Urban Wildlife Increase

[JoeWras]

Canada Geese are something most of us have seen increase greatly during our life. Once rare, now ubiquitous. Since they are protected, they have no fear of humans. You can walk up to them and they don't care. Maybe a hiss or two.

I suspect they are one reason for the coyote and fox increase in our area. The nests make for good snacks.

[meierlde]

I live in the Texas Hill country and have seen up to a dozen deer in my front yard at one time. Saw a fox a few times. once two playing around on my lower deck, and once while adding stabil to gas for the lawn mower. Have seen porcupines, etc. Every so often (once every couple of years) a ringtail will decide that the electric substation is a great place to commit suicide in the middle of the night, and there is then a power failure. Note that I live where the population density starts decreasing rapidly, away from the river. Rumor has it that there are mountain lions around also.

One interesting thing was that a dead deer ended up on my front yard, and because it was a weekend the buzzards had two days to clean it up, but after two days the buzzards gotten everything they could. It was picked up that day by the county.

[Nemo2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeWras Canada Geese are something most of us have seen increase greatly during our life. Once rare, now ubiquitous. Since they are protected, they have no fear of humans. You can walk up to them and they don't care. Maybe a hiss or two..

When we lived in Ottawa and biked along the river, the geese would be all over the trail.......bell ringing & yelling accomplished nothing......until....I hit upon the idea of barking.

They moved.

[Marita40]

Coyotes, fox, deer, eagles, hawks, and the occasional bear are now not uncommon in my area (urban MN).

[anethum]

A copperhead was seen this past May in a park in Washington, DC, only 6 blocks from the Mall.

https://wjla.com/news/local/copperhe...-national-mall

This spring, I saw a coyote chasing 3 deer near a forested area in Washington, DC, about 2 miles from the Georgetown waterfront. I read that coyotes have been sighted continuously in the large, forested Rock Creek Park in DC since 2004.

Foxes have been seen near Capitol Hill in DC.

5 years ago, a young black bear migrated eastward into a residential neighborhood in DC and was captured and released in the mountains west of DC.

Here's an interesting article about wildlife in the DC area.

https://wamu.org/story/17/12/07/city...much-wildlife/

[Ronstar]

Our snowbird condo in Scottsdale, Az is a wildlife haven. I’ve had rattlesnakes and bobcats a few feet from my garage door. Coyotes, javelinas, scorpions. But I haven’t really seen much of an increase. Wildlife sightings have been fairly constant there for the past 16 years.

[MRG]

That's our trash can. The wires are bear locks. I made a mistake the first spring as I didn't think the bears were awake yet, but maybe they are? My indecision showed as I only locked one side of the container.

A bear had a bunch of fun that night. It would have been less mess to clean up if I'd just dumped everything out! That thing threw the trash all over our yard, crawled inside the container. Freaking bear! I choose to live in it's neighborhood.

ETA: Only time since the one above I've ever left trash out overnight a bear came up and knocked the locked can all over the place. Luckily it didn't go over the canyon. I don't put trash out anymore till an hour before the truck. Sometimes my neighbor does, but I've noticed he's been more aware of the bear.

20180804_203206.jpeg

[FIREd]

We are seeing more deer, ticks, raccoons, and snakes in our neighborhood. A black bear was sighted nearby recently as well (very unusual). The deer are just unafraid of people and they come eat the plants on my front porch now. The ticks freak me out the most, but I also keep an eye out for copperheads and rattlesnakes too as they have been spotted by neighbors (urban AL).

[CaptTom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeWras Mostly, I embrace all the wildlife we see regularly.

Well, that might be why you're getting ticks...

Seriously, yes, wildlife has increased. Rural/Suburban area here, and we've always had deer. But birds of prey (eagles, hawks, and especially osprey) have increased, and smaller critters like weasels and fishers. I came face-to-face with a coyote (looked like a wolf to me, but at that point I wasn't being too analytical!) many years ago, and still see signs of them all around.

On the water, same thing. In my lifetime, seals have made a comeback, along with more whales. The seals of course bring great white sharks. Recently I saw the first harbor porpoises south of Portland, ME. Used to be you'd have to go up to Mt. Desert Island (e.g.; Bar Harbor) to see them, and even then it wasn't a sure thing. The big decreases are the species humans fish for, like cod. Those are essentially gone, in an economic sense. Oddly, periwinkles are also gone, possibly the invasive green crabs eat them.

[target2019]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeWras The rain finally left so I tore myself away from the keyboard, and ER.org, and went outside to turn over my backyard compost pile. Immediately, I had an amazing wildlife encounter, right here in the city of Raleigh, NC. Before I explain, a few questions for you: - Has wildlife increased where you live? - If so, what kind? - Is any dangerous? - What is the most dangerous? - Do you like/love it, or hate it?

