Boston Globe: "Coyotes are finding a home across Mass"

"One of the world’s most adaptable animals, coyotes have learned to live in urban environments. And as they become more accustomed to their surroundings, and with plentiful amounts of discarded food, they can grow less fearful of their human neighbors, wildlife experts say.

“They’re out there, and they’re here to stay. The best thing we can do is learn how to live with them,” said Elizabeth Magner, an animal advocacy specialist for the MSPCA. “We all need to be aware of the wild animals around us.”

State officials estimate that as many as 11,500 coyotes are living in Massachusetts, and they’ve been reported in every city and town on the mainland. Only Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, to date, have failed to record a sighting."

Continue reading the article online. (Subscription maybe required) 

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/09/08/metro/coyotes-neighborhood-theyre-here-stay/

A younger coyote, an increasingly familiar sight in the state.MASSWILDLIFE/BILL BYRNE

MA Fish & Game: "Never thought you’d see a bear? Think again"

MA Fish & Game (@MassDFG) tweeted on Fri, Jul 16, 2021:

While communities in western Massachusetts have been coexisting with #BlackBears for years, a young bear recently made headlines in southeastern Massachusetts. As the bear range expands eastward, many residents are wondering what to do if they see a bear.

Continue reading for information  https://t.co/uORmiR42ex 

Shared from: https://twitter.com/MassDFG/status/1416156956813824003

MA Fish & Game:  "Never thought you’d see a bear? Think again"

MA Fish & Game: please "stop using bird feeders and bird baths as a precaution"

MA Fish & Game (@MassDFG) tweeted on Thu, Jul 15, 2021:

A mysterious illness is killing #SongBirds in the mid-Atlantic. While the disease is not known to be in New England at this time, we're asking the public to report observations of dead birds and stop using bird feeders and bird baths as a precaution.

https://t.co/fATsTbvXfP   or

https://www.mass.gov/news/advisory-report-dead-birds-and-remove-feeders

Shared from Twitter: https://t.co/iogO0wJymL

MA Fish & Game:  please "stop using bird feeders and bird baths as a precaution"

“Some people are afraid of opossums based on their looks"

From the Milford Daily News, an article of interest for Franklin:

Some are fearful of their beady eyes and sharp claws, but any danger opossums pose is usually outweighed by a human’s reaction to them, says Franklin wildlife rehabilitator Stacey Cobb.

On Sept. 14, she met “Hope,” a juvenile opossum who was shot repeatedly with a pellet gun, she said.

“He was in rough shape,” said Cobb, of Nature’s Nurse Wildlife Rehabilitation, when she met the injured marsupial at about 5 that morning. A North Attleborough woman and her niece, who Cobb noted were both “pretty badly beaten up” themselves, brought the animal over after he was shot by a neighbor a few hours earlier.

“It was bad,” said Cobb. “He was shot in the eye, and the bullet had gone into his eye and was trying to come out his cheek/jaw area.” He was also shot in the abdomen, she added.

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)

https://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20201009/franklin-rehabilitator-applying-to-keep-injured-opossum-as-educational-ambassador-against-animal-cruelty?rssfeed=true

 

"Nature's Nurse Wildlife Rehabilitation is a registered 501c3 in Franklin, Massachusetts. We nurse sick, orphaned and injured wildlife back to health and back into their natural environment within the state of Massachusetts."

Visit their webpage  http://naturesnursewildliferehabilitation.org/

Or their Facebook page  https://www.facebook.com/naturesnursewildliferehabilitation/

 

MA Fish & Game magazine - new issue available

MA Fish & Game (@MassDFG) tweeted at 11:02 AM on Wed, Aug 19, 2020:

The newest issue of Massachusetts Wildlife magazine features articles on bald eagles, nature-deficit disorder, Belle Isle Marsh, and eiders! Subscribe today.   https://t.co/aZhijVsO7b https://t.co/TVxRpUrIP1

Franklin radar picked up via Twitter

https://twitter.com/MassDFG/status/1296100268510187520?s=03 

Subscribe to the Wildlife Magazine ($6/year)

https://www.mass.gov/how-to/massachusetts-wildlife-magazine

MA Fish & Game magazine - new issue available

“I think it’s important that we learn to coexist with wildlife”

From the Milford Daily News, articles of interest for Franklin:

"Stacey Cobb doesn’t need a calendar, or blooming flowers and emerging buds, to tell her when spring has arrived. That’s because it’s the time of year when her household swells with new arrivals - many of them newborns - in need of some compassion and tender loving care. 

