# Wild life on our morning walk



## Knight (Oct 23, 2022)

We typically see a couple of coyote walking thru one field that adjoins the jogging path. This morning a couple were close to the parking lot , I got as close as I could to get  pictures.


----------



## palides2021 (Oct 23, 2022)

Wow! I wonder what they found there and what they eat.


----------



## ElCastor (Oct 23, 2022)

Knight said:


> We typically see a couple of coyote walking thru one field that adjoins the jogging path. This morning a couple were close to the parking lot , I got as close as I could to get  pictures.


We have some around here. This afternoon a coyote ran across the road in front of our car. There is nothing more bone chilling than hearing a pack howling in the dark of night.


----------



## Jules (Oct 23, 2022)

@Knight   Are you walking your dog?  This year we’ve had several coyote attacks on dogs while folks were walking them.  Some dogs didn’t survive.


----------



## Gary O' (Oct 23, 2022)

ElCastor said:


> There is nothing more bone chilling than hearing a pack howling in the dark of night.


I find it rather exhilarating
Loved it when strolling our mountain property, late dusk
The mist, carrying their wails thru the evening pines

It's a romance
of woods and wild

Causes one to stop, savor


----------



## Gary O' (Oct 23, 2022)

Knight said:


> This morning a couple were close to the parking lot , I got as close as I could to get pictures


Reminds me of one early morn, driving into the parking lot 
I opened our little corporation
Nobody but me there
...and two coyotes

I got outa the Jeep
Clapped my hands

They just looked at each other, like 'what's with him?'
Then loped off


----------



## Knight (Oct 24, 2022)

Gary O' said:


> Reminds me of one early morn, driving into the parking lot
> I opened our little corporation
> Nobody but me there
> ...and two coyotes
> ...


I'm not to savvy when it comes to a couple of wild animals that could use me as a chew toy. I felt I was close enough to get the pics yet far enough to get back to my car that I left with the door open.


----------



## Gary O' (Oct 24, 2022)

Knight said:


> I'm not to savvy when it comes to a couple of wild animals that could use me as a chew toy. I felt I was close enough to get the pics yet far enough to get back to my car that I left with the door open.


Wise

The modern coyote doesn't seem to be very skittish
They seem drawn to town

My wife had one tailing her, real close
Kept on her, head lowered, snarling
She was pushing a stroller with our baby
She'd never seen a coyote
Kept yelling 'get your dog'
Told me about it
Told her about coyotes

A buddy of mine was hiking Goat Mountain, 30 mi outa Molalla OR
A black tail buck galloped past, right in front of him
Didn't bounce/spring over logs like normal
Said a coyote came right after
Stopped
Stared
Panted
Then decided to commence pursuing is prey

Quite the resilient animal


----------



## Liberty (Oct 24, 2022)

Well, we really enjoy them - for a very special reason.  Our property runs down to the creek line.  The feral pigs run the creek and would come up on our property and root.  Guess what is the perfect feral pig deterrent?  Coyotes  - they follow the pig herd and get their fill. Hear their howling in the evenings at times.


----------



## Been There (Oct 25, 2022)

Can you see the squirrel? I saw this one on my run last week. I sometimes wear my body camera and if I see an animal, I will try to get a picture of it.


----------



## Paco Dennis (Oct 25, 2022)

Here on our farm we take walks in the forest. We have seen plenty of deer, and we have seen turkeys, beavers, squirrels, bobcats, coyotes, rabbits, lots of snakes and lizards, and many kinds of birds. This happens about everyday around here and has for 40 years.


----------



## ElCastor (Oct 25, 2022)

Been There said:


> Can you see the squirrel? I saw this one on my run last week.


We see them! We (mainly my wife) have been feeding squirrels shelled walnuts in the backyard for years. At night we often get skunks and raccoons — which we do not feed. Also feed song birds and sparrows, but not one kind of bird, crows — they can be noisy, messy, and fly in flocks.

