good news on the nature front…

by | Dec 16, 2010 | Journal | 28 comments


The return of wolves to the wild has made a few homeowners uneasy: a few people checking mailboxes in remote areas have gotten a surprise, and a certain neighborhood had a catfit when it found wolf tracks around the school bus stop —but hey, you hack a hole in the woods and build a house in it and you just may see wildlife, and you may have to take precautions: if you want to send your kids to the bus stop, it might be good to go out there yourself and be sure they’re safe. This is the city where you get visiting moose on the golf course and swimming pools, and bears investigating the garbage in the hospital district. Marmots and coyotes on city streets, yep, we gots ’em. Cougar—not since I’ve lived here, but it’s happened.

Now it’s wolverines. Those fellows are certifiable if surprised—they’re sort of the North American version of the Tasmanian Devil, only larger, so I’d be real cautious going out to the woodpile in the dark without advertising my presence. But I’m happy to see another species pop up in its old range. You start putting the pieces back in a disturbed nature, and all sorts of critters may like it. I remember when the egrets came back to Oklahoma City: and kept coming; and kept coming. Now they have egret mitigation in certain places—they tried it on the lake I lived on—but I voted for the egrets, and so did the majority of the residents.

28 Comments

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  1. philospher77
    philospher77 on December 18, 2010 at 5:52 pm

    The most recent new additions to my yard are a flock of California quail and a very small, pencil-sized snake I disturbed when trimming some grass that had gotten too thick close to a wall. I get to hear the local coyotes quite often. I always think they sound like mad laughter. Evil scientists could learn much from them!

    The weather has turned rainy here. Looks like it will be the end of the week before there is good sunny weather again. Since neither Katie nor I like walking in the rain, I am trying to keep her stimulated by playing “101 things to do with a box” with her. For anyone who has pets (dogs, cats, birds, doesn’t really matter what), you might want to try it. It’s intended to teach the owner and the pet the basic idea of clicker training, which is that the pet offers up a behavior and gets reinforced for it. You put a box on the floor, and reinforce the pet when it does anything with the box (looking at it, nosing it, pawing it, walking by/around it, etc.) This is very frustrating for a traditionally trained pet (and trainer!) because the pet will look to you for guidance, or you may want to lure/encourage it do something in specific. But once they get the idea, it’s fun to see the wheels turning in their mind. “If I do THIS, will she click and give me cheese?” It’s really a lot of fun, and good to do with pets during the cold dark wet weather when you don’t want to go out.

    Here’s a website that explains it better, with video! http://www.teachingdogobedience.com/2010/07/101-things-to-do-with-box.html

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