New Trip Report: New Jersey
Vladimir Dinets has sent some notes – the first for mammal watching.com – on New Jersey … Fuhgeddaboudit!
Princeton, 2015: Vladimir Dinets’s notes on the mammals of New Jersey with sightings from September 2015 including Masked Shrew and Meadow Jumping Mouse.
Jon
geomalia
Nice to see a report from Princeton! I spent most of the past five years living there. In retrospect, I wish I spent some time looking for the rodents. Any chance the Meadow Jumping Mouse will still be active in a couple weeks?
Yes, Mink is possible around the marsh platform in Charles Rogers Wildlife Refuge, and I’ve seen it along Stony Brook in the Institute Woods. Other mammals I’ve observed in the Institute Woods include Virginia Opossum, Coyote (in the adjacent farm fields), and many Red Foxes. One of my friends saw a Bobcat once, a sighting I’m quite jealous of.
Coyote is easier to see at the nearby Mercer County Park NW (the Pole Farm) at dawn and dusk. Unfortunately, it is closed at night.
The D&R canal is another great spot. I saw Muskrat, Beaver, and Southern Flying Squirrel many times, the latter two mostly when jogging at night.
Every couple years, campus public safety would send out a warning about a Black Bear passing through the area. I am also aware of a couple reports of River Otter in Princeton, though I never saw one myself.
More generally, Old Mine Road at the Delaware Water Gap is probably the best place to look for mammals in New Jersey. There have been quite a few reports of Bobcat, and Black Bear is fairly common.