Interesting wildlife morning

[Disgirl]

I think most discus hobbyists also enjoy other critters? I sure do! Thought you might like to hear about my morning. It poured rain last night, over 3" and we really needed it. First, I found a beautiful female box turtle in one of my flower beds so I put her in the fenced in yard out back to make friends with my male turtle who lives there next to my Koi pond, in the bushes. It is breeding season for them here. It is also breeding season for the eastern brown toads (2-4" ) and nothing like a warm rain to get them in the mood. I netted 19 mating toads out of my Koi pond, most making eggs as I did it. One male was a loner with no mate. The koi won't eat the eggs and I didn't want millions of tadpoles in my pond with my 10 large koi. So I took them in a big bucket up the road and let them go into a large creek to continue their lives. Then I checked on a wren nest with 5 eggs in it that a wren had made in a container I had left in the yard. It had flooded and the nest was sitting in water with the 5 eggs half covered . Glad they had not hatched. On my way home from the toad release I had a doe with her 2 tiny fawns run across the road in front of me. All this has happened in the past 4 hrs. Wonder what the rest of the day will be like?? Any of you have critter tales?
Barbara :)

[Roxanne]

where are you living Barb? Paradise:angel:? that's a whole bunch of Sir David Attenborough moments rolled into 4 hours....

I always get a kick out of the blue tongue lizards that seem to live unnoticed in our Urban Sprawl, I had one living in my back yard and every summer they come out to feed..I used to feed him leg ham and watermelon because he had an injury on his mouth and he couldn't catch or pick up his food very easily...I should go dig out a pic of him coming up the back step for his watermelon...

Rox:)

[poconogal]

I have lots of critter tales Barbara! We came over a hill last night and found a doe and a tiny spotty standing in the middle of the road, for which we had to slam on the brakes. My husband was walking our property and what came up from the other direction? A black bear mama and her 2 cubs. He made a left and kept running! He called me from his cell, and he said it was just in case it was his last call, LOL!!! We have some caves further back on our property and the bears den in them. We've got a bunch of bunnies living under our shed and they drive our Dobes nuts. When the dogs aren't out there, we see them playing tag in the grass. My husband stopped to pick up a good sized turtle out of the road and took him/her? to a stream on our property so he wouldn't get run over. We've got a pack of coyotes roaming thru the woods at times and we'll hear them barking and yipping, but its not great to hear them when they catch something for dinner, its scary sounding! Oh, my husband just the other day was walking out back and he saw a little red fox pup. The little guy was just standing there, looking at him, and didn't try to run, just watched. Wish I'd have gotten to see that, he must have been adorable. Well, I could go on and on with the critter stories, but I'm tired of typing! :D

[Roxanne]

... My husband was walking our property and what came up from the other direction? A black bear mama and her 2 cubs. He made a left and kept running! He called me from his cell, and he said it was just in case it was his last call, LOL!!! We have some caves further back on our property and the bears den in them. ...

:shocked2::scared::D...that's funny and scary at the same time...

can anybody top the bear story?...I don't think so...:D...maybe an Aussie escaping from the jaws of a croc might come close....

Rox

[poconogal]

I can either top or at least equal that bear story, Rox, LOL!!! I happened to go out on our deck one evening and what do I see? A juvenile black bear had attacked and vanquished our Rubbermaid trash container. I was pissed, too, because it was brand new and expensive! He was eating some leftover chicken that was in there. I walked to the end of the deck, which had a small flight of steps down to the ground, 6 steps to be exact, and just stood quietly watching the bear. He did look around over his shoulder at me, saw that I was just standing there, and continued eating. Oh, BTW, I did leave my sliding door open and was prepared to run like mad back into the house if he made even one move. But no, he just continued munching about 12 feet away from me. Another time I was out on the side of the house with our white German Sheperd, Wolf. Wolf ran around to the back of the house and I heard him barking. I walked around to the back of the house and saw Wolf running off a bear. From what I could tell, the bear was walking in the direction of the side of the house, headed for where I was, and Wolf headed him off. I yelled at Wolf "get inside Wolf, that's a bear, are you crazy?" Like he understood me! LOL!!!

