Comments on: Industrial Park Wildlife

By: Alan

Alan — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:30:15 +0000

Approximately 10 years ago, an environmental impact statement had to be written to determine if a new bridge across the Mississippi River in Sartell,MN would disrupt the sandhill crane rookery that was present on an island midway across the river that the bridge would span. Much hand wringing occurred due to the protected sandhill crane breeding grounds that possibly would be impacted. The bridge was built and the crane population has continued to increase despite thousands of vehicles passing by the rookery within a couple hundred yards of the rookery each day…animals adapt and are much less bothered by humans than the other way around!

By: Alan K. Henderson

Alan K. Henderson — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 08:45:40 +0000

Back in 2005 Rush Limbaugh noted the spotted owl’s ability to adapt to human retail chain proliferation. The original is available to subscribers only by this time, but I blogged this excerpt:

“Well, lo and behold, they tagged a bunch of them and they found a couple of them living in a Kmart sign, the red K in a Kmart sign. Spotted owl! And the Kmart sign, I hate to tell you, is not a tree. I don’t know if you can find any Kmart signs anymore, or as many, but these two spotted owls found them.”

http://alankhenderson.blogspot.com/2005_04_01_archive.html#111418378196031174

Their ability to adapt to Walmart has yet to be documented.

By: Dan from Madison

Dan from Madison — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:21:43 +0000

Mike Doughty – bum link, try again.

By: Dan from Madison

Dan from Madison — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:21:08 +0000

Michael Kennedy – securing waste and garbage is the first thing that is needed to keep the nasties such as raccoons, coyotes, feral cats, opossums, etc. away from any property. I was appalled to see that bus driver in the photo above feeding those wild animals. Terrible stuff, conditioning them like that and nothing of good ever comes of it.

By: Michael Kennedy

Michael Kennedy — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:43:37 +0000

I was at my son’s wedding in Berkley over Labor Day and stayed at the Berkley Marina hotel (Can’t recall the brand). My youngest daughter (19) and I were taking a walk about midnight before going to bed. We walked out the front of the hotel beneath the Porte Cochere and there was a trash barrel sitting by one of the pillars. It had one of those tops with a smaller hole for the trash. As we walked up to it, a raccoon came boiling out the hole and took off. Then another one, and another one and another. There were four raccoons, all pretty good size, inside that barrel which was smaller than the typical garbage can. They looked like clowns getting out of a tiny car at the circus.

By: Mike Doughty

Mike Doughty — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:05:48 +0000

Dan, I think your hawk is a sharp-shinned hawk….they only get about 14″ and are fairly common.

http://www.fcps.edu/…/ecology/sharp-shinnedhawk.htm

By: Dan from Madison

Dan from Madison — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:10:09 +0000

The Meatriarchy: Thanks, I learn something new every day! The ones at my farm property are definitely red tails and are much larger than this one so I am glad to hear that other species are flourishing around here.

By: The Meatriarchy

The Meatriarchy — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:52:50 +0000

All birds are pretty much fully grown once they fledge from the nest. They don’t triple in size over the course of a year or anything like that.

If this bird is demonstrably smaller (by a factor of three as you suggest) from the red tails at your farm it could be a Broadwinged Hawk or possible an immature Cooper’s Hawk. Hard to tell from the picture.

By: Dan from Madison

Dan from Madison — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:02:24 +0000

Great photo although I have a feeling that the bus driver is feeding those filthy creatures.

By: D Kennedy

D Kennedy — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:45:31 +0000

http://laughingsquid.com/raccoons-line-up-to-ride-san-francisco-muni-bus/

By: Carl from Chicago

Carl from Chicago — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:59:31 +0000

I love that hawk picture on your hummer. Also your wife must have been pretty quick to snap that fox, they move fast and are pretty crafty. I never can seem to get my camera out quick enough to get those types of good shots.

By: Brian Dunbar

Brian Dunbar — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:41:55 +0000

We regularly see deer, all kinds of birds, rabbits and fox at the office.

Last year I was taking a mental health break in the parking lot, strolling back and forth. A squirrel broke cover, just about ran over my feet, hurled itself at a tree and sprinted up the trunk. On it’s heels was a fox.

B’rer Fox didn’t see me until he was within touching distance. He slammed on the brakes. Looked me in the eye. Warily turned and trotted back into the brush.