Have been on the edges of NJ pine barrens for ~30 years. There are enough green area in preservation to keep the wildlife populations relatively steady. We have deer, skunk, raccoon, groundhog, chipmunk, squirrel, opussum, hawk, owl, vulture, snake, mole, mice, etc. The populations move up and down periodically. Hawks are very impressive hunters. We see more as the population of moles, mice, increase. I've been up close with all of these critters. A large buck went through our year a week or two ago. Usually we only see doe.

This past week a neighbor across from us cut down two very large oaks, which will no doubt cause squirrels to move, etc. His lawn will be greener, amply fed by fertilizer and watering routines. It's his yard, I know.

On the plus side, I drove by a very small fawn just inside the development. Hopefully this one will grow old, and not become a victim of auto collision.

All animals are potentially dangerous. For example, mosquito and ticks are quite small, very numerous this year. They carry disease, and some neighbors with untreated, dirty pools do not understand this.

[JoeWras]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nemo2 When we lived in Ottawa and biked along the river, the geese would be all over the trail.......bell ringing & yelling accomplished nothing......until....I hit upon the idea of barking. They moved.

Thank you for the tip! This can be a serious problem when riding the greenways. Sometimes I just ride through them (slowly) like a pylon test. They are crazy with no fear at all!

I need to work on my barking.

[GalaxyBoy]

A few weeks ago DW and I were at a stoplight on a 4-lane divided highway when a bear ran across the road right in front of us. This is just outside a city of about 100k, but in a suburban area about 1/2 mile from a major exit off I-81. I grew up in the area, and years ago a bear would have been un-heard of.

[Chuckanut]

In my area we have seen a huge increase in squirrels and rabbits. The grandkids love seeing rabbits in the back yard, out front when we take a walk around the block and in the parks. This has also caused an increase in a third form of wildlife - coyotes. Their food supply is up, so their population is up.

If the coyotes eat enough of the neighborhood cats that wander about outside, we may even see an increase in the native song bird population.

[Nemo2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeWras Thank you for the tip! This can be a serious problem when riding the greenways. Sometimes I just ride through them (slowly) like a pylon test. They are crazy with no fear at all! I need to work on my barking.

Or get a Swan.

Close to twenty years ago my late wife & I were camped at a conservation area in Ontario; Canada geese everywhere.

Went for a walk with my Border Collie and encountered maybe thirty geese on a slope; they cared nothing for me, but as soon as they saw the dog, (he didn't bark, just strolled), they started heading for the water.

Except.....a, newly arrived, solitary swan had claimed that sector. He just cruised nonchalantly a few feet out and parallel to the water line....no hissing, no flapping of wings.....but he sure intimidated the geese who totally outnumbered him.

Until, and after, his mate arrived, the geese were relegated to the part of the lake that the swans apparently didn't want, or were willing to cede......didn't see any attempts at incursions by the geese.

[mpeirce]

If it lives in our area we've probably seen it in our back yard. It's something we really enjoy.

Probably my favorite wildlife was the fox family that raised their kits in our backyard last year. So much fun to watch - much of it recorded on game cam video. Keep the rabbit population down too.

[Teacher Terry]

We now have coyotes right in town. I always go outside with the little dogs. If the big guy goes out I don’t worry as he is much bigger than a coyote. We also have hawks. Here they call outside cats “coyote cookies.” Here someone let their 3 small dogs out and went back in to use the bathroom. When she came back all 3 were dead and a coyote was eating one. Occasionally a mountain lion will come into town.

[Nemo2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teacher Terry If the big guy goes out I don’t worry as he is much bigger than a coyote.

As I understand it coyotes/wolves have been know to use a pack member in estrus to lure domestic dogs to somewhere they can be attacked by the group.

[MRG]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nemo2 As I understand it coyotes/wolves have been know to use a pack member in estrus to lure domestic dogs to somewhere they can be attacked by the group.

There's cases of interbreeding between coyotes, dogs, and wolves.

Coywolf https://g.co/kgs/yjt7Cw
Coydog https://g.co/kgs/VXxbZ5
Wolfdog https://g.co/kgs/A3mU2u

[pacergal]

We live in an area between a lake and forested land. We have seen eagles, hawks, coyotes, deer, geese , ducks. There have been reports and pictures of cougars. And of course lots of different birds, raccoons, squirrels, opossum, skunks right around the house.
We had a coyote run down our street in broad daylight a few years ago, and last year I was out driving early morning and a pack of 6 coyotes were trotting down the middle of the road--that was a sight to see!

[Teacher Terry]

We have a fenced in backyard.