Urban wildlife

I work at a major medical complex (employing well over ten thousand
people) in a major metropolitan area. A few minutes ago, I was
standing outside watching a peregrine falcon as it sat on a liquid
oxygen container waiting for a sparrow or a mouse to make a mistake.
Evidently its patience was rewarded, as it suddenly hopped off the
tank and disappeared into a small hidden courtyard.

Last weekend, while taking Cullen for a romp in the greenbelt along
the Menominee river, we scared up a large whitetail buck. Only six
points, but a massive rack nevertheless. On seeing the dog coming
toward him, the deer loped off about fifty yards and then stood
watching. This performance was repeated several times till Cullen got
bored.

About a year ago, Cullen got bit by a coyote.....one of a pair he
approached a wee bit recklessly.....on a chunk of vacant land behind a
chocolate factory a couple of blocks from the duplex we used to rent a
mile or so from where we saw the deer last week, and where we have
seen many others.

For a week or so, early this last spring, I saw a family of red foxes
cavorting at the edge of a parking lot here on campus each morning
when I came to work.

We've got an unknown but apparently large number of raccoons living in
the storm drains on our block. The best time to see them is the last
hour before sunrise when they head home after a night of foraging, but
they'll show up occasionally at just about any time of night.
Sometimes you can even see them in daylight.

Red tail and rough legged hawks are common sights along the freeways.

And all this within the limits of the city of Milwaukee. Oddly, I
generally see more of these and a few other species (with the
exception of the deer) here in the city than out in rural areas.

Wolfgang
no bears or jaguars yet.......i think the geese scare them off.

"Wolfgang" wrote in :

And all this within the limits of the city of Milwaukee. Oddly, I
generally see more of these and a few other species (with the
exception of the deer) here in the city than out in rural areas.


I wouldn't necessarily call the Greater Rochester Area urban, but just
yesterday a red tailed hawk landed roughly 15 feet from me. Deer are
fairly routine. I spied a river otter galumphing along the side of the
Erie Canal in Fairport one morning on my way to work--there's no telling
what the outcome of our reintroduction program will be. I see a nice owl
every once in a while. Skunk, coon, possum, fox, all pretty typical.
Coyotes around here, but they seem to avoid people. Beaver swim around me
while fishing, but it seems to depend on the year. Snakes also enjoy
swimming up to me.

I found a banded bird skeleton under a bridge during a river cleanup, and
it turned out to be a racing pigeon from Brooklyn, of all places.

Scott

Scott Seidman wrote:
"Wolfgang" wrote in
:

And all this within the limits of the city of Milwaukee. Oddly, I
generally see more of these and a few other species (with the
exception of the deer) here in the city than out in rural areas.

I wouldn't necessarily call the Greater Rochester Area urban, but just
yesterday a red tailed hawk landed roughly 15 feet from me. Deer are
fairly routine. I spied a river otter galumphing along the side of
the Erie Canal in Fairport one morning on my way to work--there's no
telling what the outcome of our reintroduction program will be. I
see a nice owl every once in a while. Skunk, coon, possum, fox, all
pretty typical. Coyotes around here, but they seem to avoid people.
Beaver swim around me while fishing, but it seems to depend on the
year. Snakes also enjoy swimming up to me.

I found a banded bird skeleton under a bridge during a river cleanup,
and it turned out to be a racing pigeon from Brooklyn, of all places.

We've got roffians up this way - lots of them. Normally they stay
hunkered down, keeping to themselves while making low growling noises,
but you can get them to be a bit more sociable by flashing a SNPA and/or
some cheese. Still, like all wildlife, you'll want to keep your guard
up, because they'll revert back to their wild instincts without a
moment's notice (usually about the time the SNPA and cheese runs out.)

