Saw a black bear with two very cute cubs today. Stopping by a local grocery to pick up some things, I went to note the sighting on their nature sightings board ("what are you seeing? when? where?") and was amazed by the number and types of animals people were recording: there were so many that there wasn't a scrap of room for mine: there were moose, bear, foxes, fishers, mink, eagles, and even a goshawk already up there ... none of which is remarkable in western Mass., which went from being largely deforested for agriculture as late as a century ago, to now being roughly 70 percent wooded. But the ritual of noting in such a public place what's scampering around strikes me as a good one.
So if you're seeing interesting wildlife near you, or have spotted some on your summer trips, leave your fellow Gristers a comment about it.
A scientist chases penguins chased by climate change
Comments
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Green Granny Posted 9:02 am
31 Jul 2007
Also, lots of geese this summer.
"We must be the change we wish to see in the world." -- Mahatma Ghandi
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swan Posted 10:53 am
31 Jul 2007
"Us nature mystics got to stick together." Edward Abbey
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wiscidea Posted 3:00 pm
31 Jul 2007
Great idea!
Hmmm... just any critters or the more unusual ones?
I saw three turkey vultures soaring just east of our house last Saturday. They're a little on the ugly side when one sees them on a deer carcass along the road -- one useful feature of motor vehicles now that the larger predators are missing from the area? -- but they are beautiful in the air. Very graceful. They barely move their wings, but manage to twist and turn, rise and fall. I always have to stop what I'm doing and just watch them until they drift away into the distance.
Forward!
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PermieWriter Posted 4:09 pm
31 Jul 2007
There were several anise swallowtail caterpillars in the fennel, but I think the jays got them. But I've seen plenty of adult butterflies.
Anna's hummingbirds love divebombing me when I'm out working in the garden. They sound like a mosquito made to government specs zooming up from behind me. For this I planted pineapple sage?
The local hoodlums haven't yet put on an appearance this year.
There has been much less bee activity this year, but several bumblebees have spent long afternoons in the lavender and honeybees have put in enough work that we've gotten fine pollination on the strawberries, raspberries, sunflowers, tomatoes, peas, etc.
And the squirrels are taking care of the excess fig problem. Well, they're taking care of the fig situation entirely. But they did let us get a few of the early-ripening ones this year, so I can't complain too much. At least it keeps them out of the strawberries. We'll see if they leave any persimmons to the humans this year.
Eat what you grow, grow what you eat
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randino Posted 11:10 pm
31 Jul 2007
Much of my back yard is wooded in Northern Red Oak, White Oak, Wild Cherry, and my own contributions such as Pagoda Dogwood, Witch Hazel, American Hazlenut, Hornbeam, Allegheny Service Berry, Black Chokeberry, Spice Bush, Black Haw, and Elderberries.
What I have found in that you give nature any room at all and it will host a great variety of critters.
We have some fat woodchucks, cooper's hawks, wood thrushes, fox squirrels, and the crows have just bounced back after a devastating encounter with West Nile Virus. We also have a resident population of garter snakes, and (not so welcome) stripped skunks. We also have had our share of rabbits, but they come and go in number. The interesting thing is that the minute you get into the woods, the usual English Sparrow and Starlings are not as present as they are in the usual city landscape, and the wilder and more native species take over.
A person from ODNR who grew up in the country, said she was amazed when they did a wildlife study of Cleveland, about the diversity of bird species they found.
Randy Cunningham
Randy Cunningham
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Erik Hoffner Posted 2:03 am
01 Aug 2007
"The city is always defined as being artificial--that which is not nature. Given that kind of framing, you immediately devalue what's happening in cities. In cities I've lived in, I've always been drawn not to parks and preserves, but to what's right outside my own door...Typically these places aren't managed with nature in mind, yet nature thrives there. The assemblage of organisms you find is cosmopolitan, like a city."
Full thing here:
http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/1 ...
Speaking of Orion, the office has a bird list of recent sightings. Perched on the banks of the Housatonic River (one of the 10 top most threatened rivers in the nation, thanks to GE and its PCBs), we get a lot of interesting critters:
kingfisher
spotted sandpiper
all sorts of warblers
great blue heron
mergansers
red tail and coopers hawks
fish crow
beaver
And lots more. I've got a critter journal for home, too, on a table near the bay window, so I can recall what got seen, and when...a habit that makes it easy to recall events like when a fisher chased a squirrel up a tree in my yard, middle of the day, right in front of me. Too cool.