Other times at night we go into our hot tub and watch the bats flying around. How's that? None of them have turned into Dracula yet, though.

[MSD]

I prefer to enjoy nature on the Discovery channel in HD. While we do have plenty of deer and wildlife on Long Island, I am in an area thats been too built up by now. Bears? I saw enough of Timothy Treadwell, and Amie Huguenard to ever venture near them. We go to the Poconos every year for vacation, although Brookdale, the hotel we went to, closed. But it is very beautiful up there and I have spent a lot of time photographing landscapes and wildlife up there.

[Disgirl]

Good stories Rox, Connie and MSD. Thanks for them! I know we have black bears in our area too but have only seen one footprint of one in the mud near our house. That was enough! Rox, we live just 30 mi. inland from the Atlantic Ocean in the state of North Carolina. LOTS of wildlife here. I haven't even told you all my snake stories yet...
Barbara :)

[Eddie]

Sounds like Bambi part III. :D

Take care Barb,

Eddie

[calihawker]

OK Connie, you said rubbermaid and bear in the same post so I have to tell this story.

A few years ago we had a rubbermaid container disappear. We used it to hold dog food. Well, my wife asked me what I did with the rubbermaid container. I said I didn't do anything with the rubbermaid container. For WEEKS she kept on me about this d@M^ rubbermaid container and what the h##l I had done with it!:flame:

OK so she's at a party with her girfriends and she was bit@&ing about me and this d@m^ rubbermaid container and one of her girlfriends started laughing at her and told her she had a bear.:D My wife didn't believe that a bear could pick up and carry this rubbermaid container off so her friend told her the story of how one night she heard a disturbance out on her deck and saw a bear with a 50lb sack of dog food, slung over it's shoulder and was walking down a half flight of stairs upright with one paw on the rail.:shocked:

We found the d@m^ rubbermaid container a few months later up the hill from our house in perfect condition.:)

[Scribbles]

I thankfully live in an area that is still full of wildlife despite the huge human population growth. We have black bear, cougar, bobcat, deer and the usual raccoons, opposums etc. Several years ago I took a part-time job at the local Micky D due to some huge vet bills for my German Shepherd/Great Dane mix. Almost every morning as the sun came up I would watch the deer browsing next to the drive thru lane. Sometimes I had to shoo them out of the lane for fear that they would get hit. Or maybe they just wanted some salads to go. LOL Once when I was teaching ( horseback riding) my trusty retired been there done that not afraid of anything show hunter wouldn't go down to the end of the ring and was in fact trying to climb into my lap. I found out the next day that a cougar had killed and partially eaten the neighbors old dog and the wildlife agent thought that it might have been hiding under the trailer at the end of the arena. Luckily big horses are not on their regular diet and my old pony was always stabled when no one was watching her. When we lived in a small town on the WA coast I was almost run over by a bull elk. Oh and last year I almost walked into a doe grazing at the side of the road. Guess I should look where I'm going. LOL

Chris

[Chad Hughes]

Barb,

Your area of the country sounds fantastic! I'm looking forward to visiting this week! See you soon!

Best wishes!

[Disgirl]

It will be fun to have a fellow SD friend and hobbyist visit!
Barbara:)

[Roxanne]

.. Rox, .. I haven't even told you all my snake stories yet...
Barbara :)

please do...I'm one of those weirdos that likes snakes and spiders but screams and jumps up onto the nearest high object/human if a cockroach surprises me...go figure...:D

There was loads of snakes where I grew up in the outback, though I managed to go shoeless most of the time I never got bitten by one... I ran over one on my push bike once cos I thought it was a tree branch....my dad used to find them under the seat of his back hoe...he chopped off the head of a dugite and brought it home to show us and my mother went crazy lolol..

...I really like handling the Diamond Pythons (AKA Childrens Python) at a Wildlife Sanctuary nearby...they are really heavy... they very rarely bite but we don't want to go irritating the wildlife do we?

