wildlife

The Boston Public Health Commission reports a bat found on the sidewalk in front of 244 Clarendon St. yesterday afternoon has tested positive for rabies. Anybody who might have had direct contact with the bat should contact both the commission - at 617-534-5611 - and a doctor.

The commission says Animal Control officers responded to multiple calls from the neighborhood - and that it has two possible reports of somebody being bitten by the bat.

"If anyone was in direct contact with this bat yesterday, they need preventive treatment against rabies, and they should contact us and their health care provider as soon as possible," Dr. Anita Barry, director of the commission's Infectious Disease Bureau said in a statement. "Persons who did not touch the bat are not at any risk."

Rabies, spread through an infected animal's saliva, is typically fatal unless treated.

The commission is planning to post fliers at churches and businesses along Clarendon between Comm. Ave. and Newbury Street today.

Maybe the city was onto something with the proposal to paint cabs green.

B. MacLean photographed a hummingbird at one of the feeders in his backyard near the Blue Hills Reservation.

Copyright B. MacLean. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

Jef Taylor shows off the toad he found in his yard and reports the sad news that the people who make such decisions are planning to remove American toads from the genus Bufo:

This made me much sadder than Pluto losing its planetary status. Bufo is the genus whose members are called "true toads," and includes the common European toad Bufo bufo. I feel sad that the American toad and the common toad may soon be separated with different genus names.

Wicked Local Saugus reports an alligator might be on the loose in a Saugus pond. Or it might not. In any case, it's reassuring to know that a Massachusetts wildlife expert has "a reptile-sniffing dog" ready for just such emergencies.

Wildlife officials not pleased; Henry Winkler unavailable for comment.

B. MacLean took lots of photos on a whale-watching cruise to Stellwagen Bank the other day.

Copyright B. MacLean.

We're gonna need a bigger breakwater!

Wicked Local Allston/Brighton reports a Brighton man thought he'd do a dying squirrel a favor and give him "a dignified death" by putting him in a tree. The squirrel's last act was to bite the man.

Ed. note: This story proves the old adage: When dog bites man, that's not news, but when dying squirrel bites man, now that's a story. Especially when, as Wicked Local notes, the man is unmarried.

A concerned roadrunner sends up a flare from Fairmount Hill in Hyde Park:

There are coyotes all over the place up here.

Illustrating the complaint is a high-quality photo of an eviscerated rabbit.

An Animal Rescue League technician tweets:

A strange scaly creature is found in the bushes of a Dorchester home..., hmmm, I wonder what it is...?

The 'strange' animal in Dorchester MA turns out to be an iguana that is claimed by an owner that was searching for him...

No word, yet, however, if this iguana, found on Bullard Street, is the same one that escaped last month from Lawn Street on Mission Hill, a little more than 3 miles away, as the iguana crawls.

Jess Riley reports a turkey and her seven poults (that's babies to you) have taken up residence in front of 55 Broadway in Kendall Square. Kendall Square, you grizzled turkey veterans may recall, was home to Mr. Gobbles, back in the day when turkeys were still an unusual sight inside 128.

Copyright Jess Riley.

Candelaria Silva reports she and her granddaughter were waiting at Fields Corner for an Ashmont train last Saturday when a woman on the inbound side began yelling:

"Oh, my God, did you see that? Is that a deer? A deer just ran up the bus ramp!"

We looked behind us through the glass that separates the bus ramp from the train tracks and there it was - a deer. We saw it running back and forth three times.

Attack bird lurks, awaits next victim.

From Citizens Connect:

A very aggressive bird (bluejay maybe) attacks anything, human or dog, that comes through this part of the Harborwalk between 40 Battery and Union Wharf. Can animal control do something about it?

MySouthborough.com reports a black bear was spotted romping through downtown Southborough this morning (cut it out - of course Southborough has a downtown). With photo.

Hey, Boo-Boo! The Globe reports a young black bear has been spotted in Weston. Residents were urged not to feed it (especially after midnight).

Also, spotted.

Mike Ball is astonished to read in the New York Times that "the increasingly rare New England cottontail rabbit" can only be glimpsed in tangled thickets. Astonished because a family of cottontails are regular visitors to his front yard in Hyde Park's Fairmount Hill:

A family of them has an odd attraction to our newspapers. When I got out a 5:30 or 6 a.m., I sometimes see one or two or three of them nosing about our papers. So far, they haven't opened the plastic bags or shown us their favorite sections. I assume the oddity of two or three of the parcels tossed at the base of the sidewalk that attracts them. Perhaps they wonder if there is food involved.

Regardless, when I trot the 50 or so feet, they do notice me and hop slowly out of reach. They aren't in any hurry though.

Well ...

Our resident wildlife expert, Jef Taylor, explains:

Boston bunnies are almost all Eastern Cottontails. NE cottontails are different species, found out in the sticks.

Needs 15 stitches to close gash under eye, Channel 4 reports. Tippi Hedren was unavailable for comment.

The Wilbur Theater posted a larger version of this photo today along with this caption:

Beaver caught by police on Washington st in Chinatown. In white box.

Can I get a WTF? I bet there's quite a tail here.

Shaw Pong Liu records and describes a goldfinch singing near Bussey Brook in the Arnold Arboretum.

Harp seal in a Gloucester marsh off Rte. 128.

Around 6:30 p.m., Mary Churchill tweeted:

Coyote on the loose in Roxbury - Montrose and Moreland. Police in hot pursuit.

Dan Wilets reports this mini-gather was wandering around Mission Hill this morning (doing a strut of shame?).

Turlach MacDonagh spotted this walking Butterball in the yard of the St. Clement Eucharistic Shrine on Boylston Street today.

Paul Myers tweets the bird almost became scattered gizzards this morning:

I almost killed that bird when it was crossing the Pike near the back of Lansdowne this morning,avoided a big accident

Copyright Turlach MacDonagh. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.