wildlife on and off the trail!

[jim miller]

hey folks, happy new year!

i was at work today [i work on a 750acre golf coarse in jackson] i saw 32 turkeys, an unmentionable amount of fuzzy tails, 3 coyote, 6 deer and my boss. my boss being the scariest!

however it got me to thinking of the great out of doors and all the wildlife i get to see. as mentioned in another post i was 90feet from a bear and 3 cubs the weekend after thanksgiving. followed up by a bobcat, grouse, pheasent, crows fuzzy tails, and a few mice. top it off with a few brook trout and i am one happy outdoorsmen. [ just so everyone knows all are alive and well, minus a few squirrels...sorry] anyways there is nothing like seeing animals in the wild, it always makes my day.

about 18years ago i had a 300lb black bear walk along side of me [about 35 feet] for about a mile along the delaware, it new i was there, and i for sure new it was there, however we just walked and walked and walked til we came to a ravine and it went up and i just stared at it till i couldnt see it no more. from that point on i have had such a connection with the woods.

so this past year, i have seen my fair share of wildlife, what have you seen.

 

RUNT

[njHiking.com]

2011 was the year of the snake for us... we probably spotted more this year than total of all other years combined. For awhile we saw at least 1 or 2 on every hike. There was one at Jenny Jump that was 6'+... very cool to see. Other than that, mostly deer and hawks. Haven't seen bear for a couple years now.

Dawn

[Linda Frank]

We've come across bears about four times so far.  There would have been a definite fifth time had we just turned around.  We'd just finished a section at Jenny Jump when three young men also finished about ten minutes after us.  We hadn't even been aware that they were behind us while we hiked.  One young man said, "Did you see the bears?" 

"Uh, no". 

"Oh, no kidding", the fellow said rather surprised we hadn't.  "Gee, they were slightly off the trail and behind you guys for about 1/4 of a mile at least.  We were behind them and figured you knew they were there that's why you didn't turn around.  We thought about shouting out to warn you in case you didn't know they were there, but didn't want to risk startling them or you guys. Figured we'd all just keep walking till we got to this parking lot when they veered off into the woods."

I guess they weren't as anxious to use the porta-john at the lot as we all were. :)

Mostly, though, we've seen lots of deer, squirrels & chipmunks, naturally.  Not as many different birds as we would have hoped except for ducks, geese, a few egrets and herons & one fox that at first we thought was a small, lost dog.  We suspected it's 'raggedy' look was because he was losing his winter coat. 

Linda

[Daniela Wagstaff]

Saw my first ever bald eagle today in the Palisades at Hook Mountain State Park, NY.  I either saw 4 different eagles or the same eagle 4 different times.  Actually, I know there were at least two because one flew away just before I got this picture. 

[njHiking.com]

Linda - We seldom see foxes and they always flit away before getting a photo, it's so nice he posed for you.

Daniela - Bald eagles.... nice! The first time we ever saw one was at Belleplain S.F. and they are so cool to spot, we've only seen a couple since and that was in Yellowstone. Kinda crazy the amount of wildlife we do have in the tri-state area.

I thought I'd share a couple "off-trail" photos from the "wilds" of central Jersey... our tiny backyard attracts some pretty nice birds on occasion:

This hawk sat on our deck for a full 45 mins, casually snacking on a chipmunk (gross and fascinating at the same time):

And I stumbled on this hawk hanging out under a bush, eating another bird:

[jim miller]

linda...thats a coyote pup!

we got a bunch at the golf coarse here in jackson, 5+ different ones that i have seen, and a very large black bear.

Linda Frank said:

We've come across bears about four times so far.  There would have been a definite fifth time had we just turned around.  We'd just finished a section at Jenny Jump when three young men also finished about ten minutes after us.  We hadn't even been aware that they were behind us while we hiked.  One young man said, "Did you see the bears?" 

"Uh, no". 

"Oh, no kidding", the fellow said rather surprised we hadn't.  "Gee, they were slightly off the trail and behind you guys for about 1/4 of a mile at least.  We were behind them and figured you knew they were there that's why you didn't turn around.  We thought about shouting out to warn you in case you didn't know they were there, but didn't want to risk startling them or you guys. Figured we'd all just keep walking till we got to this parking lot when they veered off into the woods."

I guess they weren't as anxious to use the porta-john at the lot as we all were. :)

Mostly, though, we've seen lots of deer, squirrels & chipmunks, naturally.  Not as many different birds as we would have hoped except for ducks, geese, a few egrets and herons & one fox that at first we thought was a small, lost dog.  We suspected it's 'raggedy' look was because he was losing his winter coat. 

Linda

[Linda Frank]

No, kidding, Jim!  Wow!  That'd explain why we couldn't help initially thinking it was a small dog. I've seen foxes before quite a few times and (in truth) wasn't 100% convinced this was one because the face/snout looked so different as did its tail.  But we never considered a coyote so just assumed it was a fox because we couldn't think of anything else that it might be.  Thanks again for the clarification.  I appreciate it.

Linda

[jim miller]

now you can add that to your wildlife list! lol

i just watched a natgeo show on the only confirmed death of a adult human by coyotes in noth america. she was a avid hiker and a up and coming singer in the canadian folk song genra.

i learned allot about the eastern coyote, the eastern coyote is around 10% timber wolf, there are speculations as to how this happened, cross breading from wolves taking coyotes in ther pack, ect

so the eastern coyote is smarter and larger then the western coyote, they also have adopted a pack like family unlike the western individual nomad life. one alone is of no threat to humans, however a pack of them can be of a concern.

check the tv guide and try to catch it, was a good show and alot of stuff you would never know, like the suburbs of chicago are infested with them.

 

RUNT