Erik
The Orion Grassroots Network: 1000+ grassroots groups working for conservation & more
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meander Posted 4:42 pm
01 Aug 2007
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meander, a.k.a., Mental Masala at Ethicurean
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kmp Posted 12:59 am
02 Aug 2007
The usual visits from deer, raccoons, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, groundhogs, are a daily site in our backyard. Also tons of birds - I'm lousy at bird identification, but finches, cardinals, bluejays and mourning doves seem to be the most prevalent. I did see a yellow-green hummingbird right off our deck over the weekend. Most fascinating bird sighting to date was (according to my fiance', much more up on his birds than I) a goshawk, sitting high up in a tree, eating some small critter (looked like a mouse or chipmunk).
We heard a pack of coyotes, braying at the moon, a few weeks ago, while we were out on the deck with friends. Also there is a screech owl that has been screeching every 45 seconds or so all night long for the last few weeks.
There is notice of black bear sightings in the park across the street from us over the weekend, although I personally have not seen bear in this neighborhood. I did, however, come home late from Manhattan on a Saturday, and turn into the driveway to find a 6-point buck standing in the drive. We stared at each other for a bit until I asked him "Would you mind moving over?" He moved to the brush at the side of the driveway and watched me move on by.
Kaela
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wiscidea Posted 6:37 am
29 Dec 2007
Anyway... if anyone has small fruit trees and you are getting a lot of snow get out there right now and clear the snow from immediately around your trees!
I really hope to see more hawks soon... if you know what I mean.
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Erik Hoffner Posted 11:27 pm
31 Dec 2007
I built a nest box for barred owls last fall and put it up in my 7 acre woodlot here in Mass in hopes of weeding out some of the chipmunks and squirrels around the place. No takers yet, but I'm hopeful. The owls are around, but just not yet interested in my offering.
Most interesting critters I'm seeing lately are common redpolls at the bird feeder. They're a cool northern/boreal finch that shows up this far south during cold winters.
Erik
The Orion Grassroots Network: 1,100+ grassroots groups working for conservation & more
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caniscandida Posted 2:16 am
01 Jan 2008
There are crows still, but their numbers are down. The TVs, on the other hand, are as numerous as ever. Coming home that way after Thanksgiving, in New Jersey not far from the Delaware, I saw a carcass of a deer, maybe 20 feet from the road, with half a dozen vultures on it -- something I had never seen before.
Yes, there were many roadside carcasses of deer. As it happened, this time, I saw none alive, but I am sure they are out there.
At the birdfeeder that my parents' neighbor has in his backyard, on Saturday morning there was a good-sized flock of cedar waxwings, the sight of whom always gladdens me. But I do not know what they could have been eating from the feeder; they do not usually eat seeds, I think.
In Montclair, NJ, at the roadside in an old, well-treed suburban residential community where I await my bus back to the city, I often watch a large friendly dog with thick orange fur, who usually stays outside a house across the road. The dog outside seems fine, but the owners also have a cat or two whom they let go loose, and who can be seen sauntering carelessly in the backyard. So, I was startled, one afternoon this past Fall, when hardly a couple of minutes after one of the cats had passed, a huge red-tailed hawk burst upwards from a low branch in a neighbor's backyard, right over where the dog and cats usually are. The hawk had not been going after the cat, from what I could tell, but it might have been. The lesson does not bear enough repeating: Keep your cats indoors!
Near Elmira, NY -- south of the Finger Lakes, a bit outside this region -- , is a well-loved Benedictine monastery, Mount Saviour, which just celebrated the 50th anniversary of its foundation. The monks there keep sheep, and sell the wool, as well as lambs for slaughter at Eastertime. That is probably not an adequate income for them, but the monks seem to like it, as a traditional form of manual labor. But there are some new-comers to the district, within the past two decades, who make the labor a less than perfect source of delight. As Father Martin, the prior, writes in his annual Christmastime newsletter :
<<
Sheep shearing was May 26th. That is always a joyful event for people of all ages. It seems the donkeys and the llama have picked up a mistaken notion of Benedictine hospitality because the coyotes have eliminated some 40 ewes and lambs. St. Benedict has a test for guests which the donkeys & llama have not recently applied to the coyotes!
>>
In Chapter 53 of the Rule of Saint Benedict, "On the Reception of Guests," we read: "All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ, for he himself will say: I was a stranger and you welcomed me (Matthew 25:35). ... Once a guest has been announced, the superior and the brothers are to meet him with all the courtesy of love. First of all, they are to pray together and thus be united in peace, but prayer must always precede the kiss of peace because of the delusions of the devil."
Possibly that is what Father Martin is referring to. If so, his association of the coyotes (standing in for their wolf-cousins) with the devil -- which I hope he is not in the habit of making -- has a long and sad history in Western civilization.
