Last August, I shared a trail camera video on OregonLive of a bobcat in Beaverton walking along a beaver dam. Since then, the feline has been recorded five more times walking along the dam and crossing a culvert just feet away.
The culvert runs beneath the busy four-lane SW Barnes Road in the Beaverton/Cedar Mill area. The wetland is near dental clinics and apartment buildings on land owned by The Wetlands Conservancy.
To learn more about the cat, I reached out to Sam Fino, a carnivore and furbearer coordinator with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. I wanted to know the cat’s sex and whether it was the same animal or multiple bobcats. Fino said it’s hard to confirm either from video alone, but bobcats are territorial and adults typically stay within the area they consider “home” for life. Home-range size varies with resources; more resources — often the case in urban settings — can mean a smaller territory. Fino added that it’s very difficult to determine a bobcat’s sex from a distance; researchers typically need a close view of physical characteristics to tell…