Warren Connecticut

Wednesday, July 11, 2007. We were watching the NewsHour and I kept hearing this noise from the backyard but didn’t pay it much attention as it was raining out and the rain makes noises on gutters and things around here.

Then I stood up and this is what I saw, exactly this view at this scale.

I yelled something and Anne turned around and gasped. I ran to the basement to make sure the cat was inside (she was, thank god) and then up to the office to get camera. Quickly (and stupidly) put 300mm f/4 on (should have left 24-70 on to get whole bear) and ran downstairs. It was obvious I couldn’t get him through the window so I had to go out on the deck. I was not happy about this, it was raining and this is a very large bear, much larger than I thought we had around here. I snuck out on the deck but he saw me, so I quickly squeezed off a few bad shots and ran back inside and locked the door (he could have beaten it down in 3 seconds). He, in turn, lazily got down and walked into the woods.

Anne was all worked up “did you get him, did you get him” and I’m thinking “crap, I’m just glad to be alive.” Did I tell you, this bear is big. How big? This feeder is six feet off the ground (I hang them from trees on string to keep squirrels off but not high enough it seems) and he’s sitting on his butt here, lazily having his dinner. If he stood up full height he’d be, well, bigger. This ain’t no nature show. This ain’t no zoo shot. This is my backyard!

I know many of you in Warren have seen bears in your yards but this is our first. We’ve got plenty of other animals but have never seen a bear. I wonder how many of these guys are wandering around Warren?

Neighbors along Melius Road took community improvement to heart last Saturday, May 28 when they put the finishing touches on the garden at the intersection of Flat Rocks and Melius Roads.

Efforts began last fall when residents of Flat Rocks and Melius decided they wanted to beautify the triangle of land which is the home of flat rocks for which the road which leads from Warren to East Cornwall is named.
Zarinna Mulla of Warren Woods Nursery designed a low maintenance, drought-resistant garden which used native grasses, wildflowers and day lilies.

Early in April neighbors met to remove weeds and plant the day lilies. Work concluded on May 28th when the native grass and wildflower seed was broadcast. Now walkers, runners and cyclists can make the “flat rocks” a destination.

Zarinna Mulla begins sowing wildflower seed donated by Warren Woods Nursery

Zarinna Mulla and neighbor Ellen Paul prepare the soil for planting.

Triangle Garden in Fall, 2006.

Triangle Garden in July, 2007.

Photo credits: Jane Monti

by Dr. Everett Vreeland

Of course, the main thing going on this time of year is the yearly migration of millions of birds. They are excited to be moving, and show it in their behavior. New types of food abound, new species are mixed in as they fly. Familiar places are recognized daily, and the beginnings of rare sexual stirrings excite them all. The first to show here are the redwing blackbirds that post themselves in treetops around swamps establishing nesting areas that await the females that arrive a few weeks later. Then male robins with dark heads seem to fill every lawn to be followed in a week or so by females(no dark heads). Catbirds and thrushes will be here soon followed by warblers, small and in mixed groups. Most interesting to me are the ducks as species fly through that are never seen here on a regular basis. Golden-eyes, Buffle-Heads, Ring-necks, Hooded mergansers, Red-heads and even Canvas-backs can be seen. I rarely have seen pin-tails on the river. When you see “just ducks” on the puddles take note of their variety in size and plumage. If you don’t wreak the car, you will be aghast at the many types and find yourself waiting to see them every spring. (more…)

By: Dr. Everett Vreeland

I am starting this on 3-17-04 and the first report of bear sighting has ocurred. Paul Prindle had a warm fuzzy visitor on his back porch. I believe this same bear lives on the southern slope going towards the reservoir and generally seeks food from there to town hill and then can go back of the town hall to come along a continuing bird feeder route to my place where he is greeted with a raucous canned air horn (if seen). Bird feeders will suffer trashing along the route. He has contiuous cover on a NW route across Flat Rock where he is seen - and felt - enroute to the greater Mohawk Forest. My judgement - as seen on my porch - is that he is a male of about 350 lbs. and mates are available at Mohawk.

My feeder abounds in Finches with Siskins leading the attack. Squirrels are fattening with speed and many many resplendent male Mergansers gather in ice free places awaiting the yearly mating gathering at Waramaug. Redwings take up stations on treetops surrounding customary nesting swamps. Strong instincts demand that they clain territory for mating in spite of frigid winds and frozen bogs. They are joined here now by Grackles and a few Cowbirds.

A few fly fisherman have been braving icy waters in the river in search of hungry trout. I think mostly to escape the frenetic urban areas from whence they willingly come. The river also attracts migrant waterfowl and I expect odd species from time to time; just like Rt. 95 and its yearly “snow-birds.”

Humorous to me in this uncertain weather, is the erratic flights of the awakening Vultures. They try, in vain, to find an uplifting thermal current that gives them access to buoyant flight and carrion odors. Finding no thermals, they must actually fly. That is not a strong talent compared to soaring and they appear as amateurs. In observing this, however, I did see one Black Vulture in Kent. This is a smaller species, new to New England, that capable friends said were here a year ago. It took me this long to spy one. They have wing bars in flight, seen parallel to the body.

