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This is not a direct observation I made, but I saw this on a nature show and found it fascinating. A man had befriended a pack of wolves. It may have been a captive pack, but it doesn't really change the story. The man got to know the hierarchy of the pack and knew the individuals. He found that the highest ranking members of the pack get the first choice of meat from prey. Over time, the scent from the cuts of meat they eat becomes part of the wolf, so any wolf can go up to any other wolf and determine their status in the pack, just from their scent.
Well, the man wanted to introduce his girlfriend to the pack, but he wanted the pack to treat her well, like a high ranking wolf. So, he instructed her to buy and eat cuts of meat that a high ranking wolf would eat. This gave her the scent of a high ranking wolf and therefore she was well received by the pack.
In an unrelated story, a research project showed the killing off wolves to protect livestock actually had the opposite effect of the desired result:
"They studied 25 years of lethal control data from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services Interagency Annual Wolf Reports in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho, and here's the bottom line: Killing a single wolf increases the odds of livestock depredations by 4% for sheep and 5% to 6% for cattle. If 20 wolves are killed, livestock deaths double.
That parallels a similar study in 2015 by Wielgus, Peebles and other WSU colleagues, which found that lethal controls of cougar populations also tend to backfire, disrupting their populations so much that younger, less-disciplined cougars end up attack more livestock.
But when legal or illegal hunting ends up killing off the alpha wolves, breeding pairs escape the normal pack controls.
"While an intact breeding pair will keep young offspring from mating, disruption can set sexually mature wolves free to breed, leading to an increase in breeding pairs," he was quoted in the WSU news release. "As they have pups, they become bound to one place and can't hunt deer and elk as freely. Occasionally, they turn to livestock."
There has been a large flock of wild turkeys that lived around the corner from me. A new housing development was put in and the turkeys disappeared.
Yesterday, though, while driving home, I saw three wild turkeys that had returned to their old hangout. I hope they are moving back in and I also hope that the flock didn't disappear because they were killed off by someone in the new housing area. Perhaps traffic moving too fast for the area? The turkeys were often out in the middle of the road and were well conditioned to expect cars to stop for them..
There has been a large flock of wild turkeys that lived around the corner from me. A new housing development was put in and the turkeys disappeared.
Yesterday, though, while driving home, I saw three wild turkeys that had returned to their old hangout. I hope they are moving back in and I also hope that the flock didn't disappear because they were killed off by someone in the new housing area. Perhaps traffic moving too fast for the area? The turkeys were often out in the middle of the road and were well conditioned to expect cars to stop for them..
I've only once seen wild turkeys in a populated area, and they were in a yard next to a busy intersection in a small town on the eastern seaboard. I forget which, after traveling the country for two years they all started running together. Anyway, until then I had the impression they were shy creatures. Maybe the person whose yard they were in fed them.
Our house is in a subdivision but on the back edge, up a long driveway, on a wooded lot next to neighbors (none of whom are really close) with wooded lots. One afternoon some years ago my son called me to look at the driveway. A small flock of turkeys was strolling up the drive, as if coming to visit. They turned and went into the woods just before they got to the house.
I've only once seen wild turkeys in a populated area, and they were in a yard next to a busy intersection in a small town on the eastern seaboard. I forget which, after traveling the country for two years they all started running together. Anyway, until then I had the impression they were shy creatures. Maybe the person whose yard they were in fed them.
Our local wild turkey flock is definitely not shy.
We saw hummingbirds very late this year. Last one was October 18. I kept having to make more nectar for them. Usually, they are all gone by the end of September.
Interesting. My experience was just the opposite. The hummingbirds left early this year. We had a very dry year. Tons of acorns falling, tree branches falling and hitting things, and the colors aren't very bright this fall. Kind of depressing. Also, I'm wondering if there is something wrong with the peanut delight suet. The birds aren't touching it and I bought an 8-pack box, with six still remaining. None of this is usual.
This year, rehung our regular bird feeder that is for smaller birds and we’ve gotten some of the birds that we enjoyed up north, like tufted titmouse, chickadees and nuthatches. We have abundant cardinals and hummingbirds.
They all left Northern Alabama and went to Coastal Georgia! Enjoy!
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