nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio
List archive
- From: BekeeprTop@aol.com
- To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
- Subject: [NAFEX] Disappointment with resurgent predators
- Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2007 17:33:59 EST
When I first planted nuts to grow nut trees, in 1982, I went to the extension
service and asked them which predators went after squirrels. [This was back
when each Massachusetts County had an extension service] The answer was:
pine martens, fishers, and red-tailed hawks. The only one we had then was
the
red-tailed, but they didn't seem to make much dent on the squirrels. The
fishers had returned here, no doubt: they've been photographed on
automatic-photographing trail equipment, and last year I saw a road-killed
one driving one
day, and stopped to look it over since I'd never seen one. I could see why
they're sometimes called "fisher-cats", as their appearance is vaguely
cat-like,
but their bodies are much slimmed in the middle making real cats look very
heavy-bodied by comparison. But they have lots of black hair and long
barracuda-like teeth. Someone who's seen them in motion says they're very
fast up in the
trees, they actually go up in the trees and take the squirrels from there.
So the big question is, when are these resurgent predators going to start
making an apparant difference in our everyday lives? There sure are a lot of
squirrels...lord knows what the squirrels eat to get by...the squirrels take
any
pecan or hickory before the nut inside can every begin to fill out, so how
are
the squirrels taking advantage of the food offered by the nut tree? I went
for a walk in the dead of night the other night, went to a nearby hill for a
little run, and got to thinking, in 10-years, this will no longer be
possible. I
will not be able to go running in the woods in 10-years. The mountain lions
will have returned by then. Where the mountain lions are, no bike riding or
running is advised, fast motion stimulates any type cats to run down the fast
moving object. I went to a lecture sponsored by 5 different mountain lion
watch and conservation organizations. After an absence of many decades,
mountain
lions have returned to Missouri. Mountain lions have returned to Missouri
because their prey, the deer, have returned to Missouri. In the east, deer
double each 10 years. Already, we have had multiple unverified sitings of
mountain lion less than 10 miles from Boston! In Missouri, the sitings have
been
verified. Its just a question of time. However, the fishers and coyotes
here
have returned in force, and I can't see they've yet changed our environmental
conditions dramatically. Do you see any substantial difference?
Charlie Paradise, prob. will be first in Massachusetts to be attacked by
mountain lion
-
[NAFEX] Disappointment with resurgent predators,
BekeeprTop, 02/16/2007
-
Re: [NAFEX] Disappointment with resurgent predators,
dwoodard, 02/17/2007
-
Re: [NAFEX] Disappointment with resurgent predators,
Judson Frisk, 02/17/2007
- Re: [NAFEX] Disappointment with resurgent predators, Naomi, 02/17/2007
- Re: [NAFEX] Disappointment with resurgent predators, Donna &/or Kieran, 02/17/2007
-
Re: [NAFEX] Disappointment with resurgent predators,
Judson Frisk, 02/17/2007
- Re: [NAFEX] Disappointment with resurgent predators, list, 02/17/2007
-
Re: [NAFEX] Disappointment with resurgent predators,
dwoodard, 02/17/2007
Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.