MagiStream

Wolfcub wrote:

TxCat wrote: 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.

It doesn't really matter; you guys weren't there first, is what she was saying. The coyote's there because there's probably food and shelter, but if your town's that worried about it they can do two things:
1. Catch and release farther away from the town so there's a chance it won't come back
2. Shoot it.

People are lazy, so they'll probably go with the second option, and only after it ends up attacking something so they have an excuse.

Anyway, moving on; I'm in the Orlando area of Florida until May 2nd, and our timeshare has this huge lake next to it filled with all sorts of animals. Giant carp(or trout, I think? It's hard to ever see them; the water is murky and they're grayish) about three or four feet long, ducks and their ducklings-- once there was a wood duck pair probably flown over from Seaworld, which is down the street, and a pair of white geese I don't know the actual name of-- they had some lumpy red stuff on their beaks, though, and would sit there and let you pet them. Toads are everywhere at night, and so are green tree frogs; they NEVER SHUT UP. It's been about five days and I'm sick of hearing them every night. There's some dragonflies, of course, and recently I found a water snake(I'd initially thought it was a copperhead).

There's also some black birds I don't know of; their feathers are iridescent and the males seem to have this habit of puffing up. They're also larger than the females. They seem to be corvids of some sort but I'm not sure.

Synchronized wrote:People are lazy, so they'll probably go with the second option, and only after it ends up attacking something so they have an excuse.

Several communities out in Colorado have developed an excellent community education program which allows them to live in harmony with the coyotes (no pun intended). They even bought time on the local network to air their Powerpoint on the subject periodically). I was impressed, as the general attitude out west has always been to shoot them.

The program suggested the following:

- make your trash wildlife proof (you can either ask your Department of Fish and Game about this or search on line for building your own contraptions or several companies sell them)

- put away your livestock and pets at night

- keep the area around your home free of brush and dense overgrowth, as these are places wild animals like to hide

- repair any holes in the foundations of your buildings and block access to crawlspaces

- don't feed the wildlife

- don't leave your pets' food where it can be accessible to the wildlife

- if you do see a coyote in the area, ignore it. They're naturally shy animals and will not willingly seek out human contact unless there is a reason for them to do so.

Of course, if people have already been careless with their trash or have been feeding them there's not much to be done except have them relocated or have them killed. Coyotes adapt readily to all sorts of circumstances and can live in a suburban or urban environment just as well as a wilderness. When Pshawraven worked at a HUD housing project down in Louisiana, they had a coyote problem because the residents would not put their trash away and they were feeding them. One report she took complained that the coyote had followed the woman home. When they investigated, they found out that she'd just bought some fried chicken from a local fast food place and had thrown a piece at the animal to make it stop following her.

Coyotes are not the only animals which turn into nuisances when fed. We all know about squirrels, bears, and even moose but the weirdest I ever encountered were the egrets. Out here, we have a variety which stands about two feet tall, head to foot. Someone had been feeding them and they had learned to wait at the bus stop for people to toss them things. About five of them chased one of Pshawraven's residents all the way home when they didn't get their expected feeding.

Not too many sitings today, but I've been asleep most of the day because of medical complications. A few weeks ago at the fair, though, we found this little guy:



Anyone know what he is?

And we spotted a bluebird on the back fence enjoying the evening sun:

TxCat wrote:Not too many sitings today, but I've been asleep most of the day because of medical complications. A few weeks ago at the fair, though, we found this little guy:



Anyone know what he is?

Looks like a giant leopard moth. Cute!

I once found a huge, orange moth back when I was a kid. It was about three to four inches without it's wings spread. I think it was a regal moth, but I'm unsure.

I agree, it looks like a Giant Leopard Moth aka Eyed Tiger Moth aka Hypercompe scribonia (sometimes incorrectly called Ecpantheria scribonia)

It's BEAUTIFUL! I've never seen one before, I had to look them up. Lol.


I got to see a luna moth once, when I was in New Jersey. It was one of the most incredible and surreal things I'd ever seen. It was just sitting on the side of a building in the shade with its wings spread out. I've seen photos before, but it is something else entirely to get to see the real thing.

Last night, we were privileged to see the first of the summer fireflies flitting through the forest. This is good on an ecological level: they'd virtually disappeared from the area. This will be the second year we've seen them return to the forests which means our ecology is finally balancing out again. I've been told that fireflies need a lot of water and that they need a habitat free of pesticides. The county quit spraying for mosquitoes a few years ago because it was destroying the local bat population.

Also, going through my photos, I found some more good ones of the local wildlife:





Juvenile red shouldered hawk. We watched this boy grow up through the spring. When we first observed him, he still had down (and still does in some of these pictures). He wasn't experienced enough to catch larger prey so we would watch him 'footing' through the grass for insects and snakes. Later, we were privileged to hear his mating call and watch him in a courtship and mating flight.



Another common toad. Mr. Shapeshifter rescued this one from a shallow bucket. Toads need water to drink but, unlike frogs, they don't really swim. He'd have drowned if we'd left him there.



A red bellied woodpecker. Note the magnificent red crest and lovely black and white ladder markings. He stayed quite a while eating the suet we'd put out before moving on.



A vulture in flight. It's difficult to tell at this angle whether it's a black vulture or a turkey vulture but both possess that magnificent broad winged sweep and the white leading edge on the feathers.

Just in the last hour, there were three young raccoons on my deck (and a local cat). At least, the raccoons appeared younger than another one I've seen around here. I do have to wonder if they have been displaced by all the rain and flooding that we've had. So far, they have just seemed young and curious. However, I don't really want to tangle with one if I had to leave the house after dark. I'm just glad that they didn't bother the cat and she didn't bother them. I do like the cat even though she isn't mine.

I got to see a turkey vulture fly right over the road yesterday. They are so ugly, and yet so beautiful. They also make my poor raven VERY afraid when he sees them. (although he wasn't with me that day)

Then, today, I was hearing a bunch of high pitched chirps, and realized there were four downy woodpeckers in the juniper trees across the parking lot.

The starlings here are quite incredible. I have heard the neatest sounds coming out of them. Many bird of prey calls, one was doing a great magpie this morning. That one was also ribbiting like the frogs down in the gorge. They make the sounds of wigeon ducks, Canada geese, killdeer, meadow larks, and a few mechanical sounding noises. And of course, lots of starling noises and a ton of stuff that I can't identify.

The superb lyre bird is the most astonishing mimic. I've heard these in the Blue Mountains but never seen a display.

Zorik wrote:It was quite odd; why would it be afraid of mockingbirds? There were only two of them.

Some of the birds, mocking birds among them, and particularly corvids (I can't remember if mockingbirds belong to that particular group or not) are capable of doing a hawk great harm if they mob them. The hawks seem to know this, whether through instinct or through some form of species communication I don't know. In any case, I have observed several times only three or four crows harrying a hawk or other raptor. The hawk is generally on the losing end of things.