Using its wide paws to glide over deep persistent snow and be the superior hunter in this type terrain over its sympatric cousin, the Bobcat, the endangered Lynx once again is a resident of Maine and Northern New Hampshire and Vermont.............For there to be a Lynx sighting in southern Vermont near the New York State border is indeed a rarity in these warming weather times..............But in fact in June of this year, Londonderry, Vermont(see map below) got a taste of what likely a common sight during the Little Ice Age period (AD1400-1850) in New England, a Lynx on the move through forest and field...............“This was very exciting news for Vermont,” said Chris Bernier, a wildlife biologist for the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department who is in charge of lynx conservation".........While likely a transient male and not part of a breeding population this far south, “the fact that this animal chose to travel such a long distance demonstrates why it is vitally important to maintain healthy and well-connected habitat in Vermont".......... "We were thrilled to see the animal using a wildlife underpass that was created for the express purpose of allowing animals to pass safely under the road"

http://newfanenews.com/outdoors/lynx-spotted-londonderry/

Lynx spotted in back yard of Londonderry home

October 19, 2016

LONDONDERRY — A lone Canada lynx was photographed in the southern Vermont town of Londonderry this June, marking the first confirmed evidence of lynx in Vermont outside the Northeast Kingdom in decades. Lynx are listed as ‘threatened’ under the federal Endangered Species Act and ‘endangered’ in the state of Vermont

The lynx was photographed in the back yard of a rural Londonderry home. Biologists with the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department confirmed the identification of the animal from the photos and visited the site to confirm the location of the photos.

Since that time, a wildlife camera photo has emerged that biologists suspect is also of a lynx in nearby Searsburg, Vermont. The photo was taken in May shortly before the Londonderry sighting, but was only recently noticed by the University of Vermont student who had set the camera trap out as part of her wildlife research.

Londonderry affords cover for Lynx

The animal was photographed while it was passing under Route 9 using a wildlife underpass.




Londonderry in southern Vermont

“This was very exciting news for Vermont,” said Chris Bernier, a wildlife biologist for the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department who is in charge of lynx conservation. “The fact that this animal chose to travel such a long distance demonstrates why it is vitally important to maintain healthy and well-connected habitat in Vermont. We were thrilled to see the animal using a wildlife underpass that was created for the express purpose of allowing animals to pass safely under the road.”

Male lynx are known to disperse long distances, so Bernier believes that there is a strong chance this may be the same lynx in both sightings. Biologists regularly monitor lynx habitat in the area and have not picked up other evidence of the animals locally, indicating that it is unlikely that lynx have established a resident population in southern Vermont.

Lynx are strongly tied to large, unbroken forests of spruce and fir trees with high numbers of snowshoe hares, their primary prey species. Forests of this type are mostly found in Vermont in Essex County, and are less common elsewhere in the state.


Suspected same Lynx as that seen in Londonderry,
first spotted in nearby Searsburg

Little Ice Age

1400 — 1850

During the Little Ice Age (ca. 1400–1850), dramatic global climate change occurred, with temperatures declining precipitously. The date for the onset of this shift was once thought to be 1550, but new evidence shows that it had already begun as early as 1150 and became severe enough in northern latitudes to cause significant population shifts as early as the mid-fourteenth century. At its height, growing seasons in the northern regions of North America and Europe were shortened by as much as 20 percent, leading to frequent crop failures and forcing both human migration and increased hunting/gathering activities in affected regions. Estimates differ as to when this phenomenon ended, but most experts agree that it lasted until about 1850.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------