Minnesota Wildlife? (Duluth, Northfield, Mound: college, fence, most dangerous)

[viridianforest]

Originally Posted by mingna

Do mosquitoes count?


Deer. Had our family car destroyed twice by hitting them on county roads. Fortunately for us no one was hurt, but unfortunately for the deer, it was killed. They'll dart out at dusk. And they are also carriers for Lyme disease, a genuine concern if out in the woods.

I would say mosquitoes count. We have pesky ones here, but I would imagine in a more humid area they might be a bit more pesky.

Glad no one was hurt with the deer collisions. For Lyme disease, you mean deer ticks transmitting the disease? It's a good thing to know, though. I figure that deer ticks is a new thing we would need to be on the look out for. We have ticks around, but it's seems so rare that they ever attach themselves to a person as I'm pretty sure we don't have a lot of them. I think I've only seen like 1 tick here in my lifetime.

[viridianforest]

Thanks for posting about the wildlife! Definitely gives me a better picture about the types of animals in the area

[mingna]

Originally Posted by viridianforest

I would say mosquitoes count. We have pesky ones here, but I would imagine in a more humid area they might be a bit more pesky.

Glad no one was hurt with the deer collisions. For Lyme disease, you mean deer ticks transmitting the disease? It's a good thing to know, though. I figure that deer ticks is a new thing we would need to be on the look out for. We have ticks around, but it's seems so rare that they ever attach themselves to a person as I'm pretty sure we don't have a lot of them. I think I've only seen like 1 tick here in my lifetime.

Yes, they are carriers for the disease-transmitting ticks. We use to walk our beagle through some undeveloped land, and frequently came home with a few ticks attached to the poor dog's ears or other warm regions.

[Izzie1213]

I lived in the Dallas area for a number of years. Moved back to Minnesota. One thing that struck me was the number of things that could hurt me in the southern states. Scorpions, cotton mouths, black widow spider, venomous snakes. Fire ants. Fleas are worse in warmer states. I went camping a few times in Texas and just the idea of these creatures really bothered me, didn't have to think of such things in Minnesota.

We do have to worry about poison ivy though, ticks and mosquitoes.

[mn shutterbug]

The most dangerous critter in the state, besides 2 legged ones, are the deer ticks. Here is a map showing the more prevalent areas in the state. Lyme Disease in Minnesota: Lyme Disease Areas of Highest Risk - Minnesota Dept. of Health Last year was the worst I've ever seen for wood ticks in SW MN. They are typically gone by the 4th of July or soon after but this year they were still numerous mid August. Luckily we have only the dog ticks around here. They're annoying and a pain to deal with but at least they can't cripple or even kill you like the deer ticks can.

[wamer27]

We aquired a tick hiking on north shore in mid October.

[mn shutterbug]

Originally Posted by wamer27

We aquired a tick hiking on north shore in mid October.

They have been known to come back out again in the fall after their summer vacation.

[old fed]

Originally Posted by Lodestar

We have small red squirrels, grey squirrels and black squirrels in our yard. Wood turtles and snapping turtles. Harmless snakes, toads and frogs. People tell me we have tree frogs but I've never seen one.


Our bird feeders are visited in winter by a variety of sparrows, four kinds of woodpecker, cardinals, bluejays, juncos, sometimes a red-tailed hawk. In the summer we have purple finches, house wrens, purple martins, gold finches, swallows, an occasional bluebird or scarlet tanager.


There are a variety of ducks and long-legged wading birds, swans, hawks, turkey vultures, owls and some pheasants to be seen on country drives. Raccoon, muskrat, pocket gophers.


And here in South Central MN there are rumors of bobcats making a comeback.

just a quick FYI the black squirrels are actually melanistic eastern gray squirrels, the common gray squirrel you see in your yard.

[Lodestar]

Originally Posted by old fed

just a quick FYI the black squirrels are actually melanistic eastern gray squirrels, the common gray squirrel you see in your yard.

No kidding? Guess I never took time to look it up. i'll have to look them up and read more about them.

They were confined to a rather small area across the MN River until a couple of years ago. I'm thinking they must have crossed the river when it was frozen because the only other way locally they could have gotten over here would have been over a four-lane bridge.

They were not well-received by our grey squirrels and stayed across the street for a couple of years only scooting over atop a fence to grab a quick bite from the back yard feeder and then scooting across the street again. But at present it looks like everybody's getting along okay.

wamer acquired A tick "up north?" A tick? Aren't you the bold hiker.

Sorry, but I can't help but tease. You haven't been really ticked off until you gotta strip down and your clothes are full of 'em.

They truly are creepy but luckily I've never had one on me long enough to dig in. Good thing they take a while to get settled.

[demtion35]

Originally Posted by Lodestar

No kidding? Guess I never took time to look it up. i'll have to look them up and read more about them.

They were confined to a rather small area across the MN River until a couple of years ago. I'm thinking they must have crossed the river when it was frozen because the only other way locally they could have gotten over here would have been over a four-lane bridge.

They were not well-received by our grey squirrels and stayed across the street for a couple of years only scooting over atop a fence to grab a quick bite from the back yard feeder and then scooting across the street again. But at present it looks like everybody's getting along okay.

wamer acquired A tick "up north?" A tick? Aren't you the bold hiker.

Sorry, but I can't help but tease. You haven't been really ticked off until you gotta strip down and your clothes are full of 'em.

They truly are creepy but luckily I've never had one on me long enough to dig in. Good thing they take a while to get settled.

I do agree with the tick comments, that at times there will be 20 or 30 of them on your pant legs, and at a single time. Sometimes I have seen them inside my pickup truck for days later, crawling across the seat, or the dash board.

After hiking, many times you will have to reach for them and throw them out the window as you are driving to the next location.

I actually think though that Northern Wisconsin has more ticks.