Wildlife Encounters

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Sparky
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Re: Wildlife Encounters

Post by Sparky »

Kimmelweck wrote:
13 May 2021, 6:08pm
Sparky wrote:
13 May 2021, 5:36pm
Kimmelweck wrote:
13 May 2021, 5:33pm
Sparky wrote:
13 May 2021, 5:02pm
Kimmelweck wrote:
13 May 2021, 4:45pm
Rats were the worst. There’s something primally horrifying about the squealing sound they make.
I feel your pain, we have a plum tree, apple tree & a single cherry tomato plant, the f'ing rats love the tomatoes. I actually put an sheet metal band around the plum tree earlier this week hoping to keep them out of the fruit when it ripens.
I’d love to have an apple tree, or plum or pear. My backyard is a bit small though (30x45 feet), with about a third of the space devoted to the garden, and I just put in 4 pawpaw trees 3 years ago. They’ve only fruited once so far, and I just went out yesterday to hand-pollinate them. Nothing like walking around the yard and gathering some fresh produce. Unfortunately, it really draws the animals in. Though I’ve tried everything to keep them out, it’s always a losing battle. It would be fine if they just ate one thing at a time and finished it, but they always take a single bite out of a tomato, for example, and move on to the next one. So uncivilized.
Our fruit trees are dwarf, in fact the apple is in a large pot on our patio.
We went years with 2-3 tomato plants, no rat problems, but 2 years ago they got a taste for them and it's been downhill since.
Dwarf fruit trees sound like a good idea. I have some patio space. I wonder if they’d survive Buffalo winters in a pot or if I’d have to bring them inside. I’ll have to look into it.
Apples in general do well in a cold climate.
https://homeguides.sfgate.com/dwarf-fru ... 63391.html
Sorry to hijack a wildlife encounters thread with Suzy-homemaker gardening tips!
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Kimmelweck
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Re: Wildlife Encounters

Post by Kimmelweck »

Sparky wrote:
13 May 2021, 6:15pm
Apples in general do well in a cold climate.
https://homeguides.sfgate.com/dwarf-fru ... 63391.html
Sorry to hijack a wildlife encounters thread with Suzy-homemaker gardening tips!
Hey, wildlife-attracting fruit discussion is fine for a wildlife thread! :shifty:

This guy was pretty cool – my only marsupial catch. At first, when I saw it from behind with its hairless tail, I thought it was some giant scary-ass Nicodemus rat.

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Opossum2.jpg
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Kimmelweck
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Re: Wildlife Encounters

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Sparky
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Re: Wildlife Encounters

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Kimmelweck wrote:
13 May 2021, 6:33pm
Sparky wrote:
13 May 2021, 6:15pm
Apples in general do well in a cold climate.
https://homeguides.sfgate.com/dwarf-fru ... 63391.html
Sorry to hijack a wildlife encounters thread with Suzy-homemaker gardening tips!
Hey, wildlife-attracting fruit discussion is fine for a wildlife thread! :shifty:

This guy was pretty cool – my only marsupial catch. At first, when I saw it from behind with its hairless tail, I thought it was some giant scary-ass Nicodemus rat.


We have potted plants along our back wall with trellises in them that the opossums use as a ladder to get in and out of our backyard. Freaks our indoor house cats out big time, they think it's a giant rat!
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Re: Wildlife Encounters

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My final catch was a skunk. I didn’t want to go near it and risk getting sprayed, so I called the local police station and they put me in touch with a retired wildlife control officer who was about 80 years old. He put on a plastic skunk suit and did his thing. Charged me 20 bucks to strap the trap to the rear bumper of his car and drop the skunk off at the local park. An absolute bargain. He came back with the trap about 20 minutes later. I kept his card, so I have a skunk guy now, if he’s still around. But after that, I figured I wasn't cut out for the unpredictability of the trapping game, so I haven’t set the trap again.

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revbob
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Re: Wildlife Encounters

Post by revbob »

Kimmelweck wrote:
13 May 2021, 5:33pm
Sparky wrote:
13 May 2021, 5:02pm
Kimmelweck wrote:
13 May 2021, 4:45pm
Rats were the worst. There’s something primally horrifying about the squealing sound they make.
I feel your pain, we have a plum tree, apple tree & a single cherry tomato plant, the f'ing rats love the tomatoes. I actually put an sheet metal band around the plum tree earlier this week hoping to keep them out of the fruit when it ripens.
I’d love to have an apple tree, or plum or pear. My backyard is a bit small though (30x45 feet), with about a third of the space devoted to the garden, and I just put in 4 pawpaw trees 3 years ago. They’ve only fruited once so far, and I just went out yesterday to hand-pollinate them. Nothing like walking around the yard and gathering some fresh produce. Unfortunately, it really draws the animals in. Though I’ve tried everything to keep them out, it’s always a losing battle. It would be fine if they just ate one thing at a time and finished it, but they always take a single bite out of a tomato, for example, and move on to the next one. So uncivilized.
Pawpaw work in northern climates?