Rox:)

[Disgirl]

Well, I have a koi pond right outside the door of our living room. One morning a few years ago I looked and saw a large brown snake lying draped over the rocks around the pond. I went outside to have a closer look and it went right into the water. It was about 4-5 feet long. I saw it swimming around in the water, and could not catch it in my large net. It kept getting out of the pond and going into the surrounding bushes. Then back into the water. After two days of chasing it with the net I managed to finally get it and release it into the same creek I took those toads to. It had eaten a large fancy goldfish by now. When I got home from releasing it I took a look into the pond to see if the fish had calmed down and there was another snake, even longer, in the water this time! It took a lot of work and had to call some help in and in the end it was shot with a BB gun in order to capture it. But it lived and I let it go to. These were brown water snakes and though not venomous they can give a nasty bite and one of the two had actually grabbed ahold of a 12" koi and tried to flip it out of the water to eat it. I saved the fish. I am always on the lookout for water snakes in my pond.

I also have a small goldfish and water plant pond. I recently cleaned it all out, and when I went to net out the 20 or so small goldfish there were only 5 left. When I got to the bottom of the pond I found a huge bullfrog hiding there amongst the muck. He was at least 6" while sitting. I let him go too. Oh well, I do enjoy all the wildlife we have even if some of them eat my fish and plants.
Barbara:D

[shawnhu]

Well, I have a koi pond right outside the door of our living room. One morning a few years ago I looked and saw a large brown snake lying draped over the rocks around the pond. I went outside to have a closer look and it went right into the water. It was about 4-5 feet long. I saw it swimming around in the water, and could not catch it in my large net. It kept getting out of the pond and going into the surrounding bushes. Then back into the water. After two days of chasing it with the net I managed to finally get it and release it into the same creek I took those toads to. It had eaten a large fancy goldfish by now. When I got home from releasing it I took a look into the pond to see if the fish had calmed down and there was another snake, even longer, in the water this time! It took a lot of work and had to call some help in and in the end it was shot with a BB gun in order to capture it. But it lived and I let it go to. These were brown water snakes and though not venomous they can give a nasty bite and one of the two had actually grabbed ahold of a 12" koi and tried to flip it out of the water to eat it. I saved the fish. I am always on the lookout for water snakes in my pond.

I also have a small goldfish and water plant pond. I recently cleaned it all out, and when I went to net out the 20 or so small goldfish there were only 5 left. When I got to the bottom of the pond I found a huge bullfrog hiding there amongst the muck. He was at least 6" while sitting. I let him go too. Oh well, I do enjoy all the wildlife we have even if some of them eat my fish and plants.
Barbara:D

Barbara,

I would have ate the snakes and the frog, remember the golden rule? Do onto others...

[Roxanne]

ha ha..maybe the snake will eat the bullfrog:D.......didn't know bullfrogs ate fish, thought they all ate bugs....learn something new every day....I can just see Ranger Barb out there with her discus net trying to catch a snake..:D..

Rox:)

[Scribbles]

Large frogs are like discus, if it fits in their mouths its a snack. Besides, big frogs would have to eat an incredible number of bugs to stay alive. You have large Cane Toads in Oz, what do they eat?

Chris

[Disgirl]

ha ha..maybe the snake will eat the bullfrog:D.......didn't know bullfrogs ate fish, thought they all ate bugs....learn something new every day....I can just see Ranger Barb out there with her discus net trying to catch a snake..:D..

Rox:)

I did use a net, but it was my BIG koi net and it was about 20" in diam.
Even that wasn't big enough to easily catch that snake. And no way would I ever eat a snake or frog unless I was near starvation lol! And yes, those big frogs sure will eat a fish! That bullfrog has eaten many of my goldfish in the 5 or 6 yrs. he has been here. I have just never caught him before. Don't know where he is right now though. I may have scared him away. I'll let you know if he shows up or my fish go missing.
Barb:)

[Roxanne]

... big frogs would have to eat an incredible number of bugs to stay alive. You have large Cane Toads in Oz, what do they eat?

