Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Pennsylvania > Northeastern Pennsylvania
 [Register]
Northeastern Pennsylvania Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pocono area
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 06-01-2009, 06:17 AM
 
Location: Pike County, PA
1,162 posts, read 3,007,134 times
Reputation: 630

Advertisements

Yesterday was quite the day...when I was at the office we heard a smashing sound in the parking lot, and there was a little bear grabbing "take out" from the dumpster. He took a little bag, ran off into the woods with it...then a few minutes later came back for another one.

No camera handy.

Then I got home, and pulled in the driveway. Thought to myself "Funny, I think I just saw a bear..." and sure enough, there he was, peeking out from behind my shed. Little guy, much like the one at the office. It could even have been the same one since the office isn't too far from my house. He took off quicker than anything.

Camera was bundled up in the camera case; bear was gone before I could even think about a picture.

Then last night I saw a rare thing at a friend's house: a live raccoon. I usually only see them as the latest offering on the menu for the crows at Roadkill Cafe.

The raccoon was obviously annoyed when I pulled in the driveway; it ran away from the trash and climbed partway up a tree, then stared at me, as if to say "Well, go on, get out of here. I'm trying to have my dinner!"

Every once in a while I see a fox on 507. I've even seen a coyote near 507. My husband and I heard them howling one night; he didn't believe me when I said I saw one...until he heard them.

I was showing a house last week and was greeted in the basement by a milk snake. I screamed, handed my client the flashlight, and said "I'll be outside." My new rule: if the house is more than 25 years old, I will NOT be joining customers in the basement.

Any wildlife adventures to share?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 06-01-2009, 06:46 AM
 
996 posts, read 3,277,723 times
Reputation: 730
Do the hordes of disgusting tent caterpillars count? I've actually been limiting my time outside for the past week because of them, so the only wildlife I've really seen was a woodchuck running across the road on Friday.

We live near 507 also, near state gamelands and my husband has seen what he thinks are bobcat tracks. We always hear some strange animal sound in the woods near the house very early in the mornings, and have not figured out what kind of animal is making it yet.

Just be safe with the bear cub around, because his mama is probably nearby.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-01-2009, 07:08 AM
 
2,473 posts, read 5,452,072 times
Reputation: 1204
What a day Miss Karen Rice!!! A veritable plethora of mammals...so to speak!!

We had coyotes up north one year...the 1st time I heard them howling in our woods (now remember, I'm all alone in the middle of 14 acres of forest on top of a mountain!!) the hairs on my neck went up!! (same thing happened the 1st time I heard a screech owl in the middle of the night...most God-awful sound you could imagine!!)

The coyotes would come right up to the house, & I'd be out there in my underwear with a baseball bat trying to scare them away....they just looked at me like "ffffttt....what a jerk...he really thinks we're scared??".

Down here, I LOVE the fact that my jungle's become a "nature preserve" in the middle of "suburbia"!! I've got raccoons, opossums, armadillos, land tortoises, lizards, snakes, foxes, rabbits, wild parrots & parakeets, storks, ibis, herons, bats....all I need is to start building an ark!!

One time at work here, I went out back to open up the heavy equipment shed & I felt like I was being watched as I fiddled with the lock...

I turned around, & not 20 feet from me was a Florida panther at the edge of the woods!! We both stood looking at each other for about a minute, & then (s)he turned & disappeared into the woods. I always thought panthers were black, but (s)he was a beautiful rich auburn-y dark brown!!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-01-2009, 07:09 AM
 
Location: Pike County, PA
1,162 posts, read 3,007,134 times
Reputation: 630
No, I don't want to count the disgusting tent caterpillars!!!!

I've actually seen more bear since we moved to this half acre lot off 507 than I saw my entire life growing up on 23 acres over by Tink Wig/ Woodloch area.

After we moved in I was up late decorating my daughter's first birthday cake. I saw movement outside the patio door and thought it was the pesky dog that kept pooping in my yard, so I flicked on the light and was ready to whip open the door and scare the tar out of that dog...and was I ever grateful that my hubby had put the anti-theft device (read: a stick) in the track: there was a big ol' bear looking right through the glass at me...must have been watching me make the cake. (Ironically, the cake was a Pooh bear cake).

I screamed to high heaven, husband came down to see what was wrong, and of course the bear was gone. He didn't believe me.

After that it was actually quite predictable to see the mama and her babies wander through our yard. Once the kids were in the sand box, and my dog was running around, and I saw THEM coming. Was I scared! Got the kids in the house OK, dog wouldn't come...thankfully I caught her collar just as she saw the bears...we got inside, my dog went nuts, and the bears just ignored us as they loped along their merry way...

