Photographer spots napping bobcat at Metro Vancouver park (PHOTOS)

If you need some motivation to get up and go for a walk, here it is: you may just see a bobcat napping in a tree.

A Metro Vancouver photographer was treated to an adorable sight in Burnaby Lake this week when he stumbled upon a bobcat looking comfy and cozy nestled in a tree.

Bill Peremiczky tells Daily Hive he goes walking every day — either at Burnaby Lake or another local park. And he always brings his camera.

It was quiet and peaceful at Burnaby Lake when Peremiczky arrived on Wednesday, but when he heard crows making alarm sounds he knew a predator must be nearby.

He expected it to be an eagle or a hawk, but when he looked up he saw a bobcat sitting in a tree.

“Slowly I went closer, and the cat seems like he doesn’t care at all,” Peremiczky said.

Bill Peremiczky/Submitted

He reached for his camera — only to find the battery had died. He snapped some photos with his phone, and returned to his truck to charge the camera.

The cat was still in the tree when Peremiczky made his way back. He was alone with the wild feline, and began talking to it as it woke up.

“He was stretching, yawning, changing poses for me,” he said.

Bill Peremiczky/Submitted

After about an hour and a half of relaxing in the tree, the cat got up and disappeared into some nearby bushes.

“I’m so lucky to have this encounter with him.”

Bill Peremiczky

Peremiczky has been practicing landscape and wildlife photography as a hobby for the past two decades, and has captured some stunning shots during the three or four months a year he spends on the road between Vancouver and Yukon.

Bobcats are a rare and exciting sight in Metro Vancouver, and are sometimes spotted by keen observers.

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One was seen in a tree in Port Moody earlier this fall, and another was spotted padding around a West Vancouver backyard in the spring.

According to the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District, bobcats typically prefer to avoid human interaction.

“They are territorial and solitary creatures that prey on a wide range of animals [including] rodents, rabbits, fish, small or young ungulates, livestock, and pets,” the district says.

With files from Daily Hive’s Nikitha Martins