The rare Canada lynx, a northern wildcat known for its secretiveness and penchant for snowshoe hares, dens and breeds in Maine, but development pressures and changing forestry practices are jeopardizing its home turf. Can we prevent this nationally threatened cat from disappearing from the North Woods?

It’s the coldest night of winter, February 2007, when I arrive in Maine’s North Country up near Moosehead Lake. “Wind chill just hit 50 below,” says one local after seeing the news on the TV by the bar of the Rod ’n Reel Cafe. “Nah, can’t be more ’n 48,” says another. Either way, the allure of snowshoeing next morning is suddenly plunging with the temperature.
 
But the furtive mystery of the rare Canada lynx and the beauty of its remote home call to me. So I go.

The Field
It’s dawn. The air is brittle and the sky is stretched in unyielding blue. I layer up, meet Maine Audubon ecologist Laura Sebastianelli and the rest of the team, and leave civilization behind to track lynx and their wild neighbors.

Immediately we see a line of wide, webby paw prints belonging to an adult lynx. Inside each of these perfect prints is another print, belonging to a coyote that recently traveled on the tracks of the lynx to conserve energy. This practice is common in the deep woods, even among competing predators and their prey.

Winding far into the thicket, snapping through tight branches and thrilling over bits of scat, we follow the tracks, yelling out to one another: “Here’s another set; here’s another!” We find a dozen series of tracks before darkness returns. Some reveal lazy strides aside tracks showing the cats in full throttle bounding after a hare. “Kill site!” someone shouts, but no such luck. The thrill of it is almost enough for me to forget about my freezing toes and growling belly.

In one case, a long, single track suddenly splits into three. My guides explain that two kittens had been following in their mother’s tracks until venturing out independently. The notion of being this close to the elusive critters and seeing what it’s really like in their neighborhood is as powerful and humbling as Katahdin, sitting like a mindful giant in the distance.

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