Fishers in the news

[sierra]

. As a percentage, I've met far more hideous, selfish and/or self-centered humans than hideous, selfish and/or self-centered cats. YMMV)[/QUOTE]

OK Ill give you that one

 

[Snowflea]

Ah, but self-centeredness and independence is what some of us find respectable in our domestic felines. I do love dogs, too, but some breeds are so darn needy!

Interesting NYT article. I've seen a couple of fishers in the Vermont woods but, like most wildlife, they are wisely elusive. Didn't people use to love these animals for their ability to kill porcupines?

"He relates how he and the renowned bobcat trapper Joseph Edward Goulet were commissioned to catch a fisher live for the State. The dogs trapped a fisher in a culvert and "Ed' would drape himself over the outlet and grab the fisher when Paul would push him out with a pole..."

Obviously before the invention of the Have-A-Heart trap.

 

[Jason Berard]

Interesting NYT article. I've seen a couple of fishers in the Vermont woods but, like most wildlife, they are wisely elusive. Didn't people use to love these animals for their ability to kill porcupines?

Fishers were nearly gone from Vermont due to trapping in the 1800's...their pelts were the most valuable...bringing as much as $350 each!

Vermont brought in fishers trapped in Maine in the late 50's to help lower porkie populations, I think.

I was walking in the woods today, and all I saw were porcupine and fisher tracks! Oh year, and 1 set of flying squirrel tracks, which was neat.

 

[stu]

I had the good fortune to have a fisher cross the Wilderness Trail in front of me. Very cool. Made my day!

 

[Fisher Cat]

Ah, but self-centeredness and independence is what some of us find respectable in our domestic felines. I do love dogs, too, but some breeds are so darn needy!

Interesting NYT article. I've seen a couple of fishers in the Vermont woods but, like most wildlife, they are wisely elusive. Didn't people use to love these animals for their ability to kill porcupines?



Obviously before the invention of the Have-A-Heart trap.

Can you imagine planning to try and grab a fisher by the neck?! No thanks!

 

[Puck]

I was walking in the woods today, and all I saw were porcupine and fisher tracks! Oh year, and 1 set of flying squirrel tracks, which was neat.

Has the weather been so bad that the flying squirrels are grounded??QQ

 

[Jason Berard]

Has the weather been so bad that the flying squirrels are grounded??QQ

I think it was a flying squirrel...

a roughly 3" x 5" indent in the snow, with nothing around it except a single set of squirrel tracks leaving it.....today was actually quite nice up here! 30 degrees, sunny...a bit of a breeze.

 

[Paradox]

...
I was walking in the woods today, and all I saw were porcupine and fisher tracks! Oh year, and 1 set of flying squirrel tracks, which was neat.

I know little of tracks but have just found an unread reference on my shelves: Paul Rezendes, "Tracking and the Art of Seeing: How to Read Animal Tracks and Signs", Quill, 1999. It has 8 pages covering Fishers. Although I don't recall seeing any of the tracks, the scat does look familiar.

 

[Tom Rankin]

I know little of tracks but have just found an unread reference on my shelves: Paul Rezendes, "Tracking and the Art of Seeing: How to Read Animal Tracks and Signs", Quill, 1999. It has 8 pages covering Fishers. Although I don't recall seeing any of the tracks, the scat does look familiar.

I saw the very common '**** Barebootus' tracks today in the Catskills!

 

[Tom Rankin]

More Fisher news!

http://scientistatwork.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/the-silence-of-the-fishers/

 

[Puck]

Tom
Some great points are raised in that article. We as humans can't image a world that comes to us through the sense of smell. Canines and mustelids communicate mainly via p-mail.

 

[erugs]

Adorable picture.

 

[alpino]

Last fall I saw a fisher crossing Maple Street (the main street in downtown Danvers, MA) at about 10:30PM. I had known that they were in the area, but it seemed strange to see it right downtown.

 

[Tom Rankin]

GPS studies of Fishers related here.

They have a very large range, sometimes. Others are just fine hanging around a golf course.

http://scientistatwork.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/03/when-a-fisher-goes-missing/

 

[Peakbagr]

I haven't been fortunate enough to see a fisher yet. Maybe hiking with a Lab has something to do with that.
I've read that fishers can resemble mink and wonder if some of the fisher sightings near water could be mink, which I have seen.

 

[spider solo]

I haven't read all the posts, but you'd find a Fisher to be much larger than a Mink.
Mink are more the size of a weasel and I tend to think of a Fisher to be more the size of an Otter for example...perhaps not the best of comparisons but that's how I keep them straight in my thinking.

 

[Hikes4fun]

Judy and I saw one a couple winters ago at the Wright/Algonquin trail jct...It was moving throught the low trees. It stopped long enough for us to get a good look. It was a good size...Lots of tail..A very cool sighting for sure.
There's no mistaking what it was.

 

[weatherman]

When we lived in Central MA, our neighborhood had a bunch of cats, and at least two resident fishers, who weren't afraid of me in the least. The fishers and cats somehow seemed to coexist. Perhaps not so much for the increasing number of coyotes, for whom I read "cat" was a frequent menu item.

 

[woodstrider]

Eastern Fishers

Great article Tom. Thanks for the link.

The photo of the male fisher looks alot bigger then the 6-13 pound range that the article describes. I thought (from what I'd read and seen on nature shows) that these animals were more "shy", like the wolverine (another member of the family) and required isolated wilderness territories. I am glad they can adapt.

I live in NYC and there are several species of animals that have adapted to this urban environment. For example- we have stable populations of racoons that live in the city parks, peregrine falcons and several species of hawks and wild turkeys. On my street two years ago I watched as a Kestral tried to take down a pigeon (the pigeon got away even after it was taken down into the street).