Mongoose or weasel?
Tony Lima
On previous visits to the big island we caught glimpses of a
long, furry creature. I had been identifying it as a
mongoose. But on our recent trip to Kauai I got a good look
at something that was much skinnier (but still low to the
ground, long and furry). I hope you folks can enlighten me
about this vital issue <g>. Mahalo. - Tony
Auntie Maria
Following a couple of newspaper articles here on Kaua`i
that island residents thought they'd seen a mongoose in
the area near Wailua River, traps were set -- but as yet,
no mongoose sighting has been verified, and no mongoose
has been caught.
I'm curious to know -- where did you see this critter?
We have many, many skinny feral cats on Kaua`i, along with
rats (ewwwwwwwwww!). Could that have been what you saw?
-- auntie maria
Tony Lima
It wasn't a cat and, if it was a rat, it was the longest rat
I've ever seen. Darn thing must have been 18". Norma and I
have searched our failing memories. We both think we saw it
crossing a road, possibly near Waimea Canyon.
On the big island I've seen them many times in the parking
lot behind Uncle Billy's Kona Bay. Thanks, Auntie! - Tony
Auntie Maria
Tony Lima wrote:
>
> It wasn't a cat and, if it was a rat, it was the longest rat
> I've ever seen. Darn thing must have been 18". Norma and I
> have searched our failing memories. We both think we saw it
> crossing a road, possibly near Waimea Canyon.
Oh drat...that area is unpopulated...the perfect place
for mongooses (mongeese? <g>) to breed unchecked. Argh!
Hope it was just a really skinny, slinking feral cat instead.
>
> On the big island I've seen them many times in the parking
> lot behind Uncle Billy's Kona Bay.
When we were on O`ahu just a couple of weeks ago, touring
the gorgeous homesites at Ko Olina, there were plenny
mongoose skittering through the yards of those million
dollar homes. Ewwwwwwwwwwwww!
-- auntie maria
Tony Lima
> Oh drat...that area is unpopulated...the perfect place
> for mongooses (mongeese? <g>) to breed unchecked. Argh!
> Hope it was just a really skinny, slinking feral cat instead.
I apologize for delivering the bad news. Don't hurt the
messenger! Aloha, Tony
smithfarms pure kona
>
> Tony Lima wrote:
>
>>
>> It wasn't a cat and, if it was a rat, it was the longest rat
>> I've ever seen. Darn thing must have been 18". Norma and I
>> have searched our failing memories. We both think we saw it
>> crossing a road, possibly near Waimea Canyon.
>
> Oh drat...that area is unpopulated...the perfect place
> for mongooses (mongeese? <g>) to breed unchecked. Argh!
> Hope it was just a really skinny, slinking feral cat instead.
>
>
>>
>> On the big island I've seen them many times in the parking
>> lot behind Uncle Billy's Kona Bay.
>
> When we were on O`ahu just a couple of weeks ago, touring
> the gorgeous homesites at Ko Olina, there were plenny
> mongoose skittering through the yards of those million
> dollar homes. Ewwwwwwwwwwwww!
>
> -- auntie maria
Mongooses aren't so bad and I do think they do get the bum rap
regarding native birds. Mongooses do not climb trees:). They do
prefer chicken eggs.
I have raised 3 little ones and they are entertaining and clever but
they all left, never to return when reaching maturity---about 6 or 8
months old.
My very old Japanese neighbor said that when her family was really
poor, they ate mongooses because they were known to be clean animals.
Think Riki Tiki Tavi by Rudyard Kipling for an endearing mongoose
tale.
aloha,
Thunder.
smithfarms.com
Farmers of 100% Kona Coffee
& other Great Stuff
Auntie Maria
Auntie Maria wrote:
>
> Tony Lima wrote:
>
>>
>> It wasn't a cat and, if it was a rat, it was the longest rat
>> I've ever seen. Darn thing must have been 18". Norma and I
>> have searched our failing memories. We both think we saw it
>> crossing a road, possibly near Waimea Canyon.
I was discussing this with a friend here on Kaua`i, and he
said that visitors often mistake running pheasant (also known
as "urkels" here), as mongoose -- due to the bird being skinny
and hyper-extending their necks when they run across the road.
