Since this thread is about mountain lions in NY I will repeat this post here---November 2011 I saw a large dead red cat on left shoulder of Southbound I-81 just after the Whitney pt exit. The face was rounded-a cross between a raccoon kind of face and a domestic cat.-sweet/round face very long rope like (thickish) tail w.straight fur-curved around towards the front- height of a St. Barnard but thin build like a Dane. The legs were long. The color was solid orange red. I was traveling at 65mph and by the time I had processed what I saw it was too late to easily pull over. I was very surprised. I posted a description of what I had seen on Topix in the hope someone else had seen it and could let me know what it was. All I got was a few snide comments. Then I found this: "05-05-2011, 06:48 PM #1 Crokit crokit Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 158 Mountain lion sighting First, let me state that I have all my faculties, excellent eye sight, and am not given to exaggerations. Today, while traveling south on Interstate 81, between Syracuse and Binghamton, I saw a Mountain Lion / Cougar/Panther, pick your noun.!! 100% positive, absolutely no doubt. There is ZERO chance that it was anything else. The only other thing it could have possibly been ( other than a live mountain lion/cougar/panther ) is a full body mount of a mountain lion/cougar/panther and someone pulling a prank. It was less than 100yds off the West side of the road, sitting on top of a section of rock/cliff that the highway had been cut through. It was sitting on it's haunches, leaning forward, ears forward, looking down onto/across the highway. It was about 30-40 feet above the highway. Just before the " Castle creek 1 mile " highway sign. When I screamed " holy F%^K, a mountain lion, scaring the S#$T out my buddy who was driving almost lost control at 75 mph. An absolutely beautiful animal, well muscled, excellent specimen. Up until now, when ever I've seen reports of sightings, I've taken them with a grain of salt. No more! Anyone know of any other recent reported sightings in that area? Wldnerness: Can you put me in touch with any of the state Dec/Rangers/etc from that area?" And my post on Topix was as follows: Justwondering East Syracuse, NY 1 huge red fox, moutain lion or lynx on I-81 (S) near Castle Creek Nov 9, 2011 Did any see a dead huge cat like animal on the southbound side of I-81 about a mile closer to Syracuse then the exit for Castle Creek. It was on the left lying an its side, obviously dead and huge. If you did see it, or heard someone else talking about it, what was it? It looked like it had a body like a mountain lion, a long tail with long fur-not bushy and a face that was rounder like a lynx.Its color was pretty uniformly red-not mixed or strips or anything like that. I was moving too fast and, once I had processed what I saw, I had gone too far to see it. Apparently someone picked it up, probably for its fur, because it was gone soon thereafter. I saw it at around 10:40am Tuesday morning. If you did not see it but are familiar with the wild life around there, any ideas? Any information would be appreciated. Hunters and Wild life experts,(to those needing to be sarcastic, save it), what do you think? These two sightings are at identical places. I do not believe that they are both mirages. Also, if the one I saw was young--it would not have been as visible to a driver on I-81 6 months earlier. The one I saw was not so big that it would have been very visible to drivers if it were on the top of a hill. That means that the one I saw could have been the adolescent offspring of the one seen by the earlier poster. If so, maybe there is a den nearby. I know exactly where I saw the dead animal so a wildlife person or ranger could easily investigate. If the other poster saw the parent in May and I saw a dead adolescent one in November I bet that there is one that has set up a residence in the area.

We have had a good size pack (from the sound) of Coyotes living in our gully here in the Finger Lakes for several years now. They have lots of cover and plenty of rodents/ rabbits to feast on, their primary diet. I have sheep and a horse and electric net fencing, so no trouble so far. The neighbor who has a good size flock of sheep had a sheep guard dog in with the flock. No reports of coyote attacks on any of the local flocks. We do have barn cats disappear, but they do wander into the woods, so possibly cross tracks with the pack. But then we also have raccoon and fox, so maybe they are responsible. The strange thing is that the Coyotes seem to have disappeared this winter. We know there IS rabies in the area - my husband got bitten by a confirmed rabid skunk in Feb., so I am wondering if the pack was taken sick and died out. With the number of rodents and rabbits they eat, they are welcome to live in my gully, and since it is good habitat, I assume they will be back. On another note, I have had Owls living in my woods in the gully since I have lived here - 32 years - but I did not hear a single Owl this winter. I leave old and dying trees in the gully to encourage their nesting, so I know they have shelter, and am wondering what could have happened to them also. -Rosalinda