As for donkeys and llamas used as guard-animals, I have no clear understanding of their effectiveness.
Chickens are our cousins! So are fish! So are other sentient animals! Let us learn to be kind.
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wiscidea Posted 10:25 am
17 Apr 2008
I just put up two new bluebird houses and the bluebirds are already investigating. Unfortuntely -- I think -- the tree swallows are also looking at the new houses. I was hoping to provide the bluebirds with homes. However, I read that tree swallow are also having problems, so I guess it doesn't matter which species takes advantage of the new houses.
The tree swallows quickly displaced and took over the houses I put up last year as well. They seem to be more aggressive and start building their nests just a bit sooner. Or perhaps it's because the whole family returns and intimidates the bluebirds. They're swarming all over the yard, while the few bluebirds sit quietly on the fence, trying to decide what to do next.
I did learn that tree swallows lay eggs only once, while blubirds lay eggs two or three times. If I keep an eye on the swallows and clean out the houses as soon as their youngsters fledge, the bluebirds might still have a chance to take advantage of the houses later this year. We'll see what happens.
I'd like to encourage more people to put up APPROPRIATE houses for their native birds... please consider the design, location, whether you are willing to clean them out at the end of the year, availablity of food, and protection from predators.
PEACE!
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Erik Hoffner Posted 4:32 am
25 Jun 2008
Erik
The Orion Grassroots Network: 1,200+ grassroots groups working for conservation & more
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wiscidea Posted 6:38 am
25 Jun 2008
The tree swallows took the two houses closest to the road -- don't worry, they're positioned so the birds don't have to fly over the road as they come in for a landing. I don't think the bluebirds were interested in those houses. Too close to tall brush, perhaps. So there was no conflict. The swallows are still occupying the houses, but I have not seen any fledglings.
A third house was ignored by both, except it appears to serve as a perch for all sorts of birds competing for territory. Someone told me it might be too close to a bird feeder, which apparently spooks bluebirds. Anyone else heard this?
The activity around the fourth house, which is right next to our garden was interesting. One day there would be tree swallows sitting on it. The next day there would be one or two bluebirds sitting on it. This happened throughout late spring. I suspect neither species ever took control of long enough to build a nest until about a week ago. The tree swallows finally disappeared -- remember they supposedly raise only one set of youngsters each year --and it is now occupied by bluebirds, probably their second attempt to build a nest.
Thanks for asking. Wish I could go on about all the cute little fledglings, but I have not seen any... yet.
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wiscidea Posted 2:26 pm
25 Jun 2008
Anyway... we turned around and parked nearby, trying to decide what to do. A large snapping turtle has surely been around a while and shouldn't die under the wheel of a car. The second time we drove by, however, complicated matters since the disturbed turtle stopped moving, right in the middle of the road! And you can't just pick those things up and move them!
While we were hesitating, another car suddenly appeared and stopped right next to the turtle. A young girl, about 12 years old, leapt out, shouting to her mother, "We can't leave it there! It will die!" She was determined to rescue it and, without concern for her bare fingers and bare toes, tried to pick it up and move it.
It is amazing how fast those critters can move if "attacked". The girl stood there, very surprised. She apparently never dealt with a snapping turtle before. She was still eager to help it, but at a loss for what she might do. By that point, I thought I had better stop thinking and start acting. Fortunately, my wife continued to think and advised me to use an ice scraper to push the turtle off the road.
She was half correct in her choice of tool and method. When I tried pushing the turtle, it attacked the ice scraper! Makes sense, but I was surprised at the time. Damn, those beasts are flexible and move fast! Turtles are often depicted hunkering down in their shells when someone or something pokes at them. Snapping turtles do not do this. They... uh... snap at you. What can I say? I watched too many cartoons when I was younger.
Then there was a moment of clarity. I poked, as gently as possible, at the turtle from the direction it was headed. It attacked the ice scraper. Yes! I nudge the turtle again. It bit down on the ice scraper a little harder and I managed to pull it a few inches before it let go. I waved the ice scraper in front of it again. This time it grabbed onto it and I was able to pull it closer to safety. I eventually, with its cooperation, pulled it off the road.
We watched the snapping turtle until it set out, once again, on its original course, headed away from the road and toward a low area in the distance.
It was an interesting experience. And now I know how to move a snapping turtle if I can just find a sturdy stick.
If the young girl had not been so determined, I wonder whether I would have actually tried to move the turtle. Left to my own devices, I probably would have hesitated and the next car might crushed it. Furthermore, neither the girl nor I seemed concerned about the fact that we were playing in the middle of the road, close to a sharp curve, speed limit 55 mph, traffic usually moving 60 mph. I wish I could find the motivation to tap into that sort of determination and compassion more often. We clearly have it as children. Why don't more of us retain it as adults?
