more New England mountain lion rumors

[Tom Rankin]

This is above Albany, NY. 'Several residents' called the town about a Mountain Lion sighting(s).

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Halfmoon-warns-residents-about-mountain-lion-13951750.php

 

[Tom Rankin]

According to Sue Morse:

"There is no question about it. Cougars are not only being seen in eastern North America, some are attempting to recolonize their former habitats. Where once it was flatly dismissed as an impossibility in the so-called “developed” east, scientists have now documented cougar dispersals and even occupancy in a growing list of eastern states and provinces."

"The Cougar Returns to the East" is a presentation to be given 2/15 in Pittsfield, MA.

Details are here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1029538230812437/

 

[Jazzbo]

My son came by this evening (Halloween???) reports a woman friend of his who walks her dog in Fox Park on border between Waltham and Newton MA. His friend called him recently very worked up about having seen a large cat in Fox Park while walking her dogs. She was so worked up that he took it on himself to go to the park shortly after and he thinks he also encountered the animal and got to within 150' of it in close to darkness conditions. He swears it was huge and looked to weigh 100 pounds. She says the cat was bigger than her dogs who are fairly big boys in 70-80 pound range. This park is an urban park and is very popular with dog walkers so I'm sure this will end up in the press if there is anything to this. My opinion is it's probably a bob cat, but keep an open mind and call Animal Control in morning see if they have gotten any reports. I thought of this thread and figured why not keep it going!

 

[TCD]

In the last couple weeks there have been a few sightings of a "potential" Mountain Lion here in Keene Valley in the Adirondacks.

From our local community network about 2 weeks ago:

"Early this afternoon our dog started barking like a maniac on steroids. When I started trying to see what she saw I saw an animal bigger than a fox slinking down the side of our yard and then in front of our barn. It was tan/grayish. It took me a few seconds to comprehend what I had seen with my eyes not believing me. It was definitely a cat — a very large cat!"

 

[nartreb]

Fox Park in itself isn't nearly big enough to support a cougar, but it's got enough wooded connections that I don't particularly doubt the report. A cat would have to cross interstate 95, but that's about the only real obstacle, and there are several underpasses. Many years ago a moose made it to Newton, so it's possible. There are plenty of deer nearby, though I don't think I've ever seen one within Waltham.

Since Covid, some Boston-area wildlife has gotten bolder. When Harvard was closed, a flock of turkeys took up residence in Harvard Square and hung around for months after people returned -- I haven't been by lately, for all I know they're still there. Sightings of coyote have multiplied all along the Charles, even in crowded areas. One was hanging out on the Harvard athletic fields in broad daylight during the Head of the Charles regatta.
At 150' in the dark, there's a chance it was a coyote in Fox Park - that would have been remarkable just a few years ago, but not so rare any more.

 

[Jazzbo]

Fox Park in itself isn't nearly big enough to support a cougar, but it's got enough wooded connections that I don't particularly doubt the report. A cat would have to cross interstate 95, but that's about the only real obstacle, and there are several underpasses. Many years ago a moose made it to Newton, so it's possible. There are plenty of deer nearby, though I don't think I've ever seen one within Waltham.

Since Covid, some Boston-area wildlife has gotten bolder. When Harvard was closed, a flock of turkeys took up residence in Harvard Square and hung around for months after people returned -- I haven't been by lately, for all I know they're still there. Sightings of coyote have multiplied all along the Charles, even in crowded areas. One was hanging out on the Harvard athletic fields in broad daylight during the Head of the Charles regatta.
At 150' in the dark, there's a chance it was a coyote in Fox Park - that would have been remarkable just a few years ago, but not so rare any more.

Our neighborhood is near Prospect Hill Park. I've seen deer herds and coyotes there over the years. We've seen red fox in our back yards. There is some sort of large hawk uses our neighborhood as hunting grounds. The key factor is very mature oak forest in our neighborhood. Our neighborhood keeps the arborists busy. A crew is hard at work outside my window as I write removing a bad tree that has been wreaking havoc due to recent northeaster storms. I've observed many times flying down the corridor of multistory houses. I've seen this hawk perched in tall oak across the street perhaps looking for careless squirrel or pets or road kill squirrel in busy street passes by our house.

 

[nartreb]

Your oaks are probably around a hundred years old; the whole area was pretty well denuded throughout the 19th century.

I wonder if you've seen two different hawks. Red-tails are large and like high perches when they're not soaring above the hill; they specialize in small mammals. But "flying down the corridor" of a built-up street isn't really their style. That sounds more like a cooper's hawk trying to catch pigeons or sparrows by surprise.

 

[Grey J]

I saw this turkey two blocks from Central Square in Cambridge in August. I think he can be considered a city resident if he has learned to use the crosswalk.

 

[JoshandBaron]

View attachment 6724

I saw this turkey two blocks from Central Square in Cambridge in August. I think he can be considered a city resident if he has learned to use the crosswalk.

