60 posts at once!!!!!

VtSkier wrote:
ant wrote:

ant wrote:

http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/con...r/opossum.html



In fact, looking at more of those pix, that thing looks more like a
tasmanian devil, with those teeth and that face. Looks quite savage.
Our possums are dopey. One tried to climb my leg once.

ant


I once had a beagle climb my leg. I don't think it
was the same. Seems he thought my leg was a female
beagle.

Beagles are dopey too.

VtSkier wrote:
ant wrote:
ant wrote:

http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/con...r/opossum.html


In fact, looking at more of those pix, that thing looks more like a
tasmanian devil, with those teeth and that face. Looks quite savage.
Our possums are dopey. One tried to climb my leg once.

ant

I once had a beagle climb my leg. I don't think it
was the same. Seems he thought my leg was a female
beagle.

This possum thought my leg was a tree. he was unhappy with the sunlight and
was dopey. He's spent the night struggling around in the bamboo, we had to
cut some of it to get him out. Hopeless.

ant

The Real Bev wrote:

Hawks hibernate? Migrate? I see hawks sometimes, but it doesn't
seem to be a seasonal thing here in the big city.

Mine do?

Next, the owl will start
it's serenade each night. And the coyotes will be back to pulling
pranks. *******s. Oh.... and the moose... give 'em a month.

Is there a new mooselet every year?

Usually a couple, I've been here long enough now that I see the
young'uns growin up and having their own,

-klaus

Ted Waldron wrote:

Depends on the species. Bird Spotting and identifying via the Usenet
is a perilious risk, I am probably wrong, but this is my guess of the
type of hawk that Klaus is speaking to is this one.

thttp://www.hawkwatch.org/FactSheets/RTfact.htm

Nope. Not the ones that have been hanging here for the last two
years. We have redtails, but I think these are goshawks,

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/s...k/goshawk.html
http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i3340id.html

They've been great. They were knocking mountain bikers off their
bikes in front of my house. The male is very aggressive. They leave me
alone for some reason as soon as they see me. They'll dive, but back
off when they see it's me. My friends aren't as lucky and have been
attacked. Some quit coming up.

Yes, hawks do migrate. They migrate in pairs, and like to use
ridgelines for the updrafts on their seasonal journey. They are
probably looking for a "Lapin a la Tartare". Perhaps they are nesting as
well. It is that time of year for this species.

They had a nest about 100 feet from the house last year. They'd be
there every morning, leave to hunt for the day, and then they'd return
at night. I could hear them each evening, the first one calling to the
other when it got back.

There is a Moose rut, and one of the most dangerous, sociopathic
animals is a male moose during rutting season. A ton of a horny crazed
monster with antlers at charging at anything that looks like a threat
for its quest at a booty call.

That would be September/early October, and the only time I carry a gun
hiking. They either want to **** you or kill you. Neither option is
very enjoyable.

moose (cow) with her newborn. I think I read that female Mooses kill
more people in Canada than Grizzlies. However I don't have my facts at
hand, so I stand corrected.

I'd believe that. I watched a mom attack a Ford F250 when the idiot
driving pulled between mom and calf.

-klaus

tm wrote:
Oh you think you are so special.
I got on a subway train this morning with 7 million other people. We
packed in there so tightly I could count the follicles on the guy in
front of me's head.

I've done that in Tokyo. Damn is that fun. There's nuthin' like
commuting by train in Tokyo. BUt they quit running at like 1 AM, And
the bands in the bars start at about 11:30.. so you're stuck in a coffee
shop drinking 4 dollar no refill coffee til the trains start running
again in the morning. That's livin' alright. There is something to be
said for Bob Marley in Japanese though.

-klaus

lal_truckee wrote:

Wah! We got wildlife too! Well, we used too - the dogs killed a possum
the other day.

You got dogs? Not many around here. 'Cept the avy dogs.

The bear is back, but the pickings are slim - most neighbors got
bear-proof garbage enclosures in the last few years (I didn't - I just
sneak over and put my garbage in their enclosures) so she won't hang
around long.

No bear here, but I hear the mountain lion is hanging across the
canyon. Cats are turning up .. well. not turning up.

The coyote pack is roaming but seems pretty tame these days
- must be getting used to civilization; and everyone feeds their dogs
indoors now, so they're going to move off soon for better pickings, too.

We've got one asshole. Way aggresive. The rest a pretty tame. They
clean up the parking lot at the resort right after closing. The
conservatives are claiming they're taking jobs from "real" emericuns.

-klaus

ant wrote:

ant wrote:
http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/con...r/opossum.html

In fact, looking at more of those pix, that thing looks more like a
tasmanian devil, with those teeth and that face. Looks quite savage. Our
possums are dopey. One tried to climb my leg once.

Vicious-looking and stupid. They really do play possum. One stuck his head
into a shrub, believing he was invisible. I got a flashlight from the house
so I could inspect the disgusting thing, and he never moved. Somebody a few
years back shot one with an arrow, and it lived for days/weeks afterward
causing a great number of Letters to the Editor and hellraising from local
PETA aficionados. I think the shooter eventually got jail time. I think he
should have got a medal.

Mostly I see them as road kill. A definite improvement.

--
Cheers, Bev
================================================== =
Red ship crashes into blue ship - sailors marooned.

The Real Bev wrote:
ant wrote:

lal_truckee wrote:


Wah! We got wildlife too! Well, we used too - the dogs killed a possum
the other day.

Did we ever establish if US possums are the same as Australian possums? We
exported them to NZ, so now i'm wondering.


http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/con...r/opossum.html
http://www.aaanimalcontrol.com/opossumgallery.htm

Those look like the local nasties. Kill them all.

Possums aren't evil; they're cute. Look a little like giant rats, with
that nekid tail and all.

Decades ago when we had cats we also had a possum. We'd feed the cats in
a line of food bowls out back with an extra bowl for the possum. And
they'd all line up, cats and possum together, at the bank of food bowls.
Quite the sight - a much of devolved Egyptian rat chasers and a giant
rat, all eating friendly like...

The Real Bev wrote:

Vicious-looking and stupid. They really do play possum.

Yeah - the first time the dogs got a possum, the thing played dead - all
covered in blood and demised looking - brought the dogs inside and went
back out to dispose of the body, but the body had walked away.

This time I figured I was on safe ground - guts all hanging out are a
fair to middlin sign for demisedness. So I buried the deceased possum,
playing or not.

lal_truckee wrote:

Decades ago when we had cats we also had a possum. We'd feed the cats
in a line of food bowls out back with an extra bowl for the possum.
And they'd all line up, cats and possum together, at the bank of food
bowls. Quite the sight - a much of devolved Egyptian rat chasers and
a giant rat, all eating friendly like...

Yeah, nowadays any resident or itinerant possums get fed. The feral cats
turn up and sit on the verandah roof making pitiful starving cat noises. My
mother has to climb a tree with food bowls for them. One time the possum
made a flying leap at her (and the food) and she fell out of the tree.
Seems the possums don't have very good eyesight...evidently it knew there
was food there, and it wanted it.

ant