Animal Behavior

[yknpdlr]

Scoutergriz reminds me of a story I've told in other threads, for different reasons. I received a SAR callout notice to standby the next morning for an overnight lost person incident in Old Forge, in the Adirondacks of NY. It seems a fit young lady went for her usual evening long distance run on a hiking trail near home but failed to return as expected. Early searchers found her shoes and a sports bra at the bottom of a tree near the trail. The next morning she was found walking in town, heading toward home. Her story was that she encountered a black bear on the trail and as she ran away it kept following her for five miles! She came to a tree to climb and said she threw her shoes and bra at the bear to keep it from climbing after her. Her father at home had a different take on what had really happened.

 

[JohnSand]

I was in the ocean once (when I was young and rude to wildlife) with a couple of dolphins. They disappeared as I broke through the breakers. I stopped paddling for a moment, thinking I'd scared them off. Suddenly they both jumped completely out of the water, from opposite sides of the canoe, perfectly synchronized, and only 4 feet past the bow. I could see their dark shiny eyes looking at me.

I wondered if they were curious or showing off or what.

My experience suggests that dolphins like people. They will often swim alongside a boat, jumping right next to the cockpit. One time during swim call from a CG cutter, a pod of dolphins came over. The crew got out of the water, I dove in. The dolphins swam right toward me, diving under me and surfacing on the other side. They jumped if I clapped or whistled. I was a little nervous, but very excited.

 

[ppine]

Hi tketcham,
I had an experience with a cat in eastern Oregon near Steens Mountain.

 

[tketcham]

ppine, that's a likely place to see them if you pay attention. Plenty of prey so there's a good population.

I know the Steens country pretty well. I worked and explored out of Burns for four years. That's where I saw my second cougar, down near French Glen. Since that time I've had the pleasure to see quite a few more of them; different places around the eastside of OR and WA, from high desert to sub-alpine.

 

[Smokey]

Since most of us spend a great deal of time outdoors I am sure you’ve seen some animal behavior you don’t really understand.
Here are a few of my examples:

We had a turkey nest next to our driveway with eventually eleven eggs ten of which hatched on the same day. Turkeys normally lay one egg a day and incubate for 28 days. How the heck do they all hatch on the same day. Does the last egg hatch and then going around to wake up the others?

Paddling Stony Creek in the Adirondacks a chipmunk swam across the creek in front of my boat. Every time I’ve seen a chipmunk run it has it’s tail up in the air, well they seem to swim in the same manner. Why don’t they use it like a rudder?

I just came back from a trip to Home Depot and there had to be at least 100 seagulls in the parking lot. I can understand where the seagull nest at the ocean or Long Island sound which are not far away but where do parking lot seagulls nest as there sure seem to be a lot of them around here?

Your chipmunk story reminded me of the time my cousin's husband and I saw a chipmunk swimming in the middle of Raystown Lake in Pennsylvania. We scooped it up in a bucket and took it to shore

 

[Boreal Birch]

Once crossing Basswood Lake coming back from Quetico Provincial Park, to Prarrie we saw a porcupine swimming, it was a long way from the main land or islands. Seemed to be a good swimmer.
I have also seen them out on alpine tundra miles & miles from the nearest tree. Just waddling along, seemed to be enjoying a nice walk about.

 

[Mason]

Once crossing Basswood Lake coming back from Quetico Provincial Park, to Prarrie we saw a porcupine swimming, it was a long way from the main land or islands. Seemed to be a good swimmer.
I have also seen them out on alpine tundra miles & miles from the nearest tree. Just waddling along, seemed to be enjoying a nice walk about.

Interesting--I saw one on a sandbar in the middle of the Cariboo River in BC (early October). It seemed hypothermic--sitting up, shivering, and it had been walking around in small circles based on tracks. It did not really react to our presence though we got out of the boats and walked up to him.

 

[yknpdlr]

Speaking of turkeys.... I regulary see a flock that comeout of the woods and cross my lawn. There is a wild cherry tree in my back yard. More than once in season I have seen a "designated turkey" take up residence on branch of that tree and bounce up and down so that the tiny cherries fall to the ground where the others of the flock gobble them up. I don't know if the turkeys take turns or not, since they all look alike.

 

[MrPoling]

I've only seen otters on three occasions. But the last otter was odd.

I was paddling into a marsh on a very tight and twisty creek. Coming around to turn I saw an otter on the bank to my left. It was very close, probably about 20 ft. It sat up on its back legs and barked at me.

I was surprised because I never heard of otters confronting people, and I'd certainly never heard of them barking. But there it sat, yip-barking. I looked at it carefully to make sure I understood. Of course it was clearly an otter, with whiskers, white underbelly, and little otter outer ears. Clearly it didn't want me there.

I assumed it had young, or maybe I just surprised it. I quietly back-paddled around the bend and out of site.

We see lots of otter tracks and crushed mussels on the rivers, but they are normally so shy I worry the kids will never see one.

 

[JohnSand]

Interesting--I saw one on a sandbar in the middle of the Cariboo River in BC (early October). It seemed hypothermic--sitting up, shivering, and it had been walking around in small circles based on tracks. It did not really react to our presence though we got out of the boats and walked up to him.

I've seen sick animals act that way.

 

[lowangle al]

I've only seen otters on three occasions. But the last otter was odd.

