North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Chris Garriss <cgarriss@garriss.net>]

Probably not reproducible, but we have feral cats (and coyotes) here.  I've
watched the cats stalk, kill and eat the squirrels.  It's like watching
lions stalk gnu.  They will stalk from over 50 feet away.  The first time I
saw one of the cats stalking I was sure the squirrel would either escape,
tear the cat up or both.  Instead I watched the squirrel belly crawl about
30 feet, stopping whenever the squirrel looked up.  From about 10 feet away
the cat tensed up, the next time the squirrel looked down the cat rushed.
They rolled over one time, the cat got up and carried a limp squirrel off
for lunch.  We also have quite a few hawks and owls in the area.  The birds
and cats seem to get far more squirrels than do the coyotes.  The coyotes
are more rabbit "specialists".

There is a breeding (small) population of bald eagles in the area, but I've
never seen them with a squirrel.  For us the opossums are a far larger
problem.  Too  big for the cats, and while I can occasionally hear as many
as 6 owls calling, they don't seem to dent the 'possum population.

(It is kind of eerie to go out late at night and hear owls all around you -
even spooks my 90# Chesapeake Bay Retriever)
Chris
On Nov 26, 2013 10:23 PM, "Road's End Farm" <organic87@frontiernet.net>
wrote:

>
> On Nov 26, 2013, at 9:25 PM, Spidra Webster wrote:
>
> > I have an acquaintance who has a dachshund that has turned out to be a
> prodigious squirrel hunter.
>
> Does he climb trees?
>
> I have never had a dog who could catch any significant amount of
> squirrels, though not for lack of trying; the squirrels here learn very
> quickly to stay out of a dog's reach, either in the trees or up the sides
> of buildings.
>
> Even the cats can't catch them, because the squirrels weigh less and can
> go further out on the branches than the cats can.
>
>
> -- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 6A now I think
>                 (although weather has (probably briefly) reverted to
> twenty years ago right now)
> Fresh-market organic produce, small scale
>
>
>
>
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