Curmudgeon

Is it legal to release it in a pond?

Without debating the science, yes, Cuomo made a political decision, and it was the right one. Since the courts had ruled that this industry could be restricted by local laws, if fracking was allowed, there would have been a hundred battles in a hundred towns. The industry would be dealing with moratoria, changing laws, and a patchwork of restricted areas. These things were out of his hands. Regardless of which side you are on, Cuomo declared peace across the state. Neighbor relations were getting really hostile here. I'm quite pleased things are back to the way they were.

Doc is right. They have dramatically expanded their range. Other species that have just as obviously expanded in NYS are mourning dove, red-bellied woodpecker, tufted titmouse, cardinal and merlin. The species that has expanded its range the most in recent decades is common raven. You can see these changes graphically on breeding bird atlas maps that show data gathered during 2 periods 20 years apart. I tried to get the change map link for vultures but I'm getting error messages from DECs site this morning. If you can get to it, search for turkey vulture at this link. I have the hard copy in front of me. It's quite interesting. http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/51030.html

Ever screw up and feel embarrassed? Probably not this bad. I have no idea what happened. Maybe that microburst last month. I was just driving through Guilford and saw this. That's a skid steer underneath. It was a big structure. Maybe 50 feet wide.

No doubt that they are primarily trespassing complaints, however, there are participants in this discussion they see no threats to hunting at all.

The hunting that is safe is deer hunting, not just because of the money it generates. It serves the interests of a lot of people who like wildlife but do not hunt. It helps protect habitat for non-game species. I know people who lean anti--hunting but support deer hunting. According to a source in DEC, the practice most at risk in NY is coyote hunting with hounds. He claims the single highest number of complaints they receive regards this type of hunting. At times like this I miss Mike Rossi, he was self-righteous and could not suffer fools very well, but he took the long view and understood that hunters' image was really important for maintaining opportunity. I don't blame him for quitting the forum. He cared deeply about ethics. Some ideas and values that are apparently lost on some members.

Isn't this wonderful. How many of you are aware that anti-hunters read these posts? I know first hand. At the time we were discussing the control of mute swans, I had my real name on my signature line. That's when the 24 hour harassing phone calls started. No cell service here, only the land line. Since I'm a public person, the phone number is not hard to find. I consider myself an ambassador for hunting, having made over 20 formal public presentations since 2014 to maybe a thousand people. These are focused on eagle conservation - as are some of the articles I have written - and not targeted towards hunters. However, my hunting practices are brought up each time because they directly affect eagle conservation. I'm proud to be a hunter, usually. Some of what I am reading and seeing here is great ammunition for the PETA crowd. It is offensive, which suits the antis just fine, and quite indefensible from my point of view You can live in your little bubbles of like minded people. However, hunters are a small minority. If a significant part of the population turns further against us, it will turn out badly, especially in a state like NY. Hunters have a PR problem and a couple of people here are making it worse.

It wouldn't do any good. The local yotes would just kill them. What about: parvo mange rabies distember prey base limits and, especially, other coyotes All the research shows that regular hunting does not reduce the coyote population. It just opens territories and increases reproduction. Yes there is a paper out there that says you can get the population down by removing something like 70% of the population each year. Something like that. And, you need to hunt year-round which will never be legal in NYS. If coyotes are not hunted - by people or wolves - pairs form larger family territories that limit reproduction because they keep others from breeding. Do a google search. There is a ton of science. This is an emotional thread with little data, evidence or reason. I have been in these arguments with the He-Man Coyote Haters Club members in the past. I ignore some of them. I'll take some time to respond today because the forum regularly gets new members. They need to know that there is science. There is also ethics. Some people think - like Culver Creek - that even predators/competition deserve some respect. Some coyote haters are motivated by fear. Nothing rational mind you. Bees are certainly more dangerous. The primary reason I see here for members hating coyotes is that they are competition. Which brings us to the next set of questions: What is your metric for determining if there are too many coyotes? What is your metric for determining if there are too many deer? How many of you can determine if there is an overpopulation of deer in an area just by examining the plant makeup of the area? I know of a couple but suspect very few others. The roughly 30,000 coyotes in the state are failures at controlling the deer population. Thus DEC gives out thousands of DMP tags resulting in more than half the annual 230,000 deer killed by hunters being "antlerless". If the coyotes were more effective, large parts of the state would not be suffering ecological damage from deer, affecting many species of plants and non-game wildlife habitat. Then there are the economic costs of too many deer: ag damage; timber value diminished; horticultural damage; car accidents.

I'm sure you could but I don't travel much. I grew up near Bear Mountain where the OP took the photo. It was on one of my teenage jaunts that I encountered the only timber rattler I've seen in the wild. I found many more copperheads.

I'm rooting for the coyotes. They can kill them all as far as I'm concerned. I suffered many thousands of dollars of deer damage last winter, all at night. During the season, they hung out on the 700 acres of land around me where no hunting is allowed. We only killed 2 does last fall. Go coyotes!

That is special. I'm jealous. I haven't seen a timber rattler since 72 or 73.

Broad-winged is a possibility. Adults will have a distinctly banded black and white tail. Red-shouldered is another possibility. Adult red-shouldered will have a black tail with thin white bands. A Cooper's Hawk is medium sized and lives in forests but they don't favor cold blooded prey. They generally eat birds, occasionally small mammals. Of those 3, broad-winged is very likely to eat herps, though red-shouldered do too. You should have noticed the distinct black and white bands if it was a broad-winged. I attached a photo.

If it has a red tail, it is an adult. However, in some raptor species, a bird may be able to breed before reaching adult plumage. Juvenile red-tailed hawks have a brown tail that has bands. The banding may not be visible from a distance.

They are obviously in breeding mode, just running 4 months late. I wonder if one of them lost a mate and this is a new relationship. The timing is all out of whack. My guess is they will use the nest next year. It may or may not be a new nest. They could be fixing up an existing one.

Very cool. Usually they do it early in the breeding season. I've not heard of them doing it this late. Some young will have already fledged. Once, I watched 2 bald eagles do that then immediately fly to a branch to copulate.

According to The Amphibians and Reptiles of NYS (Gibbs et al - and a great reference book) snapping and painted turtle hatchlings may overwinter in the nest. That may be why you are seeing such small turtles out now. I just want to say that I find this discussion encouraging. Sometimes it seems, if a species isn't beautiful, or one we pursue for sport, people don't value it. There is negativity. Snapping turtles are not pretty. They are predators. I have known people who would automatically kill any they encountered. One guy who told me he would crush baby snappers under foot to save the ducks and game fish. He would be right at home in some of the coyote discussions around here.

Wooly, Thanks for pointing out that holding themy by the tail can cause permanent injury. You got to it before I could. A perfectly safe - for turtle and human - alternative is to grab the shell on each side of the tail. That's how I was taught. It works well if they aren't too heavy.

Watch out for turtles in the road. If you want to read about efforts to minimize road kill, especially of turtles and snakes, read this. http://www.bbc.com/news/business-40088879

Don't do like Hannibal, make sure you get into Rome. Enjoy.

Eddie, If you have suet out now, I'm guessing you don't have many bears around. Good shot. I've got pileated around but never at the feeder.

A fox just doing what foxes do. If you want fewer foxes, ask the coyotes to help.

Foresters don't want it competing with money trees. Here, it is the preferred tree for buck rubs.

Looks like striped maple

Even though I am familiar with a lot of this information, I still found this pretty interesting.

Wonderful.