I was paddling into a marsh on a very tight and twisty creek. Coming around to turn I saw an otter on the bank to my left. It was very close, probably about 20 ft. It sat up on its back legs and barked at me.

I was surprised because I never heard of otters confronting people, and I'd certainly never heard of them barking. But there it sat, yip-barking. I looked at it carefully to make sure I understood. Of course it was clearly an otter, with whiskers, white underbelly, and little otter outer ears. Clearly it didn't want me there.

I assumed it had young, or maybe I just surprised it. I quietly back-paddled around the bend and out of site.

We see lots of otter tracks and crushed mussels on the rivers, but they are normally so shy I worry the kids will never see one.

There have been 44 published otter attacks on humans since 1875. There were a couple in Anchorage recently, at least one involved a dog. There was also another on the lake downstream from my place in Pa,, where one had bitten a woman who swims for exercise. She was bitten on two occasions if I recall correctly.

We have lots of chipmunks at our place in Pa. One day a couple got into the house while my wife was home. She said they ran across the floor and jumped up on the back of the couch to look out the window like they had done it before.

I saw a magpie and a coyote playing in my yard in Ak.

At one of my favorite campsites in Ak. the lake bottom was always covered with empty clam shells. I had assumed they were from otters and was surprised when I saw that it had been muskrats eating them.

I was watching a whitetail deer that was noisily chewing on something. When the deer saw me she dropped the object and ran away. When I went to see what the item was I was surprised to find what looked like a rib bone from someones BBQ.

Back in college my gf and I went to the barns where they did agriculture studies to have a look around. We found a kitten at the sheep barn that followed us over to the cow pens. When the cows saw the cat they all crowded the fence trying to get a look at it. It appeared they had never seen one and were very curious. That was also the same day that a cow licked my boot while it was on the rail of the fence and I grabbed it by the tongue. Even though I held it only briefly it was amazing how far his eyes popped out, but that's another story.






I think animals are smarter and more interesting than we give them credit for.

 

[ppine]

Some animal sightings are etched in my mind and burned in my heart. Like seeing an antelope carcass in Wyoming in winter with 4 golden eagles feeding on it. Coming around a corner deep in the woods in Colorado when it is -25 degrees and herd of elk is standing in the road blowing steam 2 feet out of their nostrils.

I really like seeing otter, beaver and muskrat on river trips. Once in a while some mink. My favorite otter sightings were on the Trinity River in northern CA when a three of them were swimming under our canoe. The other one was on the Klamath R in no CA when my brother's dachshound was growling at a whole family of otters sitting on the river bank. The otters were chattering and b*tching about the odd looking critter floating past them on their river.

 

[clemency]

Not my story, but my son's. He's 23 now, so not that long ago. Then he was maybe 18, on a 22 day Outward Bound course in the BWCA. OB courses have "solos" where each student is left alone, all by themselves, in the woods for a set number of days. Three days on a 22 day course. Students have to be self sufficient on solos, set up their own campsite, cook, etc. Good stuff for modern kids. They learn a lot about themselves, especially how to be bored. And they're also encouraged to be introspective and to journal. So there's my kid, all alone somewhere in the BWCA, journaling away at his campsite, introspecting about who knows what, when he hears a noise. He looks up, and a full blown mature male moose, huge rack and all, steps out of the brush and into camp not 10 feet away. Moose looks at kid. Kid looks at moose, looks around, realizes he's got no escape route, and looks back at moose. Moose completely ignores kid, walks right on by and out the other side of camp. Boom. Gone.

You can bet dad felt pretty good about sending him on that course. And he's now an OB instructor.

 

[ppine]

Have an experience up close with a moose and you will not soon forget it. Mine was in Wyoming when a cow and calf walked within 5 feet of our morning campfire.

Yesterday a large male coyote was walking around my yard inside a 4 foot fence. I yelled at him and he left, clearing the fence like it was not even there. A neighbor had a cow attacked by a mountain lion this week. The bad weather is bringing the predators down out of the hills. The bears will be up soon.

 

[Black_Fly]

Grizzly bear visited me during a nature call one morning South of YNP.

 

[Erica]

I was hanging out in the middle of a shallow bay in the 10,000 Islands when a dolphin popped her head up right next to the bow. Then she went to the other side of the canoe and popped up again. Then she swim all the way around the boat. She was looking at me, eye to eye, the entire time.

After this careful examination, she swim back into the bay, retrieved her baby (!) and continued her travels.

I have to suspect she told her youngster to stay put while she checked me out - just like mama deer above.

 

[alsg]

Grizzly bear visited me during a nature call one morning South of YNP.

I'll bet that visit worked better than coffee, prune juice and ex-lax.

 

[Odyssey]

This is not me and my coffee.

 

[Black_Fly]

I'll bet that visit worked better than coffee, prune juice and ex-lax.

Well, I was buttoning back up when I saw him. I heard the collies going off back at camp. He must have passed behind camp on his way to my location. We knew there was a bear visiting camp at night but seeing it that close was a whole different sensation. My companion loosed his dogs and Ephraim let out into the meadow, gave a growl and was off in 2 shakes. Had I not just gone, I’m not sure what laundry I would have made.

 

[Gamma1214]

This is not me and my coffee.

oof... I'm not sure I'd have been that calm when the fugly freakin' deer knocked over the coffee. I mean, stomp the tent into the dirt & I'm ok but waste coffee?!... Moose might have a goodly share of my impending bad day.