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Armonk resident John Dunn sighted a bobcat in his front yard at his home on Byram Brook Place on Sunday, Nov. 27, he said.
The sighting is unusual, as bobcats prefer areas without continuous human population centers, according to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). However, the organization notes that sometimes the cats will use habitats located by humans if it is not isolated by urban development.
According to the NY DEC, bobcats occupy around 13,500 square miles of New York, centering in three major population centers in the Adirondack, Catskill, and Taconic regions.
In the Catskills, there are about 16 bobcats for every 100 square miles, while in the Adirondacks, about five of the animals occupy every 100 square miles, DEC officials said. The cats can live in a home range spanning from 12 to more than a hundred square miles.
Active both day and night, bobcats will usually live in a habitat that provides shelter, such as ledges, rock piles, brush piles, hollow trees, and logs, which provide areas for resting and building dens, according to the DEC.
The animals can also be found in bogs and swamps, DEC officials said.
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