The Chicago Sun Times reported yesterday that cougars are moving into the Chicago area. This could make bird watching a bit more exciting. It could make the places that we’ve been calling wilderness into something better: Real wilderness.
Modern day mountain man and author Doug Peacock is said to have said, “It ain’t wilderness unless there’s something in it that can eat you.”
Well, if we get cougars, our wilderness gets more interesting. And I know the feeling. I hiked mountain trails in Colorado and saw warning signs about mountain lions. The signs were confusing. They said contradictory things like, “don’t threaten,” and at the same time, “wave your arms and look big.”
No matter. I was glad the signs were there. I was glad the mountain lions were there. It made the hike exciting. There was a little buzz at the back of my neck. I felt I was being watched. I felt I was in the wild.
And I saw a Clark’s Nutcracker, Gray Jays, Black-billed Magpies, a Golden Eagle far above it all; a Western Tanager that posed for a pretty good picture, Mountain Bluebirds. And others. The birding was good. And there was that buzz throughout. Two-fisted bird watching.
So if cougars are spreading into our area, I say, okay. And I’m not surprised. A year or so ago, there was a big male cougar sighted by awe-struck citizens as he worked his way toward us from Wisconsin, then through Chicago’s north suburbs, and finally to the north side near Cubs Park in a busy neighborhood where cops gunned him down. You can see this on You Tube.
My theory is that the lion was heading to Lincoln Park Zoo, which isn’t far from where he was shot. This in-city zoo has open-air lion cages, and maybe the scent carried. Only a lion would know for sure.
So if cougars are coming in significant numbers to our area, well, let ‘em come. We’ve got enough deer to go around. And it’ll make bird watching in the forests and fields around here have a bit more of a buzz to it.
Just remember, wave your arms. No, that wasn’t it, look small. No that wasn’t it, look big. Ah, forget it. You’ll probably never see a cougar. But don’t let that stop you from looking for a Pileated Woodpecker, Bald Eagle or Summer Tanager. You really could see one of those.
One protection against cougers would be to bird watch with a companion that can’t run as fast as you. ps – wear your sneekers.
They’ve seen lions in Michigan’s U.P., too. And a few days before the cougar story appeared in the Chicago papers, there was a story about a gray wolf sighting in Ogle County, about 50 miles west of Chicago. This is the same area where a Golden Eagle was photographed attacking a deer; amazing shots. (See our 2/16 post, “How’d he get those pictures!”). Today there’s a report that a coyote was in Battery Park in lower Manhattan. There have been coyotes in New York’s Central Park, but now they’re downtown. The wild things are coming. No, not just coming. They’re here.
There have been sightings around the far western suburbs of chicago for years. I saw a big cat cross the road from a cornfield at night years ago near Batavia and it was a mountain lion 90% sure. The DNR don’t completely deny the idea. So it might be that these lions are coming to Illinois and Wisc., but it also might be that they’ve been here and now they’re being taken seriously.