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When the bear(s) appeared today, I just had to share my winter/spring New England backyard wildlife with some animal lovers

When the bear(s) appeared today, I just had to share my winter/spring New England backyard wildlife with some animal lovers

Old Apr 18th, 2008, 03:21 PM
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When the bear(s) appeared today, I just had to share my winter/spring New England backyard wildlife with some animal lovers

It was really an amazing winter! Predator Biologist - if you see these - what do you think would have taken down the deer? (in Vermont)

http://tinyurl.com/4oxpqh


(Baby bears - the first I've ever seen!)

Cyn
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Old Apr 18th, 2008, 03:44 PM
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Wow, great pictures. I have only had some deer in my backyard and a nutria in my stream this spring.
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Old Apr 18th, 2008, 05:18 PM
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I could give up city living for that. How wonderful. Thanks for sharing!
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Old Apr 18th, 2008, 05:52 PM
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Brilliant Cyn!! From the title I knew this was going to be you. Outstanding viewing with deer, turkeys, red fox, and the bears. Adorable little cubs at about 2 1/2 to 3 months old or so. You can't see them much earlier than that unless you want to crawl into the den.

Hard to tell too much definitive about the deer carcass except that it appears that the legs have been carried off which is a trait of the canids so probably coyotes or foxes ate on the carcass. The deer might well have died naturally from the rigors of winter and then been consumed or in a weakened condition I think the large coyotes you have in that area would be the most likely candidates with a bobcat as the second choice who could have made the kill and fed and then the canids moved in later.

I hope your awesome sightings keep up all year! Thanks for posting the pics.
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Old Apr 18th, 2008, 06:16 PM
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how cool - baby bears! We have foxes that den in our back yard, and i love them. Worry a bit about the cats spending the night outside, but they can climb trees if they need to. And, isn't a fox barking the spookiest sound? It's not really a bark, either.

Thanks for posting
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Old Apr 18th, 2008, 07:35 PM
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Cyn,

What a treat to see the bear and cubs. Lucky you. Love the other photos too. Looks like Spring is finally here.

CW
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Old Apr 18th, 2008, 08:06 PM
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great pics, thanks....hope you will come to GTG oct 11 in cambridge
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Old Apr 18th, 2008, 08:51 PM
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Hi Cyn

My goodness, what a fantastic backyard! My backyard is looking very boring in comparison. I have always thought I had pretty good gameviewing in my backyard and local park, but I can see now how mistaken I was.

How do dog owners keep their dogs and the other animals/birds safe? I would hate to think what would happen to those cute little bear babies if my dog was around.

I would love a few of the deer around my local park - they look so lovely and peaceful.

Kind regards

Kaye
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Old Apr 18th, 2008, 09:10 PM
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WOW! How cool cyn! If I had all that in my yard, I'd never have to go to Africa, but all I get is mongoose and an occasional duck.
Great pics, thanks for sharing!
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Old Apr 18th, 2008, 11:11 PM
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Extremely cool! Thanks for sharing
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Old Apr 19th, 2008, 01:10 AM
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Wow!
We don't get much wildlife where we are, in London, other than the very very very occasional glimpse of a fox and the birds that we can tempt into our garden by leaving out feeders.
That's just amazing!
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Old Apr 19th, 2008, 03:19 AM
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So cooooooool! We live in NH but in a bit more populated area. We've seen all but the bears. We hope to see one someday while hiking.

Great pics. Thanks for sharing.
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Old Apr 19th, 2008, 03:24 AM
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Wonderful photos! When I can't afford Africa can I come to your house?
Thanks for sharing!
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Old Apr 19th, 2008, 04:39 AM
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Baby bears! What a backyard! And turkeys! Meep, meep (wrong sound)! I see roedeer here every day, but I only see foxes and badgers at night and very rarely.

Dennis, mongoose isn’t bad at all.

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Old Apr 19th, 2008, 05:07 AM
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How wonderful.
As a child we grew up with more opportunities for all kinds of 4/legged, and even turkey and geese. Now being a city gal, I realize how much I miss country living. Thanks for sharing.
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Old Apr 19th, 2008, 07:53 AM
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Nice views from your backyard, Cynstalker!
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Old Apr 20th, 2008, 03:02 PM
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cruisinred: I had to google nutria - orange teeth?? you have to get a picture and post it!

Leely - yes, it's truly been an amazing winter/spring for wildlife. Those cubs put the icing on the cake.

Bill - thanks for the age approximation on the babies - i'll pass on peeking in the den, though. She got into what i thought was an agressive stance towards me when she was in front of the gazebo (before I saw the cubs) - thought it was odd. Hadn't thought about a bobcat taking down the deer - i've never seen one of those.Fox were definately there, but they couldn't take it down, could they? I do hear coyotes at night - although again, never seen one. Thanks for the info.

Momliz - not to worry you more, but i lost 3 cats to the outdoors - don't know what got them.., my current babies are strictly indoors. Although, I had one cat who chased a fox out of the yard.

cw-Yes! Spring has finally arrived - almost all the snow is gone!!!

Bob - thanks for the GTG info - it's now on my calendar. Email me when we get closer - but i'm planning on it now.

KayeN - I don't know that a bear would go after a dog - maybe PB can tell us? The deer are fun - the Mama & Baby that you saw have been visiting me daily for over a month now - I did not intend to be feeding them, but I throw sunflower seeds out all winter for the squirrels, and these 2 deer found it...well, then i had some old carrots that i was going to have to toss, so the deer got them, and then the apple was mushy... and now I spend hundreds a week oncarrots for the deer (ok, not hundreds... ). They're pushy about getting their carrots now, too... especially baby. so cute.

Dennis - I would love to see a mongoose, and I think you would still go to Africa even if you had all this wildlife in your backyard. Angola perhaps.

Alejandra - thanks for taking a look. It's so nice to share these with people who really enjoy wildlife... unlike most in my family...

Kavey - yes, I wouldn't imagine you get to see many wild animals in London... that's why you go to Africa!

Erika - has your snow gone? Long, hard winter, don't you think?

Lillipets - love to have you - really! It should be in the dead of winter, though - in the summer I don't get to see nearly as much.

Nyamera - I know - Baby Bears! When I first saw Mama, I thought she was a "he" due to size. I saw "him" all of a sudden freeze by the edge of the bank, and thought - how odd, what scares a bear? And then this little black head popped up over the edge of the bank, and then the second one appeared, and I just went, "aawwwwwwwww"...

Sandi- nothing like country living. Of course, there's nothing like city living either.

atravelynn - thanks - it was a pretty special winter for wildlife!
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