I guess we are part of the "vacationing" South - Hoot Owls and Bobcats
I saw a face I thought I would not see again. She'd been torn up one year, but disappeared. I always fed her.
The next year, she looked better, and camped out waiting to get leftovers, until I realized she was wanting her own. I have her something special since my own fat girl was well asleep inside.
I had no idea where she had gone - it's been two years.
She was sitting right in the middle of the patio, where I always put the food bowl for my cat and the 'guests' that do not include raccoons, and I watch, like she was waiting.
So I fed her. She sat there as blasé as though she remembered from two years ago.
Isn't that odd?
Just a plain old bobcat I thought would never survive. (well, maybe not *that* plain) She did, and here she is a few years later, waiting. Completely inadvisable to approach, might I point out - I never do, just give the gifts and walk away - learned the hard way from damn raccoons.
And then there is the Hoot Owl that once again sits in the pear tree and hoots at me, scaring the crap out of me, but then hoots right back. It's so weird to be in the same place for so long!