If you've never seen one, they are hideous creatures, sometimes emitting
a strong odor. While normally found more in the countryside, they will
wander into more urban areas. Usually this behavior occurs between 8:00
and 17:00 and is only so they can perform tasks which allow them to
spend more time is the less urban settings. While they normally hunt
alone, they have been known to form packs and cause great destruction.
They're are at their most dangerous between midnight and 5:00AM, and I
have heard them shriek as if in agony at 2:00AM. If you find one
sleeping in their den, it's best not to disturb them except with a long
stick and good running shoes.
--
TL,
Tim
------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj

On Wed, 8 Dec 2004 10:32:56 -0500, "Tim J."
wrote:

Scott Seidman wrote:
"Wolfgang" wrote in
:

And all this within the limits of the city of Milwaukee. Oddly, I
generally see more of these and a few other species (with the
exception of the deer) here in the city than out in rural areas.

I wouldn't necessarily call the Greater Rochester Area urban, but just
yesterday a red tailed hawk landed roughly 15 feet from me. Deer are
fairly routine. I spied a river otter galumphing along the side of
the Erie Canal in Fairport one morning on my way to work--there's no
telling what the outcome of our reintroduction program will be. I
see a nice owl every once in a while. Skunk, coon, possum, fox, all
pretty typical. Coyotes around here, but they seem to avoid people.
Beaver swim around me while fishing, but it seems to depend on the
year. Snakes also enjoy swimming up to me.

I found a banded bird skeleton under a bridge during a river cleanup,
and it turned out to be a racing pigeon from Brooklyn, of all places.

We've got roffians up this way - lots of them. Normally they stay
hunkered down, keeping to themselves while making low growling noises,
but you can get them to be a bit more sociable by flashing a SNPA and/or
some cheese. Still, like all wildlife, you'll want to keep your guard
up, because they'll revert back to their wild instincts without a
moment's notice (usually about the time the SNPA and cheese runs out.)

If you've never seen one, they are hideous creatures, sometimes emitting
a strong odor. While normally found more in the countryside, they will
wander into more urban areas. Usually this behavior occurs between 8:00
and 17:00 and is only so they can perform tasks which allow them to
spend more time is the less urban settings. While they normally hunt
alone, they have been known to form packs and cause great destruction.
They're are at their most dangerous between midnight and 5:00AM, and I
have heard them shriek as if in agony at 2:00AM. If you find one
sleeping in their den, it's best not to disturb them except with a long
stick and good running shoes.

Screw all that - just treat 'em like rattlesnakes or water moccasins: shoot on
sight...

"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...
I work at a major medical complex (employing well over ten thousand
people) in a major metropolitan area. A few minutes ago, I was
standing outside watching a peregrine falcon as it sat on a liquid
oxygen container waiting for a sparrow or a mouse to make a mistake.
Evidently its patience was rewarded, as it suddenly hopped off the
tank and disappeared into a small hidden courtyard.

plus a bunch of stuff snipped

Wolfgang
no bears or jaguars yet.......i think the geese scare them off.


Apparently, not everyone in urban areas has your appreciation for the
wildlife! I'm sure the owner thinks it was the right thing to do, but it
seems like a darn shame to me. Maybe he's got some tie in with the Victor
Rat trap folks?

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp..._on_sc/high_ri
se_hawks

I have to admit though, the dozen or so deer in my suburban backyard have
grown a bit too fond of my landscaping.

Jim Ray

When I worked at the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, CA my
building was right at the edge of the wetlands bordering San Francisco
Bay. A very rare burrowing owl made a nest (a burrow) right by the
entrance to the building, in a mound of dirt left over from the
building's construction. One morning when I came to work early a golden
eagle was on the mound, eating a large hare. He tried too fly away with
it, but the hare was too large for more than some short hops.

Gopher snakes were abundant. I liked to catch them to scare the bejesus
out of the Indian (Asian) guy I shared an office with. The largest one I
caught (named Humongous by my daughter) I took home and kept in a
terrarium for about a year, until the snake/mouse thing became too much
for my wife to take. I released him in very well-fed condition where I
found him.

