wildlife & trees

Lee Pelley

Has anyone had problems in their trees with wildlife ? We've had it several times here in southern Oregon (USA).
A few years back, I asked an employee to carry several hefty jugs (2.5 gallons each) up a mountainside to start watering procedures the next morning.
When she got up there herself the next morning, both jugs were empty and seriously chewed up. She was really ticked off. Neither of us had any idea what had happened to the water-filled jugs.
When I took them to our local FISH & WILDLIFE people, they measured all the tooth holes and told me the jugs were attacked by a bear. It seems bears have a real passion for chewing on plastic anything.
When I told my employee what had happened to the jugs, she gave me the impression she'd go up there and murder the bear by hand. She was still mad.
I thought it immensely funny, but didn't mention that to the employee. She might have strangled me instead.
Sappling

dov

Only probs I've ever had are possums not wanting to vacate, parrots dropping stuff on me as I'm cutting a tree down and Indian Myna birds fighting near my head as I'm climbing.

sueann

We've had problems with bees swarming and hornet's nests! We've had to call in beekeepers heaps of times and stay away from hornet's nests around here, they are very agro when disturbed.

We get the odd green tree snake hanging in trees but they're not really a problem.

No bears in Australia thank goodness! well, not running around the bush anyway.

dov

That reminds me. I cut into the side of a European Wasp nest once with a chainsaw. Was in thick ivy against the trunk so I didn't notice it til I was being stung. Then I jumped out of the tree and ran up the road with my chainsaw in hand. Had to go a fair way to get away from the wasps!

Daniel Janjic

Ants....

Nasty nipping bloody Ants....

Half way up a tree..

Cheers,

Dano

Lee Pelley

Hi Folks,
Your responses were delightful, each and every one.
The notion of Myna birds arguing while you were trying to climb the tree creates an amusing picture, dov! (I truly didn't know you had opposums in Australia. We have them here, too.)
Hornet's nests are justifiably frightening to the toughest men. I've seen many a man, sometimes five or six in a group, doing an impromptu 500-yard dash at high speed to escape hornets. They are sadly common in the northwest of the USA too.
So far, no problem with ants. In the forest here, I once got into a Dobson fly migration that was so dense, it was hard to breathe. Astonishing!
There is infinite wildlife here, including bears, cougars, coyotes and an occasional wolf. They all make life unexpectedly interesting.
I would be sad if we had no bears. While potentially dangerous, they are not even inclined to threaten if you have a dog with you. And they KILL HORNETS IN LARGE NUMBERS!

dov

Never had nasty ants, just tiny little Argentine Ants. As soon as you get nearby where they are, they pour out of little holes in the bark and get all over you. Soon has me calling for the Aeroguard!

tassie tiger

ants you say, we get bloody jack jumper ant nests all around the tree's nasty little buggers, one of the most dangerous animals in Australia.

Jon

We were recking out a spruce monday and a big fat grey squirle bailed out of its nest, bounced of my climbers chest and went tearing off in quite the hurry. The custumers 6 year old son thought it was great..

Eric Frei

Ants, bloody ants!

It's been raining a fair bit for a while, so the ants head up trees, and palms. And they must be hungry.

Get these big bugger biting bastids that make nests out of leaves, they run covert ops and guerrilla tactics. wait until one goes down ya dacks and starts having a go.... I dropped my dacks and got the bastid, didn't care who was watching.

__________________

sueann

I was sitting on a friend's back step once, in shorts, and a green ant climbed up my leg and under the leg of my shorts. I didn't feel it till it bit me right there! it so hurt.

Lee Pelley

I hd no idea that ants could be such a problem in Australia, or that ants could be so ferocious.
Eye-opening.
Thanks to those who commented. I'm glad to hear about this stuff.
Sappling

sueann

Our ants are armed and dangerous Lee. I've seen meat ants up Kingaroy and Goomeri way as long as my thumb and bully ants not much smaller. There are ants nests 6ft tall and when we were kids we used to stir them up and watch them go crazy, making sure not to let them get near our feet of course.
I've been bitten through thick cordoroy riding jeans by a bully ant and that kills as well.

