The Will County Forest Preserve District says its game cameras captured a rare find recently: pictures of bobcats, which are usually pretty elusive.
Forest Preserve District wildlife biologist Becky Blankenship said Monday she had set up two cameras at the end of a wooded area that leads to an open field at the Kankakee Sands Preserve.
In the last couple of weeks, there were three consecutive days when a bobcat and at least a couple of her kittens came by the spot at dawn or dusk.
"The fact that I have multiple, clear photos of different-sized cats, which shows me there's more than one, is really exciting," Blankenship told WBBM Newsradio.
The movement of the bobcats triggered the camera to take many pictures, but only about 12 were very good. The cats kept walking directly in front of the cameras or rubbing up against them, she said.
But Blankenship could hardly contain herself with what her camera did capture: "The odds of seeing them three days in a row are super slim because seeing them at all is super slim."
Bobcat spotted in Will County.Will County Forest Preserve District
The wildlife biologist says she had set her two cameras to take three pictures anytime there was movement in the area and to repeat that process every 10 seconds if movement continued.
Bobcats are about 20 to 24 inches high and do all they can to avoid people. In Will County, they're known to be in the Kankakee Sands Preserve, Braidwood Sands and Savanna Nature Preserve, Evans-Judge Preserve and Sugar Creek Preserve.
Blankenship suspects they're in other preserves, as well.
Bobcats are not to be confused with larger cats known as mountain lions or cougars -- animals that are not believed to be in Illinois.