I do have a crow story which I have told before. Parked in front of a local convenience store, and there was a poor pathetic crow hopping around with a broken wing. Tragic sight. Went into the store, bought a pastry, tore off a chunk and threw it to him. He grabbed it and flew up on the roof. (-8


----------



## Been There (Oct 25, 2022)

ElCastor said:


> We see them! We (mainly my wife) have been feeding squirrels shelled walnuts in the backyard for years. At night we often get skunks and raccoons — which we do not feed. Also feed song birds and sparrows, but not one kind of bird, crows — they can be noisy, messy, and fly in flocks.
> 
> I do have a crow story which I have told before. Parked in front of a local convenience store, and there was a poor pathetic crow hopping around with a broken wing. Tragic sight. Went into the store, bought a pastry, tore off a chunk and threw it to him. He grabbed it and flew up on the roof. (-8


I found out only about a year ago that crows eat meat. I have a bird bath in my back yard and I will see crows land on the bird bath and dunk their kill into the water like they are softening it up. I used to shoot BB’s at them and also my paint gun, but I thought that wasn’t right, so now I let nature take it’s course.


----------



## ElCastor (Oct 25, 2022)

Been There said:


> I found out only about a year ago that crows eat meat. I have a bird bath in my back yard and I will see crows land on the bird bath and dunk their kill into the water like they are softening it up. I used to shoot BB’s at them and also my paint gun, but I thought that wasn’t right, so now I let nature take it’s course.


Crows eat just about anything, including cat kibble. We also have a bird bath. The crows swipe walnuts from the squirrels and dunk them in the bird bath.


----------



## Been There (Oct 26, 2022)

ElCastor said:


> Crows eat just about anything, including cat kibble. We also have a bird bath. The crows swipe walnuts from the squirrels and dunk them in the bird bath.


The bird baths must be their dipping grounds. After they flew away from my bird bath the other day, I went out to see what the remnants were. I would guess that it was a small bunny that they had seized. I used to like crows because they were known as nature's garbage collectors, but now that I see them killing small bunnies and squirrels, not so much anymore.


----------



## ElCastor (Oct 26, 2022)

Been There said:


> The bird baths must be their dipping grounds. After they flew away from my bird bath the other day, I went out to see what the remnants were. I would guess that it was a small bunny that they had seized. I used to like crows because they were known as nature's garbage collectors, but now that I see them killing small bunnies and squirrels, not so much anymore.


Looked it up and you are right. Crows are omnivores.  They do eat small animals and insects, but also grain, fruit, seeds, and my wife sometimes feeds them cat kibble, which they devour. On the plus side they are apparently not skilled hunters and I have never seen one attack a squirrel. No bunnies around here. They are quite intelligent. Read about one that was given food at the bottom of a glass tube. Couldn't get at it, but he was also given a wire. Tried stabbing it with the wire, didn't work, so he bent one end and fashioned a hook. Then there was a video of a walnut tree near a road intersection. The crows couldn't break the walnut shells, so they dropped them in a crosswalk. Cars broke the shells and the crows waited for the light to change before swooping in. (-8


----------



## Been There (Oct 26, 2022)

ElCastor said:


> Looked it up and you are right. Crows are omnivores.  They do eat small animals and insects, but also grain, fruit, seeds, and my wife sometimes feeds them cat kibble, which they devour. On the plus side they are apparently not skilled hunters and I have never seen one attack a squirrel. No bunnies around here. They are quite intelligent. Read about one that was given food at the bottom of a glass tube. Couldn't get at it, but he was also given a wire. Tried stabbing it with the wire, didn't work, so he bent one end and fashioned a hook. Then there was a video of a walnut tree near a road intersection. The crows couldn't break the walnut shells, so they dropped them in a crosswalk. Cars broke the shells and the crows waited for the light to change before swooping in. (-8


I read an article on the internet that stated crows were opportunistic eaters. Anything that they considered to be food, they will eat,  whether it’s a dead bird on the highway, leftover picnic food at a park, or fruit or berries on trees or bushes. And, yes, they do have intelligence. I was fishing last summer down at the shore in Virginia and I saw a crow have his head stuck in a French fries container. I had to life as the crow walked around with this French fries wrapper on his head and he was shaking it to get it off, which he eventually did.


