Showing posts with label wildlife. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wildlife. Show all posts

Wildlife: Teenaged bandits spying on golfers

Friday, February 10, 2023

Photos by Jo Simmons
 
Jo Simmons reports that she was walking by the Seattle Golf Course on Greenwood when she spied these two juvenile delinquents spying on the golfers.



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Gloria's Critters: I don't see those greener pastures you humans are always talkin' about, photog

Monday, February 6, 2023

 
Photo copyright Gloria Z. Nagler

(Denise the Douglas' Squirrel was a curious sort...)



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Gloria's Critters: Sorry, photog, this club is for raccoons only!

Sunday, January 29, 2023

Photo copyright Gloria Z. Nagler


Can't let you in.

--GZN



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Public Health: What to do if a rat comes up your toilet

Thursday, January 19, 2023

Illustration by Meredith Li-Vollmer
Yes. It happens. It happened to a friend of mine, many years ago in a Northgate neighborhood.

Rats can swim three miles underwater and sewer pipes in the SPU district are old.

Public Health just published an illustrated article about how to handle the situation, which basically says to close the lid and flush.


--Diane Hettrick



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Remember the bunnies?

Monday, December 12, 2022

Bunny tracks photo by Eric Norberg

Eric Norberg was curious about these tracks in the snow. He walked beside them to provide the perspective of size 11 men's shoes and started asking questions.

The answer was that at least one of the hundreds of summer hares in the area has survived into the winter.

I found that the tracks belong to a hare. That pair of longish divots are the rear legs, and this particular bunny decided to keep its paws close to one another for the front.


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Bobcat by Grace Cole Nature Park

Saturday, November 26, 2022

Bobcat staring from the trees
Alicia Cheshier frequently walks her dog by Grace Cole Nature Park on 30th NE in Lake Forest Park. 

She has seen deer and coyotes and this was actually the second time she has seen this bobcat.

And it's a big one. 

She took a video, so these are screenshots from the video. 

Still wary, the bobcat stopped to assess the danger
The cat stopped in the greenery and looked at her and her dog Rex before setting foot on the driveway. 

It then stopped again to stare at them before trotting into the greenery on the other side.

We do have resident bobcats but they usually stay away from people and dogs.
Note the long legs and short tail

This one was seen about the same time as the cougar.

One of my neighbors had a bobcat on her deck one snowy year, before any of us knew they were around.

She wasn't sure what she was seeing and described it as a really big cat. There's no way that anyone would even consider this cat was anything but wild.

Photos from video by Alicia Cheshier

--Diane Hettrick



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Gloria's Critters: Raccoon pyramid

Tuesday, November 22, 2022

Photo by Gloria Z. Nagler
(On our deck the other day. Mom and two juveniles. No time to grab my "real" camera, so used my iPhone)

--Gloria Z. Nagler



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Bog Whisperer: Where's Waldo (otter)?

Sunday, November 20, 2022

 
Photo by Martin De Grazia

A random pile of old logs and brush at water's edge at Ronald Bog. But wait! Wild creatures are there, checking out the photographer. Can you find them both?

Ronald Bog park entrance is on N 175th St between Meridian and I-5.




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Wild Creatures: Cougar in Lake Forest Park

Thursday, November 17, 2022

Detail of photo by Janne Kaje, Lake Forest Park, 11/14/22
See previous story
By Josh Rosenau

Cougars are known for being great travelers. 

Typically, an adult female has a home range of about 60-100 square miles that she occupies on her own (with cubs), and a male’s home range will overlap those of 4-5 females. 

Fall is a time when it’s common to see younger cougars (18 months to 2 years old) disperse from their mom’s range and look for their own. 

Males typically travel much longer distances; one was recorded having traveled 2500 miles over the course of 2 years, from South Dakota to Connecticut! It’s hard to know for sure about this one without a closer look, but I’d guess that’s what we’re seeing here. It’s certainly possible that it was a more established older individual that was forced out of its home range by development or other factors. That’s far less common, though.

Typically, those younger dispersing males are just moving through, and are gone after a few days. They need to find an area with enough room (and not too many people, cars, roads, noisy dogs, etc.), plenty of deer, mating opportunities, and also no resident male to chase them away. That can be hard to find, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he stays for a little while if this seems like a place where he can feed on a deer and rest for a few days before traveling on, but I’d be shocked if it decided to stay here for good. 

Research by the state department of fish and wildlife here (and confirmed by research in other states) has shown that cougars try to avoid areas with people, even woodsy suburban areas like LFP. A wooded, wild creek greenway can work as a corridor for them to travel through, but is unlikely to offer enough room and seclusion for this cougar to make it a permanent home.

I’m not aware of any established cougars until you get out to areas like Maltby or other much less developed areas, so dispersal as far as our town would be rare. But because they are so good at dispersing, they can find themselves in odd places. 

One showed up in Discovery Park a few years back, and in LA, one has even crossed freeways and made Griffith Park its home! Their adaptability is a big reason why they managed to survive the forces that wiped out our wolf and grizzly bear populations historically. 

I’ve only been in LFP for a few years, and don’t recall any reported here in that time, but I would be surprised if one of these dispersing males hadn’t passed through every few years. Odds are, most of them went unnoticed, especially in the days before cell phones, doorbell cameras, and motion-activated trail cameras.

Coyotes and cougars have a tricky relationship. Cougars will kill and eat coyotes, but they far prefer to go after deer. Coyotes will sometimes drive cougars off of a deer carcass, stealing the cougar’s food. 

Coyotes or bobcats have been known to kill young cougars, but at this one’s size, that’s unlikely. Any of the three might try to chase the others away from food, but direct conflict beyond that would be rare for adults. We have a lot of deer, rabbits, raccoons, and other wildlife that are easier for those species to pursue, and which they evolved to focus on. 

