Page 15 - Sentinel January 2018

WILD SIDE Continued from page 14 Cooper’s hawk, would come to our bedroom windows and call
to wake us up to throw out more mice to feed her brood. She
property: Stellar’s, Blue jay, and Scrub jay. And the redwing would also hide herself in a large pine tree from unsuspecting
blackbirds! There are so many that they blacken the sky when chipmunks crawling up the stucco around the front pillars.
they are on the move. A robin flock elected to overwinter here
while taking advantage of the heated bird bath and gobbling And such it is...
up the berries on some of the bushes. And the doves and some
towhees have also decided to tough it out here.
A Down Under not so Jolly Happening
I have reported to you that feral cats are killing off wildlife,
A fun activity, particularly for children, is to examine the fresh such as native birds and the Hawaiian endangered monk seal,
snow for tracks to know what critters occupy the countryside. at an astonishing rate. Places like Hawaii are struggling with
We were able to spot deer tracks, of course, and then coyote, ways to contain the population from out-and-out exterminating
foxes, bunnies, along with skunk and raccoon. Harder to find the cats to catching and neutering/spaying them – very expen-
are bobcat and mountain lion tracks. But we know they are sive. The issue is in the Hawaiian courts.
here. Their prints are subtle. They are cats that can seem invis-
ible.
In doing some research for an upcoming return trip to New Zea-
land, I came across an article that wholeheartedly had my atten-
It appears that our resident turkey flock survived Thanksgiving. tion. Count New Zealand in, too, which wants to save what is
Our dog Ollie, a consummate hunter, decided that he wanted left of its native species from the introduced predators. But it is
one on his plate and went to battle with one slow member of the not just the feral cats, rats, and mice that were brought there by
flock. The turkey took that round with hardly a feather mussed ships starting in the 1700s, with the ship of Captain James Cook
up. So, Ollie had to be content with a rabbit and a mouse. But a being the first source.
large red-tailed hawk that has been hanging around decided that
he wanted the then-headless rabbit. After a while, they both In the 1800s possums from Australia were brought to Kiwi-land
lost interested in the decimated corpse. And we could have had to boost the fur trade. The possums there are not scrawny and
rabbit stew for dinner!
gray as ours, but boast a luxurious sable-colored coat. And then
the short-tailed weasel, called a stoat, was introduced to manage
The hawk has obviously benefited from all the mice bodies hub-
by Dave tosses out the door. A number of years ago Henrietta, a Continued on page 17

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Perry Park Sentinel January 2018 - Page 15