----------



## Aneeda72 (Nov 10, 2022)

They have a lot of squirrels in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah.  (Course we have them all other the state).  Some are black.  I really dislike squirrels.  We have lots of wildlife as we are surrounded by mountains.  But I think our predators are too laid back.

Plenty of foxes, beautiful red and white foxes, so the squirrel population should be less, much less.  . Lazy beasts, foxes.


----------



## RadishRose (Nov 10, 2022)

palides2021 said:


> Wow! I wonder what they found there and what they eat.


I'm guessing French fries.


----------



## RadishRose (Nov 10, 2022)

Gary O' said:


> I find it rather exhilarating
> Loved it when strolling our mountain property, late dusk
> The mist, carrying their wails thru the evening pines
> 
> ...


----------



## RadishRose (Nov 10, 2022)

Been There said:


> I found out only about a year ago that crows eat meat. I have a bird bath in my back yard and I will see crows land on the bird bath and dunk their kill into the water like they are softening it up. I used to shoot BB’s at them and also my paint gun, but I thought that wasn’t right, so now I let nature take it’s course.


Crows are known to wash their food.


----------



## Aneeda72 (Nov 10, 2022)

RadishRose said:


> Crows are known to wash their food.


I have never seen a crow wash it’s food, but we have very large crows here and I am a chubby person.  I have seen them stare longingly at me.  . Afraid, very, very afraid.


----------



## Purwell (Nov 10, 2022)

The Highways Agency found over 200 dead crows on the M4 near Bridgend recently, and there was concern that they may have died from Avian Flu. A Pathologist examined the remains of all the crows, and, to everyone's relief, confirmed the problem was NOT Avian Flu. The cause of death appeared to be from vehicular impacts. However, during analysis it was noted that varying colours of paints appeared on the ...bird's beaks and claws. By analysing these paint residues it was found that 98% of the crows had been killed by impact with lorries, while only 2% were killed by cars.

The Agency then hired an Ornithological Behaviourist to determine if there was a cause for the disproportionate percentages of lorry kills versus car kills. The Ornithological Behaviourist quickly concluded that when crows eat road kill, they always have a look-out crow to warn of danger. They discovered that while all the lookout crows could shout "Cah", not a single one could shout "lorry"


----------



## hollydolly (Nov 10, 2022)

Purwell said:


> The Highways Agency found over 200 dead crows on the M4 near Bridgend recently, and there was concern that they may have died from Avian Flu. A Pathologist examined the remains of all the crows, and, to everyone's relief, confirmed the problem was NOT Avian Flu. The cause of death appeared to be from vehicular impacts. However, during analysis it was noted that varying colours of paints appeared on the ...bird's beaks and claws. By analysing these paint residues it was found that 98% of the crows had been killed by impact with lorries, while only 2% were killed by cars.
> 
> The Agency then hired an Ornithological Behaviourist to determine if there was a cause for the disproportionate percentages of lorry kills versus car kills. The Ornithological Behaviourist quickly concluded that when crows eat road kill, they always have a look-out crow to warn of danger. They discovered that while all the lookout crows could shout "Cah", not a single one could shout "lorry"


So those crows were from Boston..


----------



## Been There (Nov 11, 2022)

RadishRose said:


> Crows are known to wash their food.


Crows wash their food? I see them feeding off of dead deer carcasses along a highway and they never seemed to be all that sanitary to me. Just kidding of course, but do you see the irony?


----------



## RadishRose (Nov 11, 2022)

Been There said:


> Crows wash their food? I see them feeding off of dead deer carcasses along a highway and they never seemed to be all that sanitary to me. Just kidding of course, but do you see the irony?


Hahaha, yes I do!


----------



## Alligatorob (Nov 12, 2022)

Knight said:


> We typically see a couple of coyote walking thru one field that adjoins the jogging path. This morning a couple were close to the parking lot , I got as close as I could to get pictures.


Thanks for the pictures, can be hard to get close I know.


Gary O' said:


> The modern coyote doesn't seem to be very skittish
> They seem drawn to town


Coyotes have moved into a lot of cities and towns.  They are the one predator that has managed to adapt to live around humans, lots more coyotes and coyotes in lots more places today than ever before.  Fewer bears, wolves, mountain lions and so on.  When the wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone coyote populations were decimated.  Not a practical solution in most cities... *Urban coyote* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_coyote



Liberty said:


> Hear their howling in the evenings at times.