For better or worse, I doubt this cougar would reduce anyone’s backyard coyote sightings!

Lake Forest Park resident Josh Rosenau is a Conservation Advocate, Region 1 for the Mountain Lion Foundation mountainlion.org
916-442-2666 ext. 107
Twitter: @MtnLionFnd
FB: MountainLionFoundation
IG: mountainlionfoundation


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Cougar in Lake Forest Park

Wednesday, November 16, 2022

Photo by Janne Kaje, Lake Forest Park, 11/14/22

Lake Forest Park residents are used to wild creatures in deeply wooded backyards, but this one was clearly out of the ordinary, so Janne Kaje grabbed his phone for a photo.

Based on the reference objects in the photo, he estimates it was about 4-5 feet long head to tail.

He had a clear view and said it was not a bobcat.

This is the first time I have heard about cougars in our area. This one may have been passing through.

Kaje has so many coyotes on his property near McAleer Creek that he set up a trail cam and a YouTube channel "The Real Coyotes of Lake Forest Park"

--Diane Hettrick






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Gloria's Critters: Ramona likes to stay in synch with her mom... don't we all?

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Photo copyright Gloria Z. Nagler

Ruby and her little one stopped by our yard the other day. --Gloria Z. Nagler




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Bog Whisperer: No problem with seasonal affective disorder - just the occasional human

Monday, November 7, 2022

Photo by Martin DeGrazia
For once, this guy doesn't seem happy to pose for the camera. Otherwise he has no problems - at least not time changes, increasing darkness, and certainly not seasonal affective disorder.



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Bog Whisperer: It's a great day for a swim

Sunday, November 6, 2022

 
Photo by Martin DeGrazia

You might think it's cold outside and that the water is cold. Martin DeGrazia's otter buddies relish this weather and went out for a swim in their home at Ronald Bog.



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Gloria's Critters: Somnambulant Squirrel...

Photo copyright Gloria Z. Nagler

(First Gray Squirrel -- or any squirrel -- I've seen sleeping! Photog was delighted when she remained asleep long enough for a shot!)

--Gloria Z. Nagler



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How to protect your children and pets from poisons meant for rats and mice

Tuesday, November 1, 2022

Squirrel and rat eating birdseed dropped from a bird feeder. Photo by Tom Bewley

Written by Karley Johnson, Environmental Health
on Public Health Insider blog 

Wild rats and mice living too close to humans threaten our health. They can contaminate food, spread disease, damage property, and cause electrical fires. It makes good sense to keep rodents away from our homes. However, there are safe – and less safe ways – to get rid of them.

Many people’s first instinct is to use rodenticides – also known as rat or mouse bait – to poison the intruders. Unfortunately, misuse and overuse of these poisons are common and can harm children and pets.

Rodenticides are a major risk to children and pets

U.S. poison control centers receive over 10,000 calls every year about children eating rodent poison. Most of these calls are for children under three years old.

Additionally, the Environmental Protection Agency reports that “if a child under six goes to the hospital for pesticide poisoning, it’s likely it was related to rat poison. Rat poison is the leading cause of pesticide-related visits to health care facilities in children under the age of six years. They are the second leading cause of pesticide-related hospitalization.” Pets are also frequently poisoned by rodenticides.

Safer and more effective strategies

To reduce the need for rodent poison and keep rodents out of your home long term, use the Seal Up, Trap Up, Clean Up method:
  • Seal Up: stop rodents from entering your home – check inside and outside for gaps or holes and seal any holes you find. Check for small and large holes – mice can fit through a hole the width of a pencil (1/4 in or 6 mm in diameter).
  • Trap Up: trap rodents around the home to help reduce the rodent population.
  • Clean Up: If you have mice or rats in or around your home or vehicle, clean up all urine, droppings, dead rodents, and nesting materials safely. One of our past blogs (this webpage is in English only) has more information about how to stay safe while cleaning areas with rodents.



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Young otters at Ronald Bog

Wednesday, September 28, 2022

 
Photo by Martin DeGrazia

Photo by Martin DeGrazia

A couple of young otters were out at Ronald Bog Tuesday morning. Mom may have been nearby but she wasn't showing herself.

--Martin DeGrazia


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Adventures of an Icebreaker: The Healy is in the Arctic with the polar bears

Monday, August 29, 2022

Healy crew members gather to see the polar bear

Icebreaker Healy crew members were treated to the sighting of Ursus maritimus, a polar bear, on Saturday, August 20, 2022. 

The polar bear was located a couple thousand yards off the port side of the ship and stayed there long enough for the crew to observe or take a long-distance photo.


U.S. Coast Guard photos by Chief Warrant Officer Christopher Seevers, Petty Officer First Class Michael Underwood, and Deborah Heldt Cordone, Auxiliary Public Affairs Specialist 1. Courtesy photo provided by Lee Freitag, Principal Engineer onboard for Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.



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Gloria's Critters: The Mother and Child Reunion

Thursday, August 11, 2022

Photo copyright Gloria Nagler

 (Well, okay, Ruby and her baby were apart for only a minute or two; but, hey, they're Paul Simon fans, too:)

--Gloria Z. Nagler



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Bambi lives in Lake Forest Park

Monday, August 8, 2022

Photo by Colleen Weum

Bambi seen sauntering through Lake Forest Park the other day. Mom was just a few feet away.

--Colleen Weum



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Gloria's Critters: Down here, Mama! I'm down here!

Sunday, July 31, 2022

 
Photo by Gloria Nagler

(Baby ultimately gave up and clambered back down to the deck floor, with Mama following shortly thereafter)

--Gloria Z. Nagler




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