Ive not had good luck with fruit trees, the squirrels decimate them every year and then they went after the strawberries and blueberries and last year they started on the raspberries. Squirrels are just tree dwelling rats with bushy tails I fucking hate them.

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Re: Wildlife Encounters

Post by Kimmelweck »

revbob wrote:
13 May 2021, 9:07pm
Pawpaw work in northern climates?

Ive not had good luck with fruit trees, the squirrels decimate them every year and then they went after the strawberries and blueberries and last year they started on the raspberries. Squirrels are just tree dwelling rats with bushy tails I fucking hate them.
Yeah, pawpaw do just fine planted in the ground here. By pawpaw though, I mean Asimina triloba, the American pawpaw. I know papaya (Carica papaya) is also referred to as pawpaw in some places. Papaya are more tropical and would not survive in northern climates, if that’s what you mean. This is what my pawpaw fruits look like:

Image
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Re: Wildlife Encounters

Post by revbob »

Kimmelweck wrote:
13 May 2021, 9:29pm
revbob wrote:
13 May 2021, 9:07pm
Pawpaw work in northern climates?

Ive not had good luck with fruit trees, the squirrels decimate them every year and then they went after the strawberries and blueberries and last year they started on the raspberries. Squirrels are just tree dwelling rats with bushy tails I fucking hate them.
Yeah, pawpaw do just fine planted in the ground here. By pawpaw though, I mean Asimina triloba, the American pawpaw. I know papaya (Carica papaya) is also referred to as pawpaw in some places. Papaya are more tropical and would not survive in northern climates, if that’s what you mean. This is what my pawpaw fruits look like:

Image
Yeah that's the stuff there.
My friend tried growing some a few years ago but they didn't survive the winter. She says they taste like mangoes.

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Re: Wildlife Encounters

Post by Kimmelweck »

revbob wrote:
13 May 2021, 9:56pm
Kimmelweck wrote:
13 May 2021, 9:29pm
revbob wrote:
13 May 2021, 9:07pm
Pawpaw work in northern climates?

Ive not had good luck with fruit trees, the squirrels decimate them every year and then they went after the strawberries and blueberries and last year they started on the raspberries. Squirrels are just tree dwelling rats with bushy tails I fucking hate them.
Yeah, pawpaw do just fine planted in the ground here. By pawpaw though, I mean Asimina triloba, the American pawpaw. I know papaya (Carica papaya) is also referred to as pawpaw in some places. Papaya are more tropical and would not survive in northern climates, if that’s what you mean. This is what my pawpaw fruits look like:

Image
Yeah that's the stuff there.
My friend tried growing some a few years ago but they didn't survive the winter. She says they taste like mangoes.
They’re great. They have a custard-like texture, and are also known as the American custard apple. The taste is like a combination of mango, banana and strawberries with cream. By far my favorite fruit. They are the largest fruit native to North America, and their natural range extends into Canada along the Great Lakes shorelines. I would often find them growing wild when I worked along the Ohio River in Southern Ohio/West Virginia 20 years ago. The fruit is largely unknown commercially though, as they only ripen for a few weeks in the fall, and the ripe fruit only lasts a few days so they never make it to market outside of local availability/farmer’s markets.

I got my trees online from Stark Brothers nursery. I bought 3-year-old grafted cultivars that were 38 inches tall when I planted them. My trees are about 7 feet tall 3 years later. They do best when they’re planted in early spring, when they are still dormant, and have a season to establish roots. Mine fruited the second year after I planted them. The seeds actually need a winter cold-stratification period of a few months in order to sprout in the spring, so they generally do well in northern areas.
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Re: Wildlife Encounters

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Sparky wrote:
13 May 2021, 9:45am
BostonBeaneater wrote:
13 May 2021, 1:54am
More birds of prey.
Are those Osprey?
I'm not positive but I think so. Where I live there is an abundance of tidal marsh. Aside from the colonial/antebellum causeways the marshes are mostly inaccessible mushy things (I need to get in there with a kayak). I read the local bird sightings and see reports of Osprey, Buzzard, Red Tail Hawk, Bald Eagle, and a variety of owl. I'm picking up the bird watching hobby. It suits me.

