What wild animals do you have in your area that supposedly don’t live there.

[Carol Dee]

On occasion we will see Sandhill cranes. I think they are passing through.

Last summer a black bear walked through Iowa. Not 3 miles from our place and only a farm field from a friends house. Caused a lot of commotion. Poor guy was followed everywhere. There would be people lining the rural roads to see him. Even the highway patrol stopped traffic to get him across it. I know at some point south of the QC area he crossed the river into IL. Continuing south. Rumors have it he was finally captured and moved back to MN where they think his journey began.

Several years ago there was a cougar sitting in Clinton, IA. It spent a lot of time on a campus there. Do not know what happened with it. But after a short time , no more sightings.

There was a Carolina Wren at my bird feeder 2 winters ago. ( A really cold and nasty day)The maps say this is their territory but I had never seen or one or any since.

 

[digitS']

Several times, I have not known that there was a vole in the big veggie garden until ..

. a coyote digs it up. Voles seem to like to move in under tomato plants.

I did NOT appreciate the damage done to a pea trellis during what likely was a coyote/rabbit encounter. Four stakes were pulled out of the ground. Fortunately, there wasn't too much damage to the vines.

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

Coyote have a pretty healthy population here. They are scavengers too. Will eat any road kill. Yes rabbits, mice, any small critter they can catch. Occasionally can be a pest on farms where they will try for lambs, chickens etc.

yes, i'm pretty sure they feed on some of the deer that are normally seen dead along the road or further off in the fields after people have hit them (or they've run into someone's vehicle).

 

[baymule]

We supposedly do not have bears in east Texas. But there are bears in parts of Texas. I'm real happy without them. We have wild cats in Texas. Ocelot, Cougar, bobcat and jaguarundi.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

We supposedly do not have bears in east Texas. But there are bears in parts of Texas. I'm real happy without them. We have wild cats in Texas. Ocelot, Cougar, bobcat and jaguarundi.

And, (from what I understand) once in a blue moon, Jaguars.

 

[baymule]

And, (from what I understand) once in a blue moon, Jaguars.

Yeah, they cross over from Mexico. I was born on the border, but family moved to east Texas when I was 2.
Lots of people swear they have seen black panthers, that does not occur in cougars, only in jaguars. It would have to be a really lost jaguar to be wandering around east Texas. I tend to think they have tea parties with Bigfoot too.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Yeah, they cross over from Mexico. I was born on the border, but family moved to east Texas when I was 2.
Lots of people swear they have seen black panthers, that does not occur in cougars, only in jaguars. It would have to be a really lost jaguar to be wandering around east Texas. I tend to think they have tea parties with Bigfoot too.

Well, that depends. Until the early 1900's, there was such a thing as the Arizona Jaguar. And every now and again, there is the odd report suggesting that there may still be a few out there........

As for the black cougars. The DO in fact sometimes occur, though mostly in the South American population. But there is a fairly well verified picture of a black Florida cougar. It's a recessive trait, so rare, but there is nothing like a severely restricted population inbreeding to bring out recessive traits .

It's a bit like the Onza (a form of cougar with a gracile, cheetah like build) it only shows up when the population is really low.

 

[flowerbug]

So what are they eating? Rabbits?

Mary

i'm sure some of the rabbits get eaten by coyotes, but more likely they eat the rabbits from the road after a car has run them over. the rabbits here are mostly hunted by me and then once in a while i'll see one taken by the semi-feral or feral kitties that use our property for hunting.

i'm glad to say that the putting up of some fences has reduced how many rabbits i have to hunt each year and i now have a chance of seeing some crocuses in the spring in areas outside the fences.

 

[baymule]

Well, that depends. Until the early 1900's, there was such a thing as the Arizona Jaguar. And every now and again, there is the odd report suggesting that there may still be a few out there........

As for the black cougars. The DO in fact sometimes occur, though mostly in the South American population. But there is a fairly well verified picture of a black Florida cougar. It's a recessive trait, so rare, but there is nothing like a severely restricted population inbreeding to bring out recessive traits .

It's a bit like the Onza (a form of cougar with a gracile, cheetah like build) it only shows up when the population is really low.

As many blowhards around here that swear they've seen black cougars, there would have to be a breeding population of them.

 

[R2elk]

So what are they eating? Rabbits?

Mary

Around here the coyotes love felis domesticus. The feral cat population took a significant hit when the coyotes moved in.