I just hope they don't get hungry for rabbit...we have a bunny outside....
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-01-2009, 07:14 AM
 
Location: Pike County, PA
1,162 posts, read 3,007,134 times
Reputation: 630
George, I will go to my grave swearing I saw a black panther down 447 in...Panther of all places. Again, my husband doesn't believe me (notice a pattern....the only way he believed I saw a rattle snake on 402 last summer was cause I actually got pictures of it...).

It was a nasty day in spring, perhaps. All three of my kids were miserable. Crying, whining, fighting. So I put them all in their car seats (all were under the age of 5) and said we're going for a ride...knowing they'd all fall asleep soon.

I went down 447 cause I never really went down there before. I saw something run across the road ahead of me that looked like a big - very big - black lab, with a VERY long tail. But when I got to where it crossed the road, I saw it in the field as plain as day - no way that was a dog, that was some kind of CAT - to quote Chance in Homeward Bound: it was Arnold Schwartz-a-kitty!

Again, no camera, but it moved too fast and was too far away anyway. Has anyone else seen something like that?

I have yet to see a bob cat - I want to.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-01-2009, 07:14 AM
 
996 posts, read 3,277,723 times
Reputation: 730
Quote:
Originally Posted by KarenRice View Post

I just hope they don't get hungry for rabbit...we have a bunny outside....
I think they're more into easy meals, like out of people's garbage cans!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-01-2009, 07:15 AM
 
996 posts, read 3,277,723 times
Reputation: 730
Quote:
Originally Posted by KarenRice View Post
George, I will go to my grave swearing I saw a black panther down 447 in...Panther of all places. Again, my husband doesn't believe me (notice a pattern....the only way he believed I saw a rattle snake on 402 last summer was cause I actually got pictures of it...).

It was a nasty day in spring, perhaps. All three of my kids were miserable. Crying, whining, fighting. So I put them all in their car seats (all were under the age of 5) and said we're going for a ride...knowing they'd all fall asleep soon.

I went down 447 cause I never really went down there before. I saw something run across the road ahead of me that looked like a big - very big - black lab, with a VERY long tail. But when I got to where it crossed the road, I saw it in the field as plain as day - no way that was a dog, that was some kind of CAT - to quote Chance in Homeward Bound: it was Arnold Schwartz-a-kitty!

Again, no camera, but it moved too fast and was too far away anyway. Has anyone else seen something like that?

I have yet to see a bob cat - I want to.
I would think they named the town Panther for a reason.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-01-2009, 07:38 AM
 
2,473 posts, read 5,452,072 times
Reputation: 1204
Quote:
Originally Posted by KarenRice View Post
George, I will go to my grave swearing I saw a black panther down 447 in...Panther of all places. Again, my husband doesn't believe me (notice a pattern....the only way he believed I saw a rattle snake on 402 last summer was cause I actually got pictures of it...).
It's quite possible!! There were supposed to be "mountain lions" in our area in upstate NY, (though I never saw one....) so why not in your area??!!

It's funny, when I saw that panther, I was too "mesmerized" by it to even be scared!! 20 feet ain't a big distance if (s)he wanted to attack, (esecially since I hadn't unlocked the door yet...) but that thought didn't even enter my mind!!

Now, when I was rummaging through that same heavy equipment shed & walked thru a spider web with black widow eggcases in it...

That was a different story!!!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-01-2009, 07:57 AM
 
Location: Dallas, PA
1,418 posts, read 3,582,806 times
Reputation: 602
LOL at "menu for the crows at Roadkill Cafe"

We have all sorts of creatures in our backyard. We have 6 acres of wetlands on our property, so there is always *something* going on. I've never personally seen a bear, but my husband has. A couple weeks ago we were sitting on the couch watching TV when something on the deck caught my eye...it was a raccoon staring right at me through the glass door My husband had left a bag of garbage out there and he was feasting on it. I also came to find out all the stray cats I thought I'd been feeding all this time were prob. really raccoons

We've also got a family of groundhogs in our backyard...some of them large enough to put on a leash! We've got lots of toads and turtles (we have a 2 acre pond) and several interesting birds that live in the wetlands...including woodpeckers...but not the little ones...I'm talking Woody Woodpecker size...looks JUST like him! LOL.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-01-2009, 04:30 PM
 
2,473 posts, read 5,452,072 times
Reputation: 1204
Quote:
Originally Posted by EnyaGirl View Post
including woodpeckers...but not the little ones...I'm talking Woody Woodpecker size...looks JUST like him! LOL.
LOL!!! We've got one of them that hangs out in our area too!!

The 1st time I saw him, I got Bill outside & he said "what the hell's that, a pterodactyl!!???"

He's a big 'un!!! (the woodpecker....)
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Pennsylvania > Northeastern Pennsylvania
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top