Chris

everything Barb...they are disgusting...they eat all the wildlife, and the little endangered frogs, and they are spreading everywhere....don't know why I thought frogs didn't eat fish??

...someone has been letting those alligator gar fish go in streams and stuff and they can grow up to 3 metres or something outragous like that so the Fisheries Dept have imposed restrictions on Vendors And Purchasers....I'm sure they'd eat a bull frog lol but cane toads are poisonous:(

Rox

[Disgirl]

Rox, I see you have some problem wildlife there too! How about those awful brown snakes on Guam that I hear about? They even come up through toilets into homes! Horrid things and they bite!

Have you heard of Lionfish? They are saltwater and live in tropical areas with warm water. They are invading the gulf stream waters off the North Carolina coastline, released by hobbyists down in Florida. They come north with the warm currents, 25 miles offshore, and they are eating a lot of the local fish. They are venomous. too, beautiful with spines. Seems no way to control them and they are a danger to divers and beach goers.

I work with Stingrays at the aquarium at the beach near us. People ask me all the time about Steve Irwin and the stingray that took his life. Do you all still speak of him? I sure miss his TV shows. Now I work with rays! They are really neat creatures and people are allowed to touch them in the tank they swim in. I guard them and answer people's questions.
Barb:D

[Roxanne]

...sorry Chris...:o:)...wrote Barb instead of you...:)

[Roxanne]

.I work with Stingrays at the aquarium at the beach near us. People ask me all the time about Steve Irwin and the stingray that took his life. Do you all still speak of him? I sure miss his TV shows. Now I work with rays! They are really neat creatures and people are allowed to touch them in the tank they swim in. I guard them and answer people's questions.
Barb:D

Wow...you are living my dream life...working in an aquarium:)..I was always jealous of the kid who got to hang out with Flipper!!:mad:...

...Yeah we all still remember Steve fondly, though not all Aussies are as animated as him, or big knife weilding croc dundees, we are all pretty passionately appreciative about the wonderful Land of Oz;)...and we hold him in high regard for his Conservation Efforts which will live on with his legacy.....personally, seeing as you asked, he had a great respect for wildlife, and the aboriginal culture, but, you have to have a healthy fear of it also, and he always got too close, and I can't believe he got so close to the rays from a rear position also surprising them....that parody of him on South Park kinda nailed what I thought...Love the wildlife I always say, but don't piss it off!!! ...I grew up on the West Coast and the rays and stuff in the north west coast are ENORMOUS....the manta rays weigh a tonne and have an awesome wingspan...will find the footage of a manta breaching the water... they won't sting you and you can swim with them, you will be swimming and you look down and all of a sudden, it looks like a huge black cloud passing beneath you...sting rays are different..but I don't have to tell you that lol..point is, us humans have to respect their domain because they will react and they are so quick and so lethal, in water, we don't stand a chance...

Tell us about your aquarium :)

Rox

[Disgirl]

Hi Rox, interesting info on Steve and those rays. Yes, we too have the manta rays in our ocean water here. I would love to see one someday. I have been told they reach 20' diameter and weigh up to 2000 lbs! No stinging barb on them though. They eat plankton like whales.

The aquarium I work at as a volunteer one day a week is one of 3 on our coast, operated by the state of North Carolina. Ours covers the fish "from the mountains to the sea". NC is 400 miles wide, mountains in the far west and the ocean at the east coast of the state. LOTS of fish, and many different types of landscape and several different climates, all in the same state. Each part of the aquarium covers the fish and fauna in a particular part of the state. A huge waterfall, 30' high, greets visitors first. The end of the visit has a huge, 360,000 gallon tank, 6" thick acrylic panel that is 50' long and 10' tall for people to watch the huge sharks and several hundred other saltwater fish swim around a replica of a sunken German submarine from 1942 which the Coast Guard sunk in 1942 nearby. Twice a day scuba divers enter the tank and give a program from underwater while the fish swim around them. All kept well fed. If I was a diver I could be one of the people in the tank too. But I am not. I work with stingrays, shell exhibit, sea turtles, crabs, starfish and sea snails and sea urchins, all alive. People get to touch these things with proper intruction, that is where I come in.

