Colorado FedEx driver captures adorable bobcat kitten photo in Larimer County
Paul Marcotte just might have the best job.
The Longmont resident drives for FedEx delivering packages while also being attentive to wildlife, the focus of his photography passion.
The two mesh quite well since his route the last 20 years is Estes Park, home to abundant wildlife such as elk, deer, bears, mountain lions and bobcats, which serve as the high school mascot.
On Oct. 23, he was driving his route when a bobcat crossed the residential street in front of him. He continued his deliveries then circled back to see if the bobcat was still in the area.
Twenty minutes into his lunch break, not only did the bobcat appear but also her two kittens, which he had not seen during the first encounter. The mother ran across the street but her kittens were frightened by a passing vehicle.
One kitten ran for cover under some shrubs and the other ran up into a tree. What ensued was one of the most adorable bobcat kitten photos, with the image receiving tens of thousands of likes on social media.
"It was just so adorable resting in the tree," Marcotte told the Coloradoan on Tuesday. "I thought I would get a couple of quick shots and then it would be gone. But we made eye contact and I swear we had a moment together."
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He had a 600 mm lens on the camera that runs "shotgun'' with him on his routes for just such rare moments.
He said he kept his distance to make sure the kitten, which he estimated to be six months old, didn't feel threatened, adding relaxed animals make the photo shoot easier on the animals while producing a better photograph. He estimated he was 30 yards from the kitten.
Marcotte said he had always wanted to photograph a bobcat in a tree but said he never dreamed it would be a kitten. And a cooperative one at that, as the kitten lounged 15 feet up in the tree, closing its eyes on occasion as Marcotte continued to photograph his second-favorite wildlife next to mountain lions.
"A bucket list shot for me was a bobcat in a tree, never mind a bobcat kitten in a tree," he said.
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He left at the end of his break and returned two hours later with the kitten still resting in the tree.
He said a resident who lives nearby told him the next day she saw the mother and two kittens reunited.
"The key thing is nobody else was around, where as in Rocky Mountain National Park when there is wildlife, there are 30 photographers around getting the same shot and many are too close," he said.
He said the resting bobcat kitten was his second-favorite photo. A mountain lion resting in a tree in Boulder with soft light shining on it is his favorite. Those images can be seen on his Paul J Marcotte Photography Facebook page.
As for what his manager at FedEx thinks about mixing work with pleasure?
"He buys my calendar every year," Marcotte said. "He knows what I'm doing and that I don't sit around not working."
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Is this the most adorable bobcat kitten photo ever taken?