The "urkel" (sp?) is rather drab in color, kinda muddy-brown.
BTW, I'd never heard of "ukels" before this...
-- auntie maria
Sue Larkin
In article <1131163...@news.lava.net>,
Auntie Maria <aun...@mele.com> wrote:
> Tony Lima wrote:
>
>>
>> It wasn't a cat and, if it was a rat, it was the longest rat
>> I've ever seen. Darn thing must have been 18". Norma and I
>> have searched our failing memories. We both think we saw it
>> crossing a road, possibly near Waimea Canyon.
>
> Oh drat...that area is unpopulated...the perfect place
> for mongooses (mongeese? <g>) to breed unchecked. Argh!
> Hope it was just a really skinny, slinking feral cat instead.
>
>
>>
>> On the big island I've seen them many times in the parking
>> lot behind Uncle Billy's Kona Bay.
>
> When we were on O`ahu just a couple of weeks ago, touring
> the gorgeous homesites at Ko Olina, there were plenny
> mongoose skittering through the yards of those million
> dollar homes. Ewwwwwwwwwwwww!
>
> -- auntie maria
Many times I've seen mongeese <g> skittering around the property at my
Makaha condo. Hmmm...I thought, if not out of control population-wise,
they were a good thing as they keep the rat population under control. Of
course, I wouldn't want to handle one! Big ewwwww!
While they look a bit different they still remind me of the opossums I
used to see all the time when living in SoCal. Occasionally one would
wander into the house! My dad always had cage traps set in the yard then
he'd release the opossums in the hills.
Speaking of the Ko`olina homes...that's an area I should tour to get
some tropical decorating ideas. It's become such a beautiful area, with
or without mongeese!
And to think, Auntie M, you were only 15 minutes from Makaha! Hrmmmmph!
Auntie Maria
Sue Larkin wrote:
>
> And to think, Auntie M, you were only 15 minutes from Makaha! Hrmmmmph!
>
I truly did think about you, TutuSue -- and we drove
through Kaka`ako, to get to Ko `Olina, so I coulda caught
you either way!
Next time, for sure.
-- auntie maria
Beaker
On Sat, 05 Nov 2005 20:20:07 -0000, Auntie Maria quoth:
> I was discussing this with a friend here on Kaua`i, and he
> said that visitors often mistake running pheasant (also known
> as "urkels" here), as mongoose -- due to the bird being skinny
> and hyper-extending their necks when they run across the road.
> The "urkel" (sp?) is rather drab in color, kinda muddy-brown.
>
> BTW, I'd never heard of "ukels" before this...
Possibly derived from the East African "Erckel's Francolin", which
is so common up here on Mauna Kea? (Up here they're big fat birds,
which could not be mistaken for a mongoose.)
bkr
Sue Larkin
In article <1131240...@news.lava.net>,
Auntie Maria <aun...@mele.com> wrote:
Promises...promises! <g> It's been a long time. If I'm not at one place,
I'm at the other...or driving in between. I'll look forward to next
time.
Auntie Maria
Wow -- I just used the "image" search on google.com, and got
lots of erckels. It's easy to see how someone could mistake
a running erckel (with that long neck hyper-extended, and the
body low to the ground), for a mongoose.
I've seen erckels up near Koke`e, but just figured they were
female pheasants...mahalo for the info!
-- auntie maria
pakeboy
"Auntie Maria" <aun...@mele.com> wrote in message
news:1131321...@news.lava.net...
>
>
> Wow -- I just used the "image" search on google.com, and got
> lots of erckels. It's easy to see how someone could mistake
> a running erckel (with that long neck hyper-extended, and the
> body low to the ground), for a mongoose.
>
> I've seen erckels up near Koke`e, but just figured they were
> female pheasants...mahalo for the info!
>
> -- auntie maria
>
Very good tasting too, especially when the guavas falling onto the
ground.
I spend a few weekends up at the hunter check-in station in Kokee during
bird season when I used to work for the State Wildlife Division.
Hunters
would bring their birds by and we'd weigh and measure them, then we'd
cut
open the crops to see what the Erckels were feeding on, which was mainly
insects and tons of guavas. The hunters claimed that they tasted best
when
the birds ate a lot of guavas. Makes sense.