Friday, April 1, 2011

Wildlife in the Omaha Metro

This picture was allegedly taken in West Omaha and was forwarded throughout 
e-mail years ago (2006 I believe).  Even if it's not Omaha, the pictures are pretty damn cool.
The other day I was getting on Highway 75 on my way out of Bellevue when I saw what at first appeared to be a dog in the middle of an out-of-season corn field.  I slowed down and then realized that I wasn't looking at a dog, but a coyote.  Or I think so anyway- I've looked online and I'd say I'm 97% sure it was a Coyote, 2% sure it was a Fox, and say 1% sure it was a Chupacabra.  It's not everyday that you see a Coyote- in fact, it was the first one I've seen- so I thought that was pretty cool.

I've always had kind of a fascination with "backyard widlife."  Maybe it goes back to seeing a deer run through my neighbor's yard in the middle of Benson when I was just a kid-  I don't know.  But I got to thinking that it would be kind of "fun" to list any and all wildlife I've seen in the greater Omaha Metro area (this gets my coyote in the backdoor since I consider Bellevue part of the Omaha Metro, as most would I think).  I'm going to avoid any birds that primarily travel through the air for this list.  I would doubt that this list would differ form most Omahans, but here we go:

1.  Squirrels- of course.  2.  House Mice.  3.  Possums  4.  Rats (just one living one)  5.  Raccoons (including one that lived in front of my most recent home in Benson that had little use of his back legs so he got around by walking on his front legs)  6.  Turkeys (becoming more and more prevalent)  7.  Skunk (numerous dead ones, including in the middle of Benson, but a live one at  the Kelly softball complex).  8.  Moles  9.  Deer  10.  Foxes  11.  Rabbits (of course)  12.  Woodchucks  13. Bats  14.  Garter Snakes  15.  Bull Snakes 

Anyone have anything to add to the list?  Can't say I've seen the elusive mountain lion around here, or even a bobcat.  If you click "Read More", I've attached three other photos that made the rounds of that mountain lion.  It was not a good night to let your Dachsund out back....

(Update:  These photos came out of Wyoming, not Nebraska.  Still, they are pretty cool.)





    

2 comments:

  1. I've seen a few otters off the Keystone trail.

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  2. You sure they weren't muskrats? Either way, I've seen muskrats there for sure and forgot to mention those, so good call.

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