It is a great place to work and visit. Wish all you fish people could see it! BTW, we are having a thunder, lightening and hail storm right now so I better send this off.
Barb:D

[Scribbles]

...sorry Chris...:o:)...wrote Barb instead of you...:)

No harm no foul.

You have such interesting wildlife in Oz. I would be most worried about the little things like blue ring octopus and Irracongie (sp?) jellyfish. The big things you might see coming. Do you have crocs nationwide or just in some areas?

Chris

[Roxanne]

There's only crocs in the "top end" which is the very northern parts of Australia, and the jellies are usually seasonal....you pretty much get a warning when they are around....a wet suit helps;)...so does not getting into the water lolol...

What about those pictures taken from the air of swimmers in Florida, and they are surrounded by sharks and don't even realise it...that's scary!!

[Roxanne]

Barb that sound like the best job...can you take pictures or, maybe not allowed/don't want to?...no pressure?

Rox

[Disgirl]

Yes, I can take pics there and thousands of people take pics there everyday. But I am still trying to figure out how to get them on here, they keep being too large despite my trying to downsize them. Will keep trying.

BTW, I have seen stories about your lifeguards at the beaches who wear pantyhose to keep them from the jellyfish stings!! Every once in awhile someone on our beaches gets bitten by a shark and lots of jelly stings, even me. Thanks for your interest. You too Chris!
Barb :)

[Scribbles]

There's only crocs in the "top end" which is the very northern parts of Australia, and the jellies are usually seasonal....you pretty much get a warning when they are around....a wet suit helps;)...so does not getting into the water lolol...

What about those pictures taken from the air of swimmers in Florida, and they are surrounded by sharks and don't even realise it...that's scary!!


There is a current that runs up the coast of Florida where sharks and other large fish feed. Bull sharks come into shallow water and rivers in this area. Knowing that, if you want to get between hunter and prey then Darwin has been proven right again.

Chris

[Roxanne]

...panty hose....good for the j fish, but won't help with the sharks:D

[Disgirl]

...panty hose....good for the j fish, but won't help with the sharks:D

Isn't that the truth!:D
Barb

[thebigone]

I went on vacation to GA and went to the gold mining caves. We toured them and had a lot of fun and then we came across this little fella. One of the people that was touring with us wanted to take him home but didn't. The guy said that it was not unusual to see them but the time we went down there he shouldn't have been there. Anyways I hope you enjoy.

[Roxanne]

Isn't that the truth!
Barb

...a kung fu chop to the nose, or finger stab to the eyes might help :D....walking on water would be the ace card and it's what I would do:D...my brother punched a reefer in the nose that took his goggles..

I never actually saw one, but the thin, long, dark shadows beneath always made me wonder...I know I have been in the water with them without knowing it...my mother and ten thousand people on the beach waving to me and me waving back, then realised they weren't waving hello...they were pointing at the water...see Roxanne the lazy swimmer move her butt back to shore....

Rox

[Roxanne]

I went on vacation to GA and went to the gold mining caves. We toured them and had a lot of fun and then we came across this little fella. One of the people that was touring with us wanted to take him home but didn't. The guy said that it was not unusual to see them but the time we went down there he shouldn't have been there. Anyways I hope you enjoy.

...sweet...:)...

[Disgirl]

Rox, it looks like you almost had a shark encounter. Glad you didn't. And Big one, if a bat can be cute I guess that one is. Looks quite furry. I bet it had big sharp teeth:D.
Barb:)

[thebigone]

Don't know if it had big sharp teeth and wasn't going to find out. The little fella could have fit in the palm of your hand.

