Um, I never said fishers don't eat cats. They're equal opportunity predators. They get blamed for taking all the cats that disappear in New England, when in fact coyotes, foxes, and great horned owls take more cats than fishers do. Fishers primarily eat snowshoe hares, but about 20% of their diet consists of porcupines (they're one of the few predators that can successfully prey on porkies, but it's not pretty - nature red in tooth and claw and all that). They're doing really well in northern New England at the moment, snowshoe hares are plentiful, as are dead snags of the right size for den trees (courtesy of the ice storm of '98). As a matter of fact, a family visiting the park today saw one as they were hiking to the summit of our teeny, busy little mountain.

As for great horned owls, they mate in January/February and raise the chicks in March/April. The timing coincides with skunk mating season, which is a favorite prey species. And they are very territorial when they have chicks in the nest.

And finally, spring is indeed finally on its way in Maine. I almost hit a woodchuck on my way to work this morning. Unlike skunks, raccoons and chipmunks which will rouse and be active on warmish days in the winter, woodchucks stay in a dormant state (body core temp drops to about 37F and heart rate slows to 4 beats/minute) until there's something for them to eat.