Watch now as the larger wooded slopes slowly change in color and the tree buds develop. First the Maples give a maroon sort of haze and then the watercourses begin to show vague light green of the Poplars. Way way back I used to follow these streams to their source learning every step of the way about plants and critters that average people never see: (e.g. trout-lilies, hepatica, water-cress.and sun-bathing snakes.) That knowledge brings a contented outlook and maybe a tendency to talk too much.

By Dr. Everett Vreeland

In the midst of a blizzard I am recalling three days ago. In bright sun the phragmites (swamp grass - reeds) nod in unison with the wind. Their feathery tops catching sun and appearing magical as the seed crowns reflect the rays as a single shining torch. Some think that this plant is an invasive danger. I consider it, in the natural course of botanical things, a transient gift. Bitterns, rails, redwings, and others call it home and nursery while canoeists know it is a place of rest in big winds and is everywhere - in fresh water or salt.

After the storm one of the feral (well fed) cats crouched in the bird feeder waiting, evilly, for hungry birds to arrive. Nan said “let nature take its course.” I immediately concurred and busted the feline butt out of there. Natures course would be no feeder - smart birds - and hungrier and more athletic cats.

The day before Christmas and rain and warm weather prevail. The swamps and water courses are all over-full now and wait for freezing. All that room under the ice means easy going for beavers, muskrats, frogs, turtles and a real crowd of larvae including mosquitoes.

Birds in the feeders are wet but really happy and not bothered by rain. Very large squirrels are the same and crowd out most of the birds except chickadees and nuthatches who bravely go where other species put caution over valor.

Most water holes not iced over at this date, have small groups of ducks, often mallards, hanging in here and probably don’t know that plenty of food lies one day’s flight to the south. Many geese are the same and we bear witness now to the development of strains that simply do not leave as long as there is open water somewhere near. The “wacko” strain. I often see mergansers and mallards crouched on ice with air at 0 degrees and looking totally in misery with comfort as close as the Chesapeake or the Carolina swamps. I have been frustrated all my life that I cannot converse with them, yet at -8 degrees the feeder is mobbed with happy appearing birds of many species who spend all day seeking food and sleep in some frigid roost in frigid night.

The ready wood gets lower and the sun country draws closer.

Posted by Hideaway

It’s Spring and bears are in the area. Last night on Brick School Road my birdfeeder was “lowered” by a bear. No other damage but footprints in the snow. If you see a bear and would to report it to DEP, they keep records of reported sightings, here is the link. http://dep.state.ct.us/burnatr/wildlife/sighting/bearsight.asp

By Dr. Everett Vreeland

In the northeast most all of us have cellars and they are mostly used in similar ways. In mine, which is the usual collection of practical things, there is a radical change in ambiance and usage with the advent of an active wood stove. It becomes a haven for me to warm myself away from enemy winds and sneaky drops in temperature. Wood fires are acceptably good things to stare at. #1 is a camp fire, #2 is a fireplace at home, in a bar, or when visiting beautiful friends, if they don’t talk too much.

During the parts of the day when the sun, at a low angle, shines through ground level windows to light up areas rarely observed, it shows me that fungi grow actively on the logs I have stored; it highlights webs fashioned by a very special cellar spider; it exposes the now used trails of winter visiting rodents and also reveals set-aside jobs I forgot to finish but are welcomed now as productive work.

The spider I spoke of is a special fellow with a long abdomen and relatively long legs. They are numerous and, when threatened, set up violent gyrations in the web meant to terrify intruders. I was curious to see what they lived on and stumbled on the fact that there are numerous, very small winged insects living and reproducing all winter in the cellar. They can be found at most cellar windows and living on - who knows? It may be that I contribute to this world by bringing in wood every season.

The rodents are entertaining in my world but when they invade upstairs are decimated by the warring huntress I have married. I have always admired the reproductive capacity of those critters that are food for foxes and falcons alike. They function like minnows in a river or herring in a sea.

Deer and raccoons head the road kill list currently and in addition, many deer are going down to the hunters’ guns this month. These methods function well except that deer remain a problem in the counties to the south where firearms are feared and horticulture admired. The people there would do well to welcome the archers with food and fanfare.

The deer I have seen are robust and healthy. It is later in the winter that losses show up as some very young don’t learn to browse and some very old can’t quite make it any more and starve due to bad teeth or are dragged down by predators, including dogs.

Take a closer look at your cellar as its value is often under done and it is a critter place of interest.

By Dr. Everett Vreeland

If you watch the natural world at all you can’t help noticing the gathering and bustling of birds. Groups change daily as a flock moves on and another arrives. Their numbers and species seem to be in constant change and often are in mixed groups buzzing with mutual excitement. Geese go by, way high, especially on moonlit nights and, on those nights, I don’t think the world looks much different to them as it does in daylight.

A few people have spoken of the large groups of blackbirds that sometimes stop to feed and I have noticed that these are often mixed groups containing redwings and grackles.