[Roxanne]

...once again, panty hose to the rescue...stick one over the bats head and then it can't bite you...problem solved...:D

[Disgirl]

:D:D:D
Barb:)

[poconogal]

Is there nothing that can't be done with pantyhose???? :D

[Roxanne]

the list is endless Connie lol......maybe that's why Superman wears them....he KNOWS the power of the HOSE ha ha:D

I find they also make me unidentifiable during bank robberies:D

Rox

[Bgroovy2]

I see this post has been around for awhile, but just to add in my 2 cents worth. I am a coasty by birth. I have always lived near or worked near the water. I love the coast! I love the wildlife around me. I live in an urban area but if you keep your eyes opened, there's no telling what you can see. It's not uncommon to see an Ospray flying around these parts! I have been on whale watching trips and have seen the huge monsters of the deep. Until you have been up close to one of these giants, you just can't appreciate how awesome they really are!

For some comic relief; when I was in the Navy, we used to run opps out of one of the local fishing inlets. When we were just hangin around with not much to due, we did a lot of fishing. One of my buds from Tenn. caught huge flounder over on another pier. When we asked him why he gave it away he said......It was deformed, it had both of it's eye's on one side of it's head:D

[poconogal]

the list is endless Connie lol......maybe that's why Superman wears them....he KNOWS the power of the HOSE ha ha:D

I find they also make me unidentifiable during bank robberies:D

Rox
Rox, oh my goodness, that's you? ;)


....For some comic relief; when I was in the Navy, we used to run opps out of one of the local fishing inlets. When we were just hangin around with not much to due, we did a lot of fishing. One of my buds from Tenn. caught huge flounder over on another pier. When we asked him why he gave it away he said......It was deformed, it had both of it's eye's on one side of it's head:D
This guy really said that? That is so funny! :D

[Scribbles]

For some comic relief; when I was in the Navy, we used to run opps out of one of the local fishing inlets. When we were just hangin around with not much to due, we did a lot of fishing. One of my buds from Tenn. caught huge flounder over on another pier. When we asked him why he gave it away he said......It was deformed, it had both of it's eye's on one side of it's head:D

ROFLMAO!

Where I live we frequently have black bears among other critters. People move here from Seattle and are shocked when their birdfeeders or pet food are taken from their second story decks. Uh...bears can climb.

Chris

[Bgroovy2]

Rox, oh my goodness, that's you? ;)


This guy really said that? That is so funny! :D

true story!

[Disgirl]

That is funny Bill! Since I began this thread some more interesting things have happened. We have a concrete birdbath about 15 feet in front of our living room window. It is about 3 feet high. Lately the water has been going down very fast, about a gallon or more a day. Couldn't figure out how the birds were drinking or splashing so much out in a day. The other evening we looked out and saw a large doe standing there drinking water. It was the perfect height for her and when I went out for a closer look she just stood there and looked back at me then slowly walked off. They are getting quite tame here.

Also recently I found a large yellow bellied slider turtle inside our garage, under the stairs, frantically trying to hide. Shell all dry and had been out of the water for maybe several days. I took him to the same river nearby where I put toads and snakes from our yard and ponds. It swam off without even a "thanks lady".
Barb:D

[Bgroovy2]

Ya, they seem to rarely look back!
I lived up in central Pa for a few years. This wasn't just country, we lived in the woods! I took to bee-keeping for awhile. I had four hives as I remember. One night, a black bear wondered through and ripped up three of them. We called the game commissiion and they came out with a bear trap. It only two days before they caught him and transported him out. It cost me some money but it was quite an experiance!

[Disgirl]

So now I know that bears really do love honey!:D
Barb

[Disgirl]

Here is the lady who was drinking from our birdbath right in front of the house the other day.
Barb:)

[Scribbles]

She is a pretty girl. I wonder if she has a fawn nearby. Do you have white tail or black tail deer in your area?

Chris

[Disgirl]

I don't think she has a fawn but another doe in our neighborhood has twins! Those 3 are the ones who ran across the road right in front of my car last month. Good thing I have good brakes. Our deer are all white tails.
Barb