Druid Hills HOA Florissant Colorado Official Homeowners Association for Druid Hills
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DRUID HILLS WILDLIFE
COEXISTING WITH HUMANS
Druid Hills Wildlife. in our subdivision we once had abundant wildlife years ago before our area became populated. I sighted a young Grizzly Bear roaming his 100 square mile territory, a once in a lifetime opportunity. Never saw him again! I remember his teddy bear ears, long muscular body and massive shoulders with a hump along his backside. He had huge claws; his fur was light in color down his backside not uniform it looked coarse.
Descriptive Information-National Geographic
Scientific Name: Ursus arctos horribilis
Type: Mammals
Diet: Omnivores
Average life span in The Wild: 25 years
Size: 5 to 8 ft
Weight: 800 lbs
Size relative to a 6-ft man:
Wildlife in the Druid Hills
Predators and Prey
In our subdivision, an occasional Mountain Lion looking for food, I found tracks outside my fence. Beyond the fence in the distance I could hear the screams but never saw the majestic cat. We have other large mammals like the Brown Bear, with a round body structure, short stocky legs and long dark fur.
Another mammal down the food chain seen in Colorado forests, mountain, and rural areas are deer. Beautiful, White-tailed Mule Deer seen in herds of 20 Bucks use to roam our subdivision. Now, few and far between, in smaller groups of three, sometimes seen in this subdivision with their females and fawns.
Solitary mammals
FOXES, COYOTES
&
WOLVES
An occasional fox running through our subdivision are the red fox, black fox, and silver fox with white tipped tails. Another seen on rare occasions is the coyote that once roamed our subdivision in pairs. Their food source rabbits were once abundant living in undisturbed wooded areas. One rare occasion I noticed a Black Wolf that had taken the high ground while I walked down the road. The elusive wolf disappeared from my sight after awhile, seemed like the animal was just passing through not wanting to bother a human.
Smaller Animals
Other Druid Hills Wildlife in our subdivision of the smaller variety are, a flock of Wild Turkeys came through 25 in number, I have pictures what an awesome sight. There are several varieties of squirrels in our subdivision, brown in color, Black A-bear, Gray A-Bear with a white tipped tail, and a Gray squirrel with white chest and white tipped tail. I figured the Gray A-Bear must of cross bred with another squirrel not uncommon when mates are few of their own breed.
Smaller mammals like the ground squirrel- prairie dog, Chipmunks, and Field Mice inhabit the mountain regions when their food source is abundant. When we had ponds in the frontage area of our subdivision where the Beavers built and maintained them. The wetland habitat brought in Mallard Ducks, Canadian Geese, Red Winged Blackbirds, and Rocky Mountain Bluebirds. Now gone from the area or rarely seen now that few Beavers are present the ponds are gone too. An example of mans interference with nature and natural habitats, such as wetlands destroyed by trapping and killing the beavers.
Not as abundant and rarely seen are Morning Doves seen in pairs. We have Blue jays, Magpies, Crows and Ravens to name a few. Smaller birds I have had the privilege to see are Chickadees, Swallows, Wood Peckers, Flickers, Robins and Hummingbirds-Ruby Throat-ed, Rufus, and Rocky Mountain Bluebird and other species.