People agree that there is present, in the fall, a melancholy feeling when the leaves change and the weather cools and also that it is somehow pleasant. I have been sure for a few years now that we did, in the dim past, in fact, migrate for many reasons and the melancholy we feel now is because we no longer do it and miss its excitement. How about that.

Two things, related to color are evident currently. The beech trees in most places retain their leaves longer than any others and remain brilliant and gold in the darkening backgrounds. The deer a few have mentioned, are indeed getting much darker coats as the bulk of where they live becomes only dark tree trunks. I see this not as a wondrous happening, but more a function again of natural selection. Over a million years ago, or longer. if you were a deer who held a red coat in fall, you were spotted and soon in the stewpot and if you were dark and hid among the brush you remained in the gene pool to beget many little kids who, in addition, could return to a reddish blend-in coat come spring. Hunters know that a deer can “hide” by standing still - with a dark coat.

By Dr. Everett Vreeland

The above category holds many critters at this writing. Road kill numbers are way up now involving young skunks, young coons, possums, and woodchucks. Some seek winter quarters and all are seeking food. Swallows are lining up on wires with soon to be migration looming and its accompanying obvious excitement. Small groups of small birds new to this area stop to feed on their journey. Kinglets, I believe, though they are frenetic enough that I cannot see them readily. Many people have spoken of the increase in deer numbers but I believe it is a normal population drawn forth to harvest the newly falling apples that they love. Separate groups come daily to my prolific wild trees.

I cover a lot of ground in the northeast and a memorable happening is everywhere. I’m referring to the great harvest revealed by multiple road stands. The food value is obvious but more evident are the startling colors there. Red tomatoes, yellow squash, orange marigolds, I think, and pumpkins set off by brilliant “mums.” I presume that early colors of blossoms attract pollinators and late colors of fruits attract creatures to eat them and thereby assist in the spreading of seeds - accidents preserving species.

Unfortunately in my life, I have been witness to the sometimes shocking meeting at the interface between the natural world and our developing technology. It all started with an Angus steer that fell into a cistern. Payback was a rudely altered water supply for the farm. Next was a series of horses in swimming pools (also rudely altered). One barn fire caused by a horse chewing on Romex electric cable plus a pony killed by standing in wet mud containing a live cable. Pet coons killed in dish washers, dogs and children dying in sun baked cars, kittens trapped and killed in clothes dryers. Sadly enough dogs do die flying out of pickups and they do get fatally hung by choke collars.

All of the above is caused by a widening gulf between modern man and the natural world Also, people, searching for status, moving species naturally selected to certain climates around the face of the earth and those species suffer. Scary trend.

I am sorry for the brevity of this but, happily, my life is currently very full.

By Dr. Everett Vreeland

The only time I have discerned stress in the animal world it was always related to attempts by humans to exert control. Protecting their young seemed a matter of fury and aggression, not stress or worry. Our species appears to create stress and, in some ways, lean on it as a force about which they may complain, in their mind rightfully. Recently I have observed an over-equipped  cycle warrior “relaxing” as his bicycle went on, on a cell phone and a similarly over - bedecked fly-fisherman jabbering away on a phone in midstream. Do-it-yourself stress.

We are in a period of rampant blossoms in the natural world. Masses of lilies on most watered areas. Cornflowers abound in their unique blue, queens lace usurping the roadsides, and soon to be jo-pie weed, then butter and eggs with its warm blend of yellow and orange. I watch with interest as their special pollinators arrive to assure their perpetuation and the wondrous and varied ways by which the plants have developed methods to be sure their seeds are spread. Burdocks go in animal hair or people pants. Maple, ash, cattails, and dandelions sail in the wind, and some plants have cells, specialized in the form of springs that jettison the seeds into new ground. Oaks travel by squirrel and others in the form of acorns, while other plants produce delicious berries and send their seeds off in the guts of “critters,” such as we.

This gulf-like weather produces fungi in numbers and varieties only seen intermittently in normal weather. In sizes like the tiniest of nails to those great “amanitas 7″ across and others in colors from deep purple to dark rich nut brown. They grow in the branching shape of clavaria to the definitive Indian pipes and familiar chanterelles, really love this weather, and are everywhere at this writing. If you are on horseback in western forests you will see large and numerous fungi stashed in tree forks above the average snow level by the talented, industrious, and forward thinking Douglas squirrels.

Do not eat mushrooms unless identity is established. A few are deadly.

The fertile and attractive Housatonic runs copiously now from all the rain upstream and as it is less attractive to fly fishermen, it becomes a true magnet for canoe people, kayakers, and tubers. I have canoed that river often and high water is much safer than dodging boulders although nowhere near as interesting as the worlds revealed by the clarity of low water. An early morning or evening trip will reveal a plethora of wildlife whose numbers will amaze you. I think the antics and plumage of the humans during the day are a source of humor for the animal population. Spandex attire must scare animals acutely, in a class with pink and orange kayaks.

Our planet is right now in the middle of its production mode and still astounds me. Species and populations still rise and fall and the reasons sometimes hide or are too evident to recognize.