I run into one down on the Rose Kennedy Greenway pretty regularly. Hangs out with all the rabbits.

 

[Jazzbo]

Your oaks are probably around a hundred years old; the whole area was pretty well denuded throughout the 19th century.

I wonder if you've seen two different hawks. Red-tails are large and like high perches when they're not soaring above the hill; they specialize in small mammals. But "flying down the corridor" of a built-up street isn't really their style. That sounds more like a cooper's hawk trying to catch pigeons or sparrows by surprise.

I've run in house to grab binoc's and light was wrong to get a fix on colorations etc. Just fact he was a big dude. We used to have 4 X 4 beam stretched high up between two trees from which we hung a swing for the kids. One day we were grossed out when we observed this cooper's hawk was parked on the 4 X 4 for platform in process of dismantling some poor critter in slow and methodical fashion.

 

[Scubahhh]

"I saw this turkey two blocks from Central Square in Cambridge in August. I think he can be considered a city resident if he has learned to use the crosswalk."

"I run into one down on the Rose Kennedy Greenway pretty regularly. Hangs out with all the rabbits."

Why am I reminded of Warren Zevon?

 

[jdhill08]

Fox Park in itself isn't nearly big enough to support a cougar, but it's got enough wooded connections that I don't particularly doubt the report. A cat would have to cross interstate 95, but that's about the only real obstacle, and there are several underpasses. Many years ago a moose made it to Newton, so it's possible. There are plenty of deer nearby, though I don't think I've ever seen one within Waltham.

I saw a deer in Somerville about 5-6 years ago! My dog was dealing with something that turned out to be a tick-borne disease and had a week where she needed to poop at around 3:30am every night. We ran into a deer in the middle of the street about one block from Ball Square. I was pretty surprised because Somerville has close to zero green space or parks of any size whatsoever.

 

[DayTrip]

I saw a deer in Somerville about 5-6 years ago! My dog was dealing with something that turned out to be a tick-borne disease and had a week where she needed to poop at around 3:30am every night. We ran into a deer in the middle of the street about one block from Ball Square. I was pretty surprised because Somerville has close to zero green space or parks of any size whatsoever.

My cousin lives in Leonia,NJ (basically right across the river from Manhattan). Last time I was there a dear walked right down the street, on the sidewalk, didn't bat an eye as cars went by, buses roared down the adjacent main road. Pretty bizarre indeed! She said it happens every day. Apparently there is a tiny track of woods at the end of her street where they live. Never would have thought that in a million years - deer in NYC!

 

[maineguy]

I believe that there are more deer taken by hunters in NJ than in Maine.

 

[iAmKrzys]

I live in New Jersey in a densely populated town. I frequently see deer in my small yard as well as roaming around the town pretty much during the day now. About a year ago we also had a bear running around the town and at some point it jumped over our fence and ran through our yard. Police was tracking this bear most of a the day with a helicopter which provided a bit of entertainment for us. In 2020 there were 410 black bears taken by hunters in New Jersey. I believe there is no Black Bear hunt this year - I don't know all the details but there is a small snippet about it on NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife web page that has prior year bear hunt statistic: https://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/bearseason_info.htm

In prior years I have hiked at Apshawa Preserve where in 2014 a black bear killed a Rutgers University student: https://www.nj.com/passaic-county/2...bear_before_fatal_attack_in_west_milford.html

 

[Grey J]

"I saw this turkey two blocks from Central Square in Cambridge in August. I think he can be considered a city resident if he has learned to use the crosswalk."

"I run into one down on the Rose Kennedy Greenway pretty regularly. Hangs out with all the rabbits."

Why am I reminded of Warren Zevon?

Haha, that's right. I saw a turkey drinking a pina colada at the People's Republik, and his hair was perfect.

 

[Tom Rankin]

What happened to the Mountain Lions here?

 

[funkyfreddy]

My wife Gail recently saw a Lynx in Hemmingford Quebec when she was out for a ride on her bike. That's only a few miles from the NY/Canada border. At first she thought it might be a mountain lion but she looked at a bunch of photos when she got home... the ears and tufty fur fit what she saw. It ran across the road pretty fast as most wild animals do when confronted by surprise encounters with humans.

There are definitely Lynx in Hemmingford and it's a mixed habitat of forest and fields.

I am surprised to see this thread get resurrected

 

[peakbagger]

We have to bring it back every so often to see if you are still keeping an eye on it Lynx are really starting to move into their former territories. They seem to really like modern forestry practices as their favorite food, snowshoe hares, like regrowth. Most forestry operations have switched to patch cuts compared to large clear cuts and my guess is its easier for the rabbits and lynx to repopulate smaller patch cuts while given the lynx cover.

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

Any more mountain lion sightings in New England of late? Friends along Boulder Creek in Boulder, Colorado, now routinely have mountain lions visiting their houses and even living under their decks, a bit unnerving.