Wildlife in the City

Judy Glattstein jgglatt@gmail.com
Thu, 31 Oct 2013 10:08:44 PDT
We are seeing more and more of a limited variety of wildlife. Lots of 
deer. There used to be wild turkeys when we first moved here about 18 
years ago. Now scarce, likely due to the coyotes that have come into the 
area. Ground nesting birds such as turkeys are at risk. Both black and 
turkey vultures. Red tail hawks. Great horned owls. Skunks, raccoons, 
ground hogs, opossum, red fox. A neighbor was just e-mailing around the 
other day, warning of an aggressive black bear on our road. (Though how 
he knew it was aggressive is beyond me. Any black bear I saw ambling 
down the street would be observed from inside the house.)

Grey squirrel numbers rise with a good acorn crop, then drop when the 
mast returns to "normal." The foxes successfully raise a larger litter 
with the ample supply of squirrels, then drop again when the squirrel 
numbers fall. Voles especially have a boom-and-bust cycle.

We let someone deer hunt the back of our property. There are other 
hunters elsewhere up and down the road. Since the does tend to drop 
twins it doesn't seem to do much to reduce their numbers. And we do 
enjoy locavore, free range venison. Nicer than the ranched version 
shipped in from New Zealand.

Judy in New Jersey where a drizzle of rain is very much welcome



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