Secondary+Consumers

=**WNC Secondary Consumers:**=


 * Mudpuppy Salamanders** are normally found in lakes, ponds, streams, rivers, ditches, and reservoirs. They generally prefer waters with high oxygen content. Their diet consists of crayfish, small fish, and invertebrates, other salamanders, small turtles, and the eggs of fish, and other mudpuppies.(Nadine)
 * Barred Owls**live in heavy mature woods with nearby open country for foraging. Many of the time they will be found not only in upland woods but also in lowland swamps near creeks, lakes or river valleys. They go towards areas with trees that have suitable cavities for nesting. They have an extremely varied diet consisting of small rodents, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, and even smaller owls. Specific preys include voles, mice, shrews, squirrels, wood rats, rabbits, opossums, chipmunks, hares, snakes, frogs, lizards, salamanders, mollusks, and insects.(Nadine)
 * Coyotes** have a unique ability to adapt to a wide range of habitats; examples may include prairies, woods, and even suburbs. They usually dig their own dens but sometimes they will enlarge an old animal hole or fix natural hole in a rocky ledge to suit its own needs for birth and sleep. They primarily eat small mammals like voles, eastern cottnetails, praire dogs, grounds squirrels, and mice as well as birds, snakes, lizards, deer, livestock, large insects, and other large invertebrates.(Nadine)
 * Raccoons** live in forests, marshes, prairies, and even in the city. They frequently climb and nest in trees, as wells as fallen logs and peoples’ attics. Raccoons have a very diverse diet, including insects, worms, nuts, fish, fruit, eggs, trash, etc. These masked bandits are nocturnal mammals, but they are occasionally sighted in the daylight due to feeding options at that time. One of the strangest habits of the raccoon is that they frequently douse their food in water before they eat it. Scientists believe they do this to soften food so they can more easily remove the parts they don’t like, and the water also softens their very paws so they can feel what they are about to eat better. Speaking of their paws, raccoons have five fingers and five toes, and their feet are extremely sensitive. Raccoons are also notoriously intelligent; studies show they are able to remember how to solve certain problems/tasks up to three years later. (Liz)
 * Bobcats** are present throughout a lot of North America, although they are rarely seen, and live in forests, swamps, deserts, and even suburban areas. The females make their dens in secluded areas. Bobcats eat rabbits, birds, mice, squirrels, etc. These cats are named for their bobbed tails and are normally grey, brown or brownish red. (Liz)




 * Red-Tailed Hawks** prefer open areas, like fields and deserts, but are also found in mountains and tropical rainforests. They nest high above ground, but dive to the ground to catch prey, which consists of mice, squirrels, rabbits, etc. Red-Tailed Hawks are monogamous and sometimes mate for life. (Liz)

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Gray Bats forage over water, including streams and reservoirs, where they consume night-flying insects most of which have aquatic larval stages, and in the riparian forests nearby these water sources.Grey Bats activity tends to be concentrated over slower moving water or quiet pools than areas of fast moving water. Gray Bats consume a variety of insects including beetles, flies, mayflies, moths, net-winged insects, caddis flies, and stoneflies. Juveniles have a tendency to forage more in woodlands. ======

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Grey Bats are endangered species as of 1976. The tendency of Gray Bats to form large colonies made the Gray Bat especially vulnerable to population decline due to both intentional and unintentional human disturbance. Suspected factors contributing to species decline include impoundment of waterways (the creation of dams, which causes flooding in former bat caves), cave commercialization, natural flooding, pesticides, water pollution, and local deforestation. (Laura) ======

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Scarlet snakes are nocturnal and generally spend their day hiding under leaf litter or fallen logs, and venture out in the evenings to forage for food. They feed on lizards, small rodents, reptile eggs, and even other snakes. These snakes are found in pine flatwoods, dry prairies, hardwood hammocks, and sand hills. (Laura) ======

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Although commonly called a "river otter", the North American river otter is found in a wide variety of aquatic habitats, both freshwater and coastal marine, including lakes, rivers, inland wetlands, coastal shorelines and marshes, and estuaries. It can tolerate a great range of temperature and elevations. A river otter's main requirements are a steady food supply and easy access to a body of water. However, it is sensitive to pollution, and will disappear from tainted areas. River otters consume an extensive assortment of fish species ranging in size that impart sufficient caloric intake for a minute amount of energy expenditure. Fish are a favorite food, but they also eat amphibians, turtles, and crayfish. River otters generally feed on prey that is in larger supply and easier to catch. (Laura) ======

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Outside the breeding season, most red foxes favour living in the open, in densely vegetated areas, though they may enter burrows to escape bad weather.Their burrows are often dug on hill or mountain slopes, ravines, bluffs, steep banks of water bodies, ditches, depressions, gutters, in rock clefts and neglected human environments. Red foxes prefer to dig their burrows on well drained soils. Dens built among tree roots can last for decades, while those dug on the steppes last only several years. They primarily feed on small, mouse-like rodents like voles, mice, ground squirrels, hamsters, gerbils, woodchuck, pocket gophers, and deer mice. (Laura)======