I really enjoy listening to a pack of coyotes howling, nothing quite like it.


----------



## Been There (Nov 12, 2022)

Alligatorob said:


> Thanks for the pictures, can be hard to get close I know.
> 
> Coyotes have moved into a lot of cities and towns.  They are the one predator that has managed to adapt to live around humans, lots more coyotes and coyotes in lots more places today than ever before.  Less bears, wolves, mountain lions and so on.  When the wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone coyote populations were decimated.  Not a practical solution in most cities... *Urban coyote* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_coyote
> 
> ...


We don’t have coyotes in Alexandria being close to D.C., but we have a lot of other animals, if you catch my drift.


----------



## Alligatorob (Nov 12, 2022)

Been There said:


> We don’t have coyotes in Alexandria being close to D.C., but we have a lot of other animals, if you catch my drift.


More dangerous than coyotes I suspect...


----------



## Been There (Nov 12, 2022)

When I first moved in to this development, we used to have a guy that would fire a pellet gun that sounded like a real gun going off. I don’t know anything about them, so maybe it’s controlled by a blank .22 or some type of gas, but anyway, every now and then, I would hear this gun going off, so one day I asked the neighbor where that gunfire was coming from. He said one older guy the next street over would fire at a gaggle of geese that would hang out at the nearby park. He said he was tired of the mess they made. They were messy. The cops finally were called and told him that he wasn’t allowed to fire any weapon within ‘x’ amount of feet or yards of a residence, so he quit. In the springtime because so many geese gathered in the park because of the pond they hung at, it was a huge mess. The community bought a canon of some sort that would fire a blank shotgun shell by however the timer was set up to do so. After a few years now, I have noticed the geese numbers have really gone down. Has anyone ever heard one of these canons? They are loud. Not everyone approves if thus canon, but at least the little kids have a much cleaner place to play.


----------



## Purwell (Nov 12, 2022)

Farmers in the UK used to have bird scarers which consisted of penny bangers on a string of slow burning fuse at suitable intervals. Little boys used to steal the bangers so they came up with a gas gun using a propane bottle and timer, not sure exactly how they work.


----------



## hollydolly (Nov 12, 2022)

Purwell said:


> Farmers in the UK used to have bird scarers which consisted of penny bangers on a string of slow burning fuse at suitable intervals. Little boys used to steal the bangers so they came up with a gas gun using a propane bottle and timer, not sure exactly how they work.


this is it...


----------



## Liberty (Nov 13, 2022)

Alligatorob said:


> Thanks for the pictures, can be hard to get close I know.
> 
> Coyotes have moved into a lot of cities and towns.  They are the one predator that has managed to adapt to live around humans, lots more coyotes and coyotes in lots more places today than ever before.  Fewer bears, wolves, mountain lions and so on.  When the wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone coyote populations were decimated.  Not a practical solution in most cities... *Urban coyote* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_coyote
> 
> ...


We heard them in the bottom land  again last night...they are following the feral hog migration - bet on that.  Its great as it keeps the pigs from rooting around on the property.


----------



## Pinky (Nov 13, 2022)

hollydolly said:


> this is it...


They used these in a vineyard when I was at a caravan stop in Australia. They'd start early in the morning.


----------



## Been There (Nov 16, 2022)

Here’s the canon used in my development to scare away the geese.


----------



## Raddragn (Nov 17, 2022)

We have an assortment of both wildlife and urban feral life in  our front yard. There are opossums in the back yard and Racoons both in the front and back yards. There are several cats who visit to snack, plus a flock of crows and other birds. It's fun to watch them . MMy daughter named the head crow Mortimer. We put up cameras front and back and caught the Racoons - a very well fed mamma and her equally well fed half grown youngsters. They're just adorable.


----------



## Ruthanne (Nov 20, 2022)

Every once in awhile I will see deer walking down the street.  They are usually in pairs.  Seeing some close up is amazing.  They are really majestic!


----------



## Been There (Nov 20, 2022)

Saw this wabbit (rabbit) yesterday.


----------

