Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

By: Mr. Wilson on December 18, 2006
Just now I was thinking about animals I have seen in Lincoln (thanks to this post). Most of Lincoln's animal life is pretty bland. Sure, there are pockets of black squirrels here and there, and the turkey vultures are great fun to watch as they soar overhead. But what else do we have? I have seen a few muskrats over the years. Once I almost ran into a huge snapping turtle while riding my bike on the bike path between 56th Street and 48th Street. I fed wild berries to a fox along Beal Slough one day before baseball practice many years ago. My parents had turkeys in their yard (near 40th and Old Cheney) once. Occasinoally you'll catch a heron or a crane standing in one of Lincoln's puddles. I'll catch sight of a raccoon every once in a while. Frankly, I'm surprised Lincoln isn't overrun by raccoons. Seeing a big ol' cecropia moth in the wild is fairly rare, but they're out there. (I raised cecropia moths for a while when I was in 4-H. They are beautiful.) And I should note that my dad claims to have seen a puma one morning while driving on Old Cheney in the low spot between 35th and 27th Streets. What's the most unusual animal sighting you've had in Lincoln? Not counting sightings at zoos, circuses, fairs, or other exhibitions, you wiseacres.

Comments

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beerorkid
December 19, 2006 at 12:40AM

I live in the south bottoms close to the salt creek.  besides being the second worst place in town for feral cats we get a bunch of wildlife.  Skunks (sprayed my dog in the eye, man that was bad), coons, possum, but this one thing that I still cannot figure out what it is.

I am guessing a really big woodchuck since it has a bushy tail.  I would say 20 - 30 lbs and mean as heck.  It looks like a beaver but has some marking on its face.  it lives in my neighborhood and has attacked my dogs.  it is kinda slow, figuring cuz it is fat and old.  Nobody in the neighborhood can figure out what it is.  i have called animal control and not had any luck.

I want to eat it, whatever it is 😉

I spend most of my free time in wilderness park.  There is so much out there.  The turkeys are awesome, big and nummy looking.  Deer, bats, and I saw a baby of one of those things that haunts my neighborhood.

Mr. Wilson
December 19, 2006 at 1:24AM

Yeah, you have to watch out for that one. She can be vicious.

beerorkid
December 19, 2006 at 1:33AM

Daisy hmmmmmm…. quite possibly 😉

Aint no badger since the markings are not as severe. But, darn close in the body.  possibly a strange variety?  Plus the muzzle is not as long.

Wolverine looks closer, yet once again the facial marking seem to extreme.  And their population is sparse if existant around here at all.

According to wikipedia woodchuck redirects to groundhog.  And it says they can grow to 30 lbs.  i am betting it is a woodchuck.  The thing is huge, mangy, and vicious.

I have yet to see a burrow though.  Doubt the fatass can burrow 😉 Rest assured I have tried to get a pic for over a year now.  I will post it if I ever get it.  And my neighbor is waiting to kill it with his bow.  Serious it causes so much havoc that his bow sits by his back door.

D.M.B.
December 19, 2006 at 1:37AM

the daisy picture was not in response to beerokid, just an unusual animal sighting.

jwiltshire
December 19, 2006 at 2:56AM

Beerorkid never met an animal he wouldn’t eat.

I claim to have seen a puma, a few years back, a buddy and I were driving around south Lincoln at night (and sober) and we saw one just off the road near 56th and Yankee Hill.  It was nifty.

Matt
December 19, 2006 at 3:23AM

Nothing too radical, I suppose. We used to get a possum that would sit on the old back yard fence and spit at the dogs. I know of two fox dens in the middle of town - one on city campus and one near Wyuka. Both had kits at the time. I’ve had a close look at the Capitol falcon, and I’ve seen a mighty big footprint, but nothing more exotic than those.

foxspit
December 19, 2006 at 2:47PM

Just saw a fox in east Lincoln two weeks ago.  We found a dead badger stuck in our fence in west Lincoln a few years ago after the Fourth of July.  A flock of wild turkey wandered around Wilderness Park and U.S. 77 two winters ago.  A neighbor saw a bald eagle at our house in west Lincoln a couple of years ago, probably feeding off the lake.

jwiltshire
December 19, 2006 at 10:43PM

The country club I work at is a mile east of Lincoln and we get turkeys all the time.  One time we were able to coerce one into coming into the golf shop.  Other times we watch them do stuff.  It’s pretty awesome.

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