There are probably several lessons here, but I'll leave it to anyone who's gotten this far to figure them out.
Peace.
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wiscidea Posted 2:29 pm
25 Jun 2008
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Biodiversivist Posted 3:21 pm
25 Jun 2008
In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world
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spaceshaper Posted 10:01 pm
25 Jun 2008
Do be so so careful with your kids on missions of mercy on the highway. A ten-year-old died on a two-lane country road near us a while back when going to the aid of a box turtle.
The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.
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Erik Hoffner Posted 11:52 pm
26 Jun 2008
Love the enthusiasm to save the turtle, on your and the 12 year old's part. Those things will move far, and can smell distant water bodies.
About culverts, I think wildlife use them well. On my land I've noted fishers using them in preference to going over the road. Big ones are used by all sorts of critters. A recent article in a Mass wildlife mag had a photo montage from a motion sensitive camera that documented skunks, coons, coyotes, deer, otters, and more using them regularly to avoid the motorized public...why not turtles?
Erik
The Orion Grassroots Network: 1,200+ grassroots groups working for conservation & more
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wiscidea Posted 4:12 pm
07 Jul 2008
I was pulling wild parsnip -- a noxious weed around here -- today and noticed several plants were occupied by numerous ants tending some other small insect. Aphids? I don't know. But it made it very difficult for me to destroy those particular plants. I don't know whether the observed species of ant lives on other plants. I don't know whether it lives on a Eurasion plant because the ant itself is Eurasion or the native plant it used to live on has been driven to extincton.
I'm finding it increasingly difficult to destroy vegetation for the greater good. Every individual plant is inhabited by a variety of other organisms. Destroy a plant... destroy someone's home. But the Eurasian plants are destroying someone's home! Wild parsnip is an awful exotic, degrading vast stretches of grassland desparately needed by threatened grassland birds. As heir to and beneficiary of humanity's reckless behavior, I suppose I'm also obligated to repair the damage. I just wish there were gentler ways.
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wiscidea Posted 11:16 pm
20 Jul 2008
There've been countless fireflies appearing in the taller grass around my home and throughout the neighbor's CRP field north of us over the past week or so. Conservation of grassland appears very important from their perspective; I don't see a large number of the insects flying around the tall woody vegetation.
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wiscidea Posted 11:22 pm
20 Jul 2008
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Backcut Posted 12:44 am
21 Jul 2008
Amazing place on the Salmon-Challis National Forest.
Scenic pics at http://Lhfotoware.blogspot.com
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Erik Hoffner Posted 1:14 am
21 Jul 2008
But I continue finding the wildlife in my new home back East compelling: latest (and especially for your bug interest, Wisci) is a luna moth. Amazingly huge, incredible colors. If you've not seen one, here's what was affixed to my screen door all day:
http://whatsthatbug.com/luna.html
Erik
The Orion Grassroots Network: supporting grassroots groups working for conservation, justice, & more
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Storm Dragon Posted 8:04 am
24 Jul 2008
Let the jaguars return!
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wiscidea Posted 3:59 am
09 Sep 2008
What might be more important is the reason I encountered the tiny hoverfly. While I spend a lot of time outside, I'm generally outside for a purpose or just a stroll, taking in the scenery.
For the first time I can recall, I decided to sit in one place, with a notebook, and observe for about two hours. I'm not talking about gazing at the horizon or watching birds in the trees nearby. I focused on what was happening close to the ground, within just a few feet of where I was sitting. Fascinating! I could go on about the other insects, especially the various bees, I watched -- and the thoughts that occurred -- but it would probably get a bit boring for most who read this... and this isn't a personal blog.
Anyway... what's the point?
I encourage others to try it or share their observations if they already have.
Peace.
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Biodiversivist Posted 5:07 am
09 Sep 2008
In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world
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Russ Posted 5:22 am
09 Sep 2008
Here in the NJ suburbs I seldom see any unusual wildlife. There's a small herd of deer which strut around the neighborhood as if they own the place (and deposit many piles of droppings in the yard.) For several years a woodchuck would regularly appear, I assume the same one, but I don't recall seeing him this summer. Once in awhile a red-tailed hawk will circle low overhead, or lurk in a tree or on a telephone pole.
The whole region crawls with suburbanized bears, but somehow I've never seen one.
Unfortunately, there are few songbirds beyond the normal robins and sparrows. Rarely I'll see something like a tanager or oriole. But on the whole the thuggish starlings dominate the place and have driven out most of the native birds.
