Wildlife

[Batty]

The interesting thing is that I am surrounded by marsupials, egg-laying mammals and live-bearing reptiles, and yet marmots sound exotic.

Herons... I got herons.

White Faced Heron by battyden, on Flickr
This fellow hung around my house until he cleaned out the fishpond faster than you can change from "Hey cool! A heron in my yard!" to "AARGH GEDDOUDAVITYABASTARD!"

He patrolled the neighbourhood fish ponds for some time. People were not happy to see him.

[Eirene]

part of my inhome wildlife:


And a newborn filly at my friend's farm:


This one was funny.... I took my daughter to McDonald's and we got greeted by this guy:

(close up of him):

He got accustomed to eating McDonald's food, and BreAngel tossed fries to him, and he'd grab them from mid-air. Definitely not something you expect to see at McDonald's

And this guy was very active at the wrong time of day for him to be active, so I got a few good pics of him. BreAngel and I had been taking a trip across the state to my ex-roommate's girlfriend's house, and at one of the rest areas, we saw this little guy. He wasn't very old, and the security guard at the rest area thought his mother might have been hit by a car, leaving him to fend for himself, and not learn that he shouldn't be out during the day.





And this one was of a beagle that we used to have (who was later gifted to our next door neighbor, since we couldn't handle him and our dog and cat, and our neighbor was getting ready to get a new dog anyway). We'd seen a bunny at the tree line to the swampy area behind our house, and the beagle took off after him:

The bunny was far enough away from us that to really see him, I had to put the banner up to show where he was.

[TxCat]

Eirene, is that a bobcat or a bobcat hybrid? I have one of those. I can't honestly say he makes a good pet, but he does make an excellent companion. With the unreleasables you have to kind of take them on their own terms (and I still need better pics of Merlin, particularly the paws and the muscle alignment, the last ones weren't real great).

We've been watching grackles, herons (I saw a blue phase heron flying overhead, it was awesome!), and seagulls. I know everyone hates them, but I love the way they fly and how graceful they are. The colors are appealing too, especially the laughing gulls with their completely black heads and white bodies. The first male ruby throated hummingbird appeared at the feeders today and yesterday, clearing some stuff out of the yard, we discovered a carpenter ant nest (we left them alone because they're not bothering anyone and it's an old stump which needs disposed of anyhow). The ant lions are still there. I like seeing the little doodlebug holes, though I wish they wouldn't build right beside my truck. It makes it hard not to squish them.

When we went to the county fair, I was informed that the armadillo is actually an invasive, non-native species in Florida and that it carries leprosy. The recommendation by the extension office is to kill them if you see them but I can't bear to do that. He's in my yard eating grubs, which I don't need in my lawn, so he stays. I also learned that the little black snake which keeps chasing us across the yard is not a black racer but a water moccasin. That one may have to go, since it's actively trying to hurt people.

Pshawraven found some Emperor moths on the back of the house. These are the weirdest looking creatures; they're bright pink and orange!

[Eirene]

TxCat, as far as anyone's told us, he's just a shorthaired cat, but when you mix my daughter with any animal, you definitely get wildlife. He just scratched the bejebus out of Bre's inner nose earlier tonight, and all she was doing was trying to give him some love.

Around my house, I have the usual squirrels and egrets in the mornings, but I also have armadillos, opossums, raccoons, hawks, turkey vultures, woodpeckers, mockingbirds and more. Will try to get some pictures of them all when I can.

[FennecFyre]

Apparently we have a coyote in our area. This is bad news, as we have lots of livestock and 1 coyote can rapidly turn into a pack. I'm especially worried about the calves, goats, and cats. And Maddie too, even though she's a pit bull. But she lacks that fight instinct, so a coyote would probably beat the snot out of her.

[TxCat]

Apparently we have a coyote in our area. This is bad news, as we have lots of livestock and 1 coyote can rapidly turn into a pack. I'm especially worried about the calves, goats, and cats. And Maddie too, even though she's a pit bull. But she lacks that fight instinct, so a coyote would probably beat the snot out of her.

Your best defense is being educated about the animal's behavior and habitat. If a coyote is present in an area of human habitation, it is because the humans have intruded on their territory, not the other way around. In general, coyotes are shy and rather harmless animals who will go out of their way to AVOID human beings. Their natural prey is small: hares and rabbits, voles, mice, insects. They aren't wolves and really aren't strong enough to harry livestock, not even in a pack. This is my experience as a once-and-future rancher and now a farmer. If their natural prey is abundant, they won't even bother with livestock or pets.

This article seems balanced and addresses both the animal's natural and forced habits as well as methods of control.

This article says they like fruit, particularly that which is sweet and overripe. The only experience I've had with that was with a cousin, the fox, picking over our tomatoes!

My advice would be to take a conservative approach. Don't kill or poison the coyote; you're more likely to get a pet that way. Take your animals in at night and make certain livestock is secure in their barns or loafing sheds. A coyote in general will not go to much effort to get food if there's something more easily available.

[TxCat]

TxCat, one thing I haven't seen mentioned as far as wolves and coyotes here is that in some areas where the populations overlap, there will be some interbreeding. This is of course a bit rare, but I'm interested in it from a genetics point of view as well as that of a wildlife lover. The canine family seems to have "species" that are very close genetically. I'd suppose it would be about as common as dog-wolf hybrids, but possibly more likely to cause sterility, which can't be good for either population.

One of the articles I came across did mention that as a unique trait of the coyote --- that they can breed with both domestic dogs of any breed and with wolves --- but they don't mention much else about it, including why it doesn't work the other way around (wolves don't seek out coyotes as mates, for instance, and none of them can interbreed with foxes who are also canids).

Coy-dogs are common in the southwest where the coyote population is at its highest but they most often end up drowned or poisoned. Even more alarming, to me, is the fact that they've been picked up as the latest designer dog. Everyone wants one. You can sometimes find a coy-dog in the shelters but they don't make good pets. Most of them retain the wild instincts and they're very hard to train and to domesticate. Just as with an unreleasable wild animal, the people who take on such animals need to remember that the animal is, in fact, wild.

It is, however, possible to work around that and to live in harmony with the animal. I highly recommend this site. The woman who runs it found Charlie as an abandoned pup and raised him. The pictures are quite remarkable and the short blurbs she posts under them entertaining. She's recently put out a book about raising him too.

[FennecFyre]

Your best defense is being educated about the animal's behavior and habitat. If a coyote is present in an area of human habitation, it is because the humans have intruded on their territory, not the other way around.

Well, we aren't in an area of new development, so I don't know where this one came from.

[Keolah]

The gray wolf (including domestic dogs), red wolf, and coyote all have the same number of chromosomes -- they produce fertile offspring. The biggest problem with sterility in hybrids is a differing number of chromosomes (such as with mules). Apparently they can also produce fertile offspring with jackals as well. The main thing I've seen about coyote hybrids is that they often have social and communication issues with other canids. (That, and that too much interbreeding and hybrids in the wild would slowly make coyotes more dog-like.)

[TNHawke]

There is this awesome starling nesting behind my apartment. He has a full repertoire of bird of prey calls! I have heard him give the "keetkeetkeetkeet" of Kestrels, the falling scream of red-tails, the more nasal scream of a swainson's hawk, the chirp of osprey (which for a moment I thought was either the mew of a kitten, or a strange marmot cry) and the other day he was imitating a prairie falcon (not as deep as a peregrine's). He also does standard Starling sounds, and some Wigeon wistles. He's quite the amazing little mimic.