An Eastern Bobcat with snow-dusted fur stares directly at the camera. @cametcalf
Congratulations to iNaturalist user @cametcalf for winning the December 2024 Photo-observation of the Month for the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist! Their crisp photo of an Eastern Bobcat (Lynx rufus ssp. rufus) with snow-dusted fur staring directly into the camera received the most faves of any iNaturalist observation in Vermont during the past month.
There are two types of wildcats in Vermont—the Eastern Bobcat (Lynx rufus ssp. rufus) and the Canada Lynx (Lynx canadensis canadensis), but they can be differentiated through several clues. You may remember back in November when a Canada Lynx was sighted 15 times in Vermont. Such sightings are incredibly rare, as Canada Lynx are listed on Vermont’s Endangered Species List. Eastern Bobcats, on the other hand, are much more common. Eastern Bobcats are the smaller of the two species, with spottier, brownish fur, shorter ear tufts, and shorter legs. Thanks to this especially crisp photo, this Eastern Bobcat is very easy to tell apart from its lankier cousin.
Speaking of species identification, one of our goals for the New Year is to reach 1 million Research Grade observations on the Vermont Atlas of Life. Currently, VAL has nearly 1.4 million records on iNaturalist, but less than 875,000 of those observations are “Research Grade.” Once observations have been uploaded, they need to be independently identified and verified by other users. It’s called crowd-sourced identification, and the more people that are able to add an identification to an observation, the more likely it is correct. Only these verified data can be used for research and conservation. That’s where community scientists like you come in! You can make a difference in conservation just by verifying observations on VAL. Add your identifications to observations that are labeled as “Needs ID” now!
With 1,738 observations submitted by 337 observers in December, it was a great month. Click on the image above to see and explore all of the amazing observations.
Visit the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist where you can vote for the winner this month by clicking the ‘fave’ star on your favorite photo-observation. Make sure you get outdoors and record the biodiversity around you, then submit your discoveries and you could be a winner!