Last night around midnight I heard a thumping sound like someone using a trashcan as a drum. I turned on the porch light and made some noise and the bear ran away from the trashcan by the detached garage. From the porch with a flashlight we could see one large bear and one little baby bear that was trying to climb a tree next to the garage. They hung out there for a bit seemingly waiting for us and the lights to go away so they could return for the delicious stinky trash. It was dark and my camera was unable to auto focus, but I did get these pictures: the next one is zoomed and contrast-enhanced

Thx kindly unfortunately for me it takes a lot of words at times to really explain well. Best then be entertaining. Was it worth it? ________ Current 2017 Winter Spring yard plan We currently have an nice range of hydrangea getting underway in the yard as well as some being installed this winter through esrly spring. This is Hydrangea macrophylla 'Mathlida Gutches' with acid pH soil with Aluminum Sulphate added a few years prior. Electric Blue Division of same bush in new yard in the process of the root ball adapting to the new pH enviroment. Obviously there are local pH range variations working here. Over time it will stabilize to purple or pink, unless I act on it. Liking the effect I added dolomite lime to one side of tbe bush and Aluminum Sulphate to the other. Summer Yard Plan I'm going to add some serious Alocasia, Colocasia, Banana, Giant Canna and Giant Ferns this year. Many are hardy here or might be hardy enough and possibly survive a wet long winter too. That is if tricked just right. Others will need to be over wintered inside, until I have expanded enough stock to test for more effective outdoor methods. We have sodium vapor and T55 lights on timer and gas heater installed in an insulated side shed also an unheated 40 F garage holding Brugmansia planters, now in suspended animation. To have success as a zone shifter, one has to know why a (semi)tropical didn't work outside. Was the actual cause cold hardiness, drainage, rotting, or slugs or other pests eating roots and bulbs? Mulch type, tarping, soil amendments, correct bottom drainage, and/or correct pH* could make a huge difference on meeting challenges. I'm getting a little electronic temperature datalogger to help save me on making repeated measurement trips. For a highly desired buried rootstock survival outdoors, one could even lay a 20watt seedling heatmat over the crown area, dry mulch, and cover with a waterproof tarp (e.g., for a Colocasia 'Thailand Giant'). With our 50-ish F ground temp below and an 85 F small zone above, it just might work. 100 watts / winter for protecting 5 prize tropical plants zone would be much more cost effective, and last longer, than a tropical vacation. * pH could effect root health or function, fertilzer loading or type needed and possibly microbe aggression or pest range too. I've used so much commercial compost in my new yard that I better watch plants here liking either an acid pH or drier soil. I know this for sure because most of my purple to blue hydrangeas shifted to pink and red and I can also see that my ammended soil for hydrangeas stay more moist than before. Soil ammendments found here to shift hydrangea color and/or a pH test kit can teach me how to pH adjust here.. My soil is too dry, clay filled and rocky in fact to not add compost. My yard is not hardpan, having a solid clay layer, but is more of a glacial till. It has small to large rocks stopping most digging tools quickly. Having not pre-tested and already moved here, I must use an iron rod for initial digging. Then I screen out excess rock and add compost back, 20 to 50%, to make decent soil. I dig "root pits" and "bog pits (plastic lined) mixing the ammendents needed with my screened soil as I go. i dig a pit as wide and deep enough needed to support an adult plant size. My soil structure thus permits me to ammend, on a plant by plant basis, for that plants needs. For hydrangea, I can seperately adjust pH differently for side by side plants to display different colors. I can even try making a single hydrangea a bicolor red/blue or a have a mixed blue, pink and purple color range. The range is created with focused line addition of ammendmenrs lightly mixed into the soil, above the root ball. If concerned about eventual pH blending yielding a single color try a below ground water drip diverter(s) such as plastic edging strip(s). These effects work only becuase plants roots feed more verically than horizontally through the plant with major root zones feeding primarily above. Yes plants are more simply wired than our brain body connections. Or gardening success would be likely be thought to due to insightful plant psychology rather than plant physiology ... except for that Elf riden Butterfly Orchid that I'm growing under lights. Yes 'Hildos' rides again! Psychopsis Mendenhall 'Hildos' FCC/AOS Hildos' 'Papilio' clan was first seen by Westerners waving to them in the wind, while clinging onto trees in Trinidad and Tobago. Hildos' direct ancestor was promptly captured and brought back to England in the early1800s, where the seated Elf Rider likely magically initiated the craze for orchid collecting in Europe. An award was granted the butterfly in 1825. Interestingly, most viewing this stunning sight still only have seen the Butterfly and not Jockey rider. With plants you sometimes need to look closer to truely understand them.