I didn't know this thread existed until I saw it on the comment log just now. It should be permanently listed in the left-hand column - I bet lots of people would enjoy visiting it regularly.
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Biodiversivist Posted 7:34 am
09 Sep 2008
In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world
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Erik Hoffner Posted 7:45 am
09 Sep 2008
Of course the domesticated shiitakes that I have growing on oak logs have been doing quite fine, as well, thanks to that weather regime.
Erik
The Orion Grassroots Network: supporting grassroots groups working for conservation, justice, & more
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Storm Dragon Posted 4:41 am
18 Sep 2008
Let the jaguars return!
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Biodiversivist Posted 5:43 am
18 Sep 2008
http://home.comcast.net/~russ676/photo/spider.jpg
In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world
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Storm Dragon Posted 4:46 am
19 Sep 2008
Let the jaguars return!
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Storm Dragon Posted 5:29 am
26 Sep 2008
Let the jaguars return!
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caniscandida Posted 3:15 pm
26 Sep 2008
Nothing too new to report here in NYC and north Jersey. I saw a cormorant on a piling in the river; they used to be more common here in Manhattan, but surely are still very numerous elsewhere in New York Harbor.
Canada geese continue to make frequent visits to the grassy islands created by intersecting highways, and entrances and exits.
At my parents' house in SE PA, I recently observed for the first time something that I had read about: a chipmunk was pillaging the nest of birds, in this case catbirds, which was located in a thick holly tree, with branches near the ground. On the middle bar of the fence that runs next to the tree, the chipmunk was holding in its paws a white object, which I soon realized was an egg; on the top bar, the bereaved parent catbird was standing, its head cocked so as to look at the chipmunk -- not exactly full defense mode. After some time, the chipmunk leaped again into the tree, perhaps in search of another egg.
On arthropods: I recall reading the comment of an arachnologist, who said that wherever a human individual might be, in just about any location and climate, the chances are very good that there is at least one spider within fifteen feet. That sounds believable; but presumably encounters with largish spiders crawling up one's leg are rather rare.
We are blessed with centipedes here, some of them over two inches long. I happen to think they are remarkably beautiful, and always welcome them. But I was not pleased, the other night, when I was trying to get back to sleep, but a centipede kept exploring round and round the bedroom, every now and again crawling on me and waking me up.
Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.
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caniscandida Posted 12:03 am
08 Oct 2008
http://cephalopodcast.com/blog/2008/10/08/2nd-annual-unof ...
Unfortunately I seem to have misplaced my squid hat ...
Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.
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Jon Rynn Posted 12:08 am
08 Oct 2008
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Biodiversivist Posted 1:01 am
08 Oct 2008
In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world
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Storm Dragon Posted 7:29 am
08 Oct 2008
With regard to the egg-stealing chipmunk...other members of the squirrel tribe, (including the larger ground squirrels), are known to raid bird's nests on occasion, so I wouldn't be too surprised to hear of a chipmunk eating an egg.
Let the jaguars return!
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Biodiversivist Posted 9:54 am
08 Oct 2008
In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world
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Storm Dragon Posted 5:25 am
09 Oct 2008
Let the jaguars return!
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Russ Posted 6:11 am
09 Oct 2008
I guess if a Utahan came here our positions would be reversed regarding the blue jay.
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caniscandida Posted 12:00 am
15 Oct 2008
On roadrunners: While I was living in Santa Fe, and occasionally driving thereabouts, I recall having seen roadrunners only fleetingly, and uncertainly, two or three times, as they dashed into the bushes off the road (which is something that the WB Roadrunner NEVER does: the rules are, he/she MUST stay on the road at all times). My only clear, prolonged observation of a roadrunner in the wild was at the gorgeous Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, a ways south of Albuquerque on the Rio Grande.
Meanwhile, during this mild Fall, I continue to be blessed with good observations of birds at the campus in NJ where I teach: most recently, a Downy Woodpecker; a small group of Tufted Titmice; and, most fun of all, some Bay-Breasted Warblers, on their way south, who scattered through the trees beneath which I was sitting, apparently finding on the leaves tiny arthropods to eat.
Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.
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Storm Dragon Posted 3:31 am
23 Oct 2008
Let the jaguars return!
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Storm Dragon Posted 8:24 am
21 Nov 2008
Let the jaguars return!
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Storm Dragon Posted 4:03 pm
09 Dec 2008
Let the jaguars return!
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Bob Wallace Posted 5:06 pm
09 Dec 2008
They climb fences.
They climb trees.
I asked Santa for an electric fence.
I don't steal their food....
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