Detroit Critters

**terryh** · July-09-10, 08:50 PM

I was heading to work the other morning when I spotted a mama skunk with two little ones following behind her crossing Allen St.just North of 9 mile. Wish I had a camera with me. With all the vacant land in Detroit, there must be a population increase in wild animals. Besides feral cats, dog packs and large rats, Ive seen Pheasants in urban praries. Im assuming there is an abundance of Racoons, possums and skunks in the city. Are threre any foxes are coyotes roaming the streets of the D? I know there are Falcons perched atop skyscrapers, wouldn't mind seeing one of those majestic feathered creatures gliding about the city proper.Obviously Belle Isle has creaures roaming and lurking about, what about the rest of the D?

**detroitsgwenivere** · July-09-10, 10:14 PM

Living here for several years, and while doing my Vacant Property Task Force work, I've managed to see all the animals you mentioned terryh, plus chipmonks, rabbits, chickens [[and roosters), squirrels, deer, snakes, bats, and shrews. I've seen muskrat, a turtle and a beaver off of the edge of the Detroit river [[by lake St. Clair). In ponds and drainage ditches I've seen salamanders, frogs and cray fish. Lots of common birds like warblers, ducks, Canadian geese, robins and blue jays. Numerous strange birds including craines, hawks, Peregrine falcons, and even an owl [[kinda rare in the city).

I'll never forget when I turned on the news to find that the police had cornered a coyote in a parking lot across from Cobo, right where I had walked to school [[Wc3d) that same day. Talk about close calls!

Never got to see any foxes or the infamous "big cat." But I'm keeping my eyes peeled....

**Jimaz** · July-09-10, 10:21 PM

I've been training a chipmunk to pluck peanuts off my boots.

**ggcanfield** · July-09-10, 10:31 PM

@Jimaz...link to the YouTube video to follow?

**Meddle** · July-09-10, 11:34 PM

Originally Posted by Jimaz

I've been training a chipmunk to pluck peanuts off my boots.

Not sure if you're being silly or not, but I did have a squirrel that would come up on my front porch for walnuts almost from my hand, maybe within a foot or so.

**ct4438** · July-10-10, 01:53 AM

A few years ago, we had a couple of squirrels that we eventually "trained" to take peanuts in the shell from our hand. They got so accustomed to the treats that they'd come up to the sliding door at the back of the house and peek inside, looking for food.

**Meddle** · July-10-10, 02:11 AM

I know most people consider squirrels to be pests, but you have to admit they are comical and fun to watch.

**Zacha341** · July-10-10, 05:57 AM

We get alot of squirrels as there are chestnut trees nearby, and lately several sitings of rabbits, big ones I might add. Pheasants too! They march right across a nearby lot. Then there's the lumbering possum.... ugh. It's just a zoo. But I've not seen a a skunk!

Originally Posted by Meddle

Not sure if you're being silly or not, but I did have a squirrel that would come up on my front porch for walnuts almost from my hand, maybe within a foot or so.

**Meddle** · July-10-10, 06:09 AM

Oddly enough, despite having lived in the country for nearly 10 years, I saw my first live Skunk waddling down the road a week or so ago. I've seen lots of dead ones and smelled many, many more, but this was the first I'd seen moving.

**sumas** · July-10-10, 06:13 AM

A big thrill was seeing not one but two bald eagles.Wierdest thing I saw was a giant gold fish in a canal near the river. It measured over a foot, must have been a release from someones pond. Pike also come into the canals to spawn, very ugly but impressive in size.

**unclefrank** · July-10-10, 07:36 AM

When I lived in Troy it was crazy with Skunks. My dog used got sprayed a couple of times, and the damn things dug up my lawn looking for grubs.

**Ed Golick** · July-10-10, 07:36 AM

A couple of months ago I saw a dead fox on the side of the Ford Freeway at Mt. Elliot.

**Crystal** · July-10-10, 08:36 AM

Wood ducks, secretive cavity nesters, are common in Detroit. I picked up many sick, injured, and orphaned wood ducks in Detroit in my work as a bird rehabber.

