|
The most common large animal in the Poconos in the White Tailed Deer. In Pennsylvania the average adult buck weighs about 140 pounds live weight and stands 32 to 34 inches at the shoulder. He is about 70 inches long from the tip of his nose to the base of his tail. Summer hairs are short, thin, straight and wiry. Winter hairs are long, thick, hollow and slightly crinkled. Winter hairs afford the deer excellent protection against the cold.
Fawns are born with white spots in the upper coat. When a fawn is lying on the ground or in dry leaves this coat looks like the sun hitting the ground after it passes through the treetops. This provides excellent camouflage for the fawns. Deer can run at 40 miles per hour for short bursts and maintain speeds of 25 miles per hour for longer periods. They are also good jumpers capable of clearing obstacles up to nine feet high or 25 feet wide. 
Another common resident of the Pocono area is the wild turkey. Adult males, also called "gobblers" or 'toms," stand 2 1/2-3 feet tall and 3-4 feet long. Females (hens) are shorter by about a third and weigh about half as much. Gobblers weigh up to 25 pounds, averaging 16. Adult hens weigh 9-10 pounds, and six-month-old birds, 6-13 pounds.
Each evening, turkeys fly into trees to spend the night. A flock of 6 to 40 birds may roost in the same tree or in adjacent trees. They prefer the shelter of conifers during inclement weather. In early morning, the birds glide to the ground, call, and regroup for feeding. If hens are present, a gobbler will display by fanning his tail, erecting his feathers, and tucking his head back against his body. He will strut back and forth, hissing and dragging his wing tips on the ground. 
In Pennsylvania, eastern coyotes have become more and more common over the last 30 years but don't expect to see or hear one. This secretive canine prefers to operate under the cover of darkness and doesn't often howl, unlike its western counterpart. It's very common for hunters, hikers and other people who spend countless hours afield in the state's best coyote country to have never seen one. |
|
The eastern coyote is larger than its western cousin Adult males weigh 45 to 55 pounds; females, 35 to 40 pounds. When seeing one for the first time, many people mistake eastern coyotes for dogs. Coyotes usually steer clear of people. They'll leave an area at the first sign of human intrusion. But under the cover of darkness, as human activities slow almost to a halt, coyotes sneak into areas they normally avoid during daylight hours. They canvass agricultural fields, visit picnic sites and backyards in rural areas, and work the waysides of interstate highways in their quest for food. Coyotes are opportunists. They do no more than necessary to obtain food and they'll eat almost anything. Coyotes do spend considerable time mousing, but they'll settle in a second for a rotting road-killed deer, or a cat that strays too far from the house. Pocono Wildlife Page 4 |
