A Bobcat, illuminated by the winter evening sun, fixes its gaze across a snowy meadow. © @melissainvt

Congratulations to @melissainvt for winning the January 2024 Photo-observation of the Month for the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist! Her stunning image of a Bobcat in the snow received the most faves of any iNaturalist observation in Vermont during the past month.

Bobcats are one of Vermont’s most evocative mammalian predators, and encounters with this species tend to fall into two camps – the split-second view of one disappearing down a trail or bounding across a dirt road, and the much more satisfying prolonged views of particularly bold Bobcats sauntering through backyards or engaging in intense stare-downs across open country. This month’s winning photo perfectly captures the feeling of that second scenario, with a handsome and healthy-looking bobcat fixing its gaze across a field, perhaps deciding if the photographer should be viewed as a threat or merely another animal present on the landscape. Vermonters can expect to see many more Bobcats in the coming months, though perhaps not in the way they might expect. The 2024 Vermont Habitat Stamp features a stunning design featuring a Bobcat and a newly rediscovered orchid, the Small Whorled Pogonia, two icons of Vermont’s biodiversity that will benefit from funds raised by habitat stamp purchases. Get your 2024 Vermont Habitat Stamp today and you can spot a Bobcat on your car, laptop, water bottle, or wherever else you display your love for Vermont’s flora and fauna.

With 1,554 observations submitted by 259 observers in January, it was very competitive. 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!