The Detroit area is on a major migration pathway and is an important stop on the Atlantic and Mississippi Flyways for hundreds of thousands of migratory birds. [[A birding field trip on Belle Isle this May yielded 59 species!)

Hawkfest in September is spectacular, and don't get me started about the Monarch butterfly migration!

**Brock7** · July-10-10, 10:41 AM

Back in the 90's I sometimes had to go out to pull in our Shepard/Collie mix when I heard loud cat-like growling in the back yard which came from a 'possum playing dead, or when I could hear the dog barking like crazy at one she had cornered. During a particularly cold winter I found a 'possum frozen solid in our refuse collector.

We've always seen a rabbit when Easter-time comes.

Twice in the 70's we had visits from individual peacocks which were rumored to probably have strayed from a peacock farm in St. Claire Shores.

In the 60's when we were kids my sister told me we would see and hear owls if a Democrat won the presidential election. Maybe it was white owls.

**jackie5275** · July-10-10, 11:38 AM

For about 7 or 8 years now, there have been a few phesants around the area of the Poletown plant.

**Gsgeorge** · July-10-10, 11:55 AM

Down here at Porter & Brooklyn my friends and I spotted what we thought was a small dog crossing the road at night. It froze in its tracks and we got a better look -- and then it scurried across the huge parking lots south of Porter. So we got a good long look at it. My friend from up north was with us and insisted it was a coyote. I thought it could have been one too. He was floored, absolutely shocked that such an animal would be living so close to downtown Detroit. A really cool sighting.

**moash76** · July-10-10, 12:25 PM

I saw a turkey walking around the streets of Redford. [[right at the border of Detroit) I was wondering if it was just a wild turkey, or someones "pet" that ran away.

**jcole** · July-10-10, 12:27 PM

Are you sure it was a turkey and not a buzzard? We have quite a few of those around here

**Zacha341** · July-10-10, 12:51 PM

It is amazing how close in these animals get. I saw a deer and a doe in the median of Michigan at Evergreen in Dearborn a few years back. I don't know how they got there as fast as traffic was moving on either side.....

Originally Posted by Ed Golick

A couple of months ago I saw a dead fox on the side of the Ford Freeway at Mt. Elliot.

Bullet · July-10-10, 02:44 PM

Wouldnt that be Allen south of Nine Mile? I lived at W Troy and Allen till a few months ago, and I know that Allen runs south from Nine. Just a little quibble my friend.

**terryh** · July-10-10, 07:21 PM

Originally Posted by Bullet

Wouldnt that be Allen south of Nine Mile? I lived at W Troy and Allen till a few months ago, and I know that Allen runs south from Nine. Just a little quibble my friend.

Correct!

LodgeDodger · July-10-10, 08:26 PM

I see quite a bit of this critter when in the "D":

Sorry...couldn't help myself.

**hubbardfarmer** · July-11-10, 06:53 AM

To see the peregrine falcons, just plant yourself near the Fisher Building and look up. Eventually you will catch a glimpse of them. I read in the News or Freep that a pair has also started nesting on the Ambassador Bridge.

I live not far from 9 and Allen, and I've smelled but not seen evidence of skunk. I saw a raccoon in the JLA garage once.

**eastland** · July-11-10, 11:55 AM

I saw a woodchuck or a groundhog crossing Blue Hill [[cadiuex-mack) in broad daylight a few weeks ago.

**rb336** · July-12-10, 07:37 AM

Originally Posted by moash76

I saw a turkey walking around the streets of Redford. [[right at the border of Detroit) I was wondering if it was just a wild turkey, or someones "pet" that ran away.

Michigan's wild turkey population has been on the rise, and with the number of overgrown areas in Detroit, it would not be surprising to see them there. can't imagine anyone confusing a turkey with a buzzard. maybe a turkey vulture, but the buzzards we have around here have feathered heads, short necks and look more like overgrown crows [[they also have that distinctive white pattern on their undersides)

I saw an animal control van @ 94 & the Davison, loading up what I thought was a great dane, until I saw hooves poking out of the tarp