They aren’t of the human kind, but rather are babies of the forest: Squirrels, rabbits, raccoons, foxes. When they are orphaned and too young to care for themselves, or they need some non-veterinary care for a while, Cobb is there with open heart to help. 

A wildlife rehabilitator, Cobb is finding herself quite busy lately with the first babies of the season. A litter of five squirrel kits - so young they are still blind and hairless - came into her care just days ago, joining two other baby squirrels she’d already been caring for, in addition to other critters making a temporary home with her until they are ready to be returned to the wild."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
https://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20190418/natures-nurse-franklin-wildlife-rehabilitator-opens-heart-home-to-animals-in-need

You can help by buying items off Stacy's Amazon Wish List
https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/7LISNHDHE84P

You can help by buying items off Stacy's Amazon Wish List

"report any observations of eagles that are suspected or known to have nests"

From the Milford Daily News, articles of interest for Franklin:

"The number of bald eagles nesting in Massachusetts appears to be steadily growing amid three decades of efforts to re-establish a natural population of the nation’s animal here. 

State wildlife officials announced last week that they identified 76 territorial pairs of bald eagles this nesting season, up from 68 pairs last year and the 59 pairs counted in 2016. 

From those 76 nests this year, MassWildlife said 65 chicks hatched and survived to fly. Forty-five of the chicks were “banded with silver federal bands and color-coded state bands,” MassWildlife said. 

Bald eagles disappeared from Massachusetts around the turn of the 20th century, with the last known nesting attempt taking place in Sandwich in 1905, MassWildlife said. Upon discovering that some eagles were spending winters in the Quabbin Reservoir area in the early 1980s, MassWildlife and others began restoration efforts."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
http://franklin.wickedlocal.com/news/20181203/bald-eagle-population-rebounding-with-state-help

photo via Division of Fisheries and Wildlife

Visit the MA Division of Fisheries and Wildlife for more about the eagles
https://www.mass.gov/news/bald-eagle-numbers-on-the-rise

Help MassWildlife with the annual brood survey from June 1 through August 31

"Sportsmen and women, birders, and other wildlife enthusiasts are encouraged to assist with MassWildlife’s Annual Wild Turkey Brood Survey. The public is asked to record sightings of hens, poults (newly-hatched turkeys), and males (both juvenile and adult). For help identifying male and female turkeys please click here
https://www.mass.gov/service-details/identifying-female-and-male-turkeys-in-the-spring.

MassWildlife conducts the Annual Brood Survey from June 1 through August 31 each year to estimate the number of turkeys. The brood survey helps our biologists determine productivity and compare long-term reproductive success while providing an estimate of fall harvest potential. Turkey nesting success can vary annually in response to weather conditions, predator populations, and habitat characteristics. Citizen involvement in this survey is a cost-effective means of gathering useful data, and can be a fun way for people to connect with nature. Be sure to look carefully when counting turkey broods, the very small poults may be difficult to see in tall grass or brush. MassWildlife is interested in turkey brood observations from all regions of the state, including rural and developed areas.

2 ways to participate:

Report individual observations online
https://form.jotformpro.com/70614901778966

or

Download and print a Turkey Brood Survey form to complete over the course of the summer  https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2016/11/sy/turkey-brood-survey.pdf

Mail completed forms to: Brood Survey, MassWildlife Field Headquarters,1 Rabbit Hill Road, Westborough, MA 01581."

This was shared from https://www.mass.gov/service-details/wild-turkey-brood-survey

Help MassWildlife with the annual brood survey from June 1 through August 31