past Sunday at Blandford Nature Center. Click the photo to see the rest of the set.

Immature katydid photographed at Blandford Nature Center this past weekend.

A Viceroy butterfly; distinguishable from a Monarch by the curved black stripes on the lower wings. Photo taken at Blandford Nature Center in late May.

This afternoon, having nothing better to do, I hied me over to Blandford Nature Center wherein I discovered much nature.

Up until about a year ago one of the main attractions at the Center was a rescued fox. About a year ago the fox passed on, and a new tenant has recently moved in:

This bobcat is about four years old and was raised as a pet until it became too much for its family (and neighbors) to handle. It is quite fearless around humans and so, out in the wild, would not be able to fend for itself, and would probably have had to survive on a diet of garbage and small yappy dogs.

I do have to say, though; he is an absolutely beautiful animal.

Since the bobcat was not interested in what I was doing, I wandered around and looked at the other rescued animals. I immediately discovered something else new:

The turkey vultures are expecting. That thing to the lower right of the bird is one of their two eggs. Which just goes to show, everyone is beautiful to someone. Especially in the spring.

Onward and inward. Every inch of the park was teeming with life.

Some of the photos just seemed to compose themselves:

On the way back out of the park one of the attendants was preparing to feed the cat. Like any other cat, he sat at the door and waited impatiently. Once the door was open, he hissed at the attendant and swatted her in the leg.

Note that this is NOT a small animal. He didn’t use his claws, however, and for his rudeness the attendant squirted him with a water bottle. Now, I have seen this tactic used on house cats with a great deal of success; but a 40 pound bobcat? Who’d’a thunk? Next time I am on safari in Africa and a lion charges me, I am going to squirt it in the face with a water bottle. It should keep me perfectly safe!

I watched the cat eat for a minute, then discovered why it was angry at the center employees:

Jeez, what a slap in the face.

On the way out of the park I was surprised by one more Piece of Nature™:

I guess this one hadn’t learned the “crawl quietly through dead leaves” trick yet.

These photos were taken at Blandford Nature Center , April 3, 2005.