I don't think Stanley, ID qualifies as "urban" by any stretch of the
imagination, but in the winter we always have a large herd of elk
occupying the hot springs area along the highway. Other common wildlife
in the general area (60 mile radius) are mule deer, antelope, mountain
goats, bighorn sheep, coyotes, wolves, foxes, badgers, mountain lions,
black bears, pine martins, otters, beavers, porcupines, raccoons, bald
eagles, golden eagles, ospreys, several species of hawks and falcons,
etc. Lynx and wolverines are very rare and I've never seen them. The
only kind of snake I've seen at this altitude is a garter snake, and
lizards and turtles seem to be nonexistent.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

On 12/8/04 9:31 AM, in article , "Wolfgang"
wrote:

very nice report snipped

I work at a major medical complex (employing well over ten thousand
people) in a major metropolitan area. A few minutes ago, I was
standing outside watching a peregrine falcon as it sat on a liquid
oxygen container waiting for a sparrow or a mouse to make a mistake.
Evidently its patience was rewarded, as it suddenly hopped off the
tank and disappeared into a small hidden courtyard.

http://falconcam.apk.net/

Red tail and rough legged hawks are common sights along the freeways.

One reason I like the leaf-less seasons. It seems especially in late fall
and late winter/early spring the roadways become hawk sighting places. On a
drive to eastern Iowa last February, I lost count of the various species of
raptors that I saw along the way on light posts, fences, etc.

Two Novembers ago a friend and I were standing in my kitchen slurping coffee
when he sighted a ring-necked pheasant in my back yard. Suburbia. Like any
other suburb, deer are common.

Mink are common in the Rocky River, not ten minutes from home.

And four (?) years ago, I sighted this fellow taking a break on his way
north:

http://hrothgar.cwru.edu/urbanloon.jpg

(That's the Cleveland Museum of Art in the background.)

Bill

Larry L wrote:

I suppose it's all gone now, but I used to train where San Antonio rd meets
the bay, east of Palo Alto, and it was a very large wetlands, full of some
of Nature's best work, in sight of the homes and work places of one of
Nature's least pleasant experiments

There's a project underway to reclaim 25 square miles of salt
evaporation ponds for wetlands.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

"William Claspy" wrote in

One reason I like the leaf-less seasons. It seems especially in late fall
and late winter/early spring the roadways become hawk sighting places. On
a
drive to eastern Iowa last February, I lost count of the various species
of
raptors that I saw along the way on light posts, fences, etc.



A number of years ago I found a falcon in my driveway. As I drove in, it
flew a few feet and was dangling something long and skinny. My first
thought was that is was that it was badly injured and dragging it's
intestines. I immediately went into internal debate mode about breaking
the law and shooting the bird to stop it's suffering, letting Nature handle
the situation, etc. I took my binoculars out and it was dragging a
leather thong and was, obviously, someone's trained hunting bird.

I grabbed a dead pigeon ( I'm a hunting dog trainer, having a dead bird in
the truck wasn't really that odd :-) and waved it around and soon I had a
falcon sitting on my wrist :-) I called DFG and was soon on a four hour
round trip journey to take the rare, very valuable, highly regulated, bird
to them, so they could track down the owner.

A couple days later, I got a call from the owner, a lawyer from Stockton.
He thanked me and offered a reward, and told me how lucky he was that the
bird was found by a dog trainer carrying dead pigeons, as he had had another
very valuable bird die from the hotdog that the finder had used to lure the
bird ( think about that one next time you buy Ball Park Franks ).

I declined the offer of $$$ BUT suggested that I'd love to see his birds
work ( it was still falconry pheasant season ). Now, that worthless,
****ing, slimeball, ****head lawyer ( I never believed the stuff about them
being scum until this happened ) told me that he couldn't do that because he
" hunts in very special, , private, places and he couldn't trust me to take
me there because I might come back and trespass to poach them"
..... this after I spent most a full day rescuing and returning a bird
probably worth thousands of dollars.

You know why New York has so many lawyers, and New Jersey has some much
toxic waste? ?? ...........
..................
................

New Jersey got first pick

"Jim" wrote in message
...

Apparently, not everyone in urban areas has your appreciation for
the
wildlife! I'm sure the owner thinks it was the right thing to do,
but it
seems like a darn shame to me. Maybe he's got some tie in with the
Victor
Rat trap folks?


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp..._on_sc/high_ri
se_hawks

Sad. The worst part is that the dmage can't be undone.

I have to admit though, the dozen or so deer in my suburban backyard
have
grown a bit too fond of my landscaping.

It's still interesting to see them here in the city........but they
ARE a nuisance to gardeners.

Wolfgang