Green ants are smallish and not so easy to notice when they get on you but their bite canes!

Daniel Janjic

We also have a local Funnel web spider that only lives up trees.

Woolongong university has put the word out for anyone who comes across them to collect them as there is very little anti-venom available....

__________________
Cheer's

Dano

http://www.treelove.com.au

Lee Pelley

4th June 2010 04:23 PM
Dano We also have a local Funnel web spider that only lives up trees.

Woolongong university has put the word out for anyone who comes across them to collect them as there is very little anti-venom available....

I remain astonished at the differences between here and Australia!
I met more than one man in Arkansas who collected poisonous snakes, for the purpose you have written about here: to collect venom for what we call antivenin.
The men had no trouble finding poisonous snakes there, as they were everywhere. We rarely saw a snake less than five feet in length.
We had one, shall we say, exciting experience with a pretty large one, whom we spotted when going for an evening walk at dusk. He was laying the full width of the dirt road (about 15 feet) in a series of "S" shapes, as if he'd been run over several times by passing vehicles. Curious as to what kind of snake he was, my husband grabbed the "dead" snake by the tail and that snake proved not only alive but ferocious. His head came around fast, intent on catching whoever was bothering him. We both ran like little kids, shrieking and scared half to death. (We never did find out what species he was.) The important part was that he didn't follow us.
In the USA, there's a fair few spiders that are poisonous and quite a few of those are small, like the Brown Recluse. We have a spider called the "yellow Garden Spider" who is fair-sized and said not to be poisonous. Still, I've met several people who were hospitalized after being bitten by one.
The USA has a very common "funnel spider" that does his thing (funnel) in grass. In some areas of this country, when the grass is still wet in the early morning, it seems there are literally millions of them. I believe they're commonly called "trap-door spiders".
Thanks so much for telling me about your "tree-dwelling" funnel spiders and good luck at increasing the antivenin for the University!
Lee Pelley

Brent Ferris

In Ontario, I have disturbed racoons, and squirrels (removing their pathways to roofs), lots of birds and their nests, sometimes relocating nests, sometimes destroying squirrel homes when removing the tree - thankfully no bears this far south, and no snakes in trees. Have come across wasps nests (yellow jackets), usually avoid them. Have cut some out. And on one job fitted a garbage bag around the nest and cut off the branch sealing the bag before they got out. Then I just had to explain to the returning wasps where the nest had gotten to--without being stung. They must have believed me, I didn't get stung. I have only come across one black wasp nest, and refused to finish the job until after frost. They are very aggressive, and the venom far stronger.
I have cut thru a carpenter ants nest when removing a tree. Ants poured out all over. The next cut was really quick! -before the soldier ants attacked too much.

I have had to contend with is poison ivy. Fortunately, I am presently immune.

The only other wild-life I have had to content with are neighbours' insisting the tree cannot be trimmed because it affects their shade, or the owner has no right to remove a hollow or dangerous tree.

Lee Pelley

treeshave needs: I'm impressed with how much difficulty there is around the world with insects. As we kill off the larger predatory animals, I suspect this problem will increase.
For the record, I'm a fan of Ontario and Canada in general. I admire and like the way you folks handle everything.
Your immunity to poison ivy intrigues me. Apparently, there is some of that in the Pacific Northwest as well, but the big bugaboo here is Poison oak. To those who are sensitive to it, there is no peace at all, year-round. Fortunately, I've slowly become immune to it myself. Instead, I'm now sensitive to sumac, especially when burning it.
All the poison plants change their poison slightly from year to year, so your immunity (and mine) might disappear in the future.
Good luck to us both.
Continued success to you! SYLVAN LEEF