posted on Nov, 23 2018 @ 07:42 AM
originally posted by: KansasGirl
Several folks in this thread have mentioned seeing more cougars/mountain lions this year. My sister's neighbor had one in her backyard a few months
ago (Oklahoma).
Do we know why they are showing up this year? Has there been a drastic sudden reduction of their habitat or food resources??
We don't really see big cats up in these parts- but this past summer we saw a rise in Coyotes like I've never seen before. Woman down the street has
had outdoor cats sixteen years without a problem- this past summer Coyotes came through and wiped them all out- including two of mine. I'm a bit
bitter over that.
There was a bumper crop from the trees last year- we don't know why, but we saw more acorns, pinecones, etc than I've seen in my whole life.
This past spring we had so many tent caterpillars there were actually road signs out in some places- the roads were slippery from the number of dead
bugs.
Slippery when covered in caterpillars
My theory is that the excess bugs would have created a ton of food for a boom in birds. The extra nuts would lead to an excess of rodents- which we've
also had a problem with here...
Record roadkill
More food, more mouths.
The Coyotes that normally would have starved and died have been well fed these past two years- causing an explosion in population, pushing them out
from their normal habitat to establish new grounds.
Pushing them into my yard, eating my pets.
Going to have to go push back soon.
Might be seeing the same thing out your way with the big predators. We have no idea why the trees were so bountiful the last two years- but so far up
this way it's been record setting cold and snowfall for late november this year. Didn't even have time for all of the leaves to fall.