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Re: Wildlife Encounters

Post by Kimmelweck »

BostonBeaneater wrote:
13 May 2021, 10:55pm
Sparky wrote:
13 May 2021, 9:45am
BostonBeaneater wrote:
13 May 2021, 1:54am
More birds of prey.
Are those Osprey?
I'm not positive but I think so. Where I live there is an abundance of tidal marsh. Aside from the colonial/antebellum causeways the marshes are mostly inaccessible mushy things (I need to get in there with a kayak). I read the local bird sightings and see reports of Osprey, Buzzard, Red Tail Hawk, Bald Eagle, and a variety of owl. I'm picking up the bird watching hobby. It suits me.
Cool pics BBE. I didn’t notice them before the deer photo earlier today but just checked them out. Sounds like you’re in a good location for birdwatching. The most exotic birds I usually see around here are great blue herons. I did see an owl in my yard for the first time, in February. It was too dark to get a photo though.
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Re: Wildlife Encounters

Post by Sparky »

BostonBeaneater wrote:
13 May 2021, 10:55pm
Sparky wrote:
13 May 2021, 9:45am
BostonBeaneater wrote:
13 May 2021, 1:54am
More birds of prey.
Are those Osprey?
I'm not positive but I think so. Where I live there is an abundance of tidal marsh. Aside from the colonial/antebellum causeways the marshes are mostly inaccessible mushy things (I need to get in there with a kayak). I read the local bird sightings and see reports of Osprey, Buzzard, Red Tail Hawk, Bald Eagle, and a variety of owl. I'm picking up the bird watching hobby. It suits me.

I thought they might be, but I'm not exactly a bird watching expert either, I just like seeing the larger birds such as Osprey, Hawks & Eagles, very majestic birds.
We live near a tidal marsh as well and see an occasional osprey or two. When we camp in the Sierras, we see them nesting regularly around the Shaver Lake area. We saw these two nesting up there a couple of years ago.
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Re: Wildlife Encounters

Post by BostonBeaneater »

Kimmelweck wrote:
13 May 2021, 11:16pm
BostonBeaneater wrote:
13 May 2021, 10:55pm
Sparky wrote:
13 May 2021, 9:45am
BostonBeaneater wrote:
13 May 2021, 1:54am
More birds of prey.
Are those Osprey?
I'm not positive but I think so. Where I live there is an abundance of tidal marsh. Aside from the colonial/antebellum causeways the marshes are mostly inaccessible mushy things (I need to get in there with a kayak). I read the local bird sightings and see reports of Osprey, Buzzard, Red Tail Hawk, Bald Eagle, and a variety of owl. I'm picking up the bird watching hobby. It suits me.
Cool pics BBE. I didn’t notice them before the deer photo earlier today but just checked them out. Sounds like you’re in a good location for birdwatching. The most exotic birds I usually see around here are great blue herons. I did see an owl in my yard for the first time, in February. It was too dark to get a photo though.
Great Blue Herons are beautiful birds.
Image

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Re: Wildlife Encounters

Post by BostonBeaneater »

Sparky wrote:
13 May 2021, 11:18pm
BostonBeaneater wrote:
13 May 2021, 10:55pm
Sparky wrote:
13 May 2021, 9:45am
BostonBeaneater wrote:
13 May 2021, 1:54am
More birds of prey.
Are those Osprey?
I'm not positive but I think so. Where I live there is an abundance of tidal marsh. Aside from the colonial/antebellum causeways the marshes are mostly inaccessible mushy things (I need to get in there with a kayak). I read the local bird sightings and see reports of Osprey, Buzzard, Red Tail Hawk, Bald Eagle, and a variety of owl. I'm picking up the bird watching hobby. It suits me.

I thought they might be, but I'm not exactly a bird watching expert either, I just like seeing the larger birds such as Osprey, Hawks & Eagles, very majestic birds.
We live near a tidal marsh as well and see an occasional osprey or two. When we camp in the Sierras, we see them nesting regularly around the Shaver Lake area. We saw these two nesting up there a couple of years ago.
Great shot!
Image

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Re: Wildlife Encounters

Post by Kimmelweck »

BostonBeaneater wrote:
16 May 2021, 9:31pm
Great Blue Herons are beautiful birds.
Yeah great blue herons are cool. I remember when they were a pretty rare sight around here 20 or 30 years ago. Now I see them just about every time I go fishing on the Erie Canal or local ponds. Unfortunately they are part of the life cycle of a certain parasite that results in many of our panfish (especially bluegills) having a big yellow worm the size and shape of a kernel of corn embedded in their flesh. The parasite larvae live in snails, bluegills eat the snails, and when the herons grab the bluegills, the parasite lodges in their throats and lays eggs. When the herons dip their heads in the water to grab another fish, they release parasite eggs that hatch and find a new snail host. And the cycle continues. It’s totally specific to the great blue herons. Used to be able to take home a few bluegills for a nice little fish fry, but ever since the birds made a comeback, 95% of the bluegills will have the worms in them and they aren’t worth keeping. It’s pretty gross.
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