– This page orginally created in 2001 by Betsy Klinger and Diana Talbert.
March 6 - A pair of red-shouldered or perhaps broad-winged hawks were diving at the birds attracted to a feeder at the Andrews' house on Daylily Lane. The pair eventually flew off in the direction of the woods. Vicki Andrews also mentions the appearance of little black ants (not carpenter ants) in her house and the houses of several other Grove friends this week! According to the entymologists at Bugnet, ant colonies emerge from hibernationat a time based on daylength. To identify the ant, they suggest, the nose knows. Squish a few with your finger. Tapinoma sessile , the odorous house ant, smell like rotten coconut, or essentially unpleasant. Telramoriumcaespitum is an equally common household ant with no particular smell. Paratrechina ,which is a common greenhouse pest smells like Jolly Rancher watermelon!
March 8 - A red-shouldered hawk was circling overhead at the Andrew's house again. Vicki Andrews was able to identify the hawk by it's cry and it's shape.
March 10 - Ann Briggs reports that red-shouldered and red-tailed hawks are all over the Grove, as are Cooper's and Sharp-Shinned Hawks. She is not aware of any broad-wings yet. She has noticed big flocksof robins and also of blackbirds. (Ann adds that the black bird flocks are one of the most typical spring/fall indications of migrations.) FOX . ! ...M.K.Dubois and others have noticed a healthy red fox making the rounds. He checks out the dish of dry cat food on her back steps. She also has seen a rather scraggly oppossum that she thinks is living beneath her porch.
March 11 - A. Briggs on Bluebirds Yes, Jim Fletcher's birdhouses seem to have attracted the critters to the Grove this past year! We've seen them throughout the winter around the tennis court. They now are in the early stages of breeding: the male showing his favorite nesting spots to the female, much soft chatter between the pair members, the female checking out the nesting potentials. While they moved in small family flocks throughout the winter, they now are clearly into the two-only mode. K. Lehman reported a bluebird near the Knight house a month or so ago. and M.K. DuBois recently has seen them feeding on berries in the trees between her yard and the Horan's. S. Winkler reports that they are in the fields next to her house and several other residents have spotted them as well.
March 12 - B. Leng saw a Great Horned Owl flying from tree to tree near McCathran Hall one evening about about two weeks ago. She thinks crows had flushed him from his roost. Barb enjoys watching a red-bellied woodpecker that visits her feeding station daily. J. Leng spotted a pileated woodpecker Friday (3/9) on a branch overhanging the Nagem house! J. Fletcher sees lots of crows. He carries a crow call with him. Ask to see it. He mentioned that he's had to eat a lot of crow in his day. HmmÉ
March 14 - L. Winters suggests a website produced by the American Bird Conservancy and hosted by ABC about cats and wildbirds: https://abcbirds.org/ D Gordon was greeted by a healthy fat oppossum on her patio a few days ago.
March 15 - The pair of Canada geese that haveclaimed Maple Lake every Spring for several years now have appeared again, according to S. Hurst. Not everyone is thrilled with the mess they create, however.
March 23 - L. Winters - "Migration is in full swing. I just heard today a House Wren and a Baltimore Oriole. Warren's seen Swainson's Thrush, hoards of Yellow-rumped Warblers, Rufous-sided Towhee, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, lots of Cedar Waxwing's (that was severalweeks ago) and the American Goldfinches are back at our feeder. Also, two young Mourning Doves fledged from the nest above our front door last week and the adults are back on the nest working on another brood. Wow, that was fast!"
March 29 - B. Klinger noticed a tiny golden-crowned kinglet in the raspberry canes near the town garage. It's the first kinglet she had ever spotted in the Grove, but A. Briggs claims, " Yes, we have both golden- and ruby-crowned kinglets throughout the Grove, but we are most likely to see them in the woods, very often on the coldest days ofJanuary! They flit from twig to twig, often working a tree for 15to 20 minutes, seeking bugs, etc., much like a warbler. Their song is a high chatter that I usually recognize only after I've seen the bird! Asthe breeding season comes on, those top notches tend to stand up and showoff more frequently.
March 31 - B. Leng - The goldfinch are now showing their brilliant yellow which is nice. Enjoyed watching 3 juvenile deer coming up out of the field shoulder to shoulder, on their first excursion away from home. They very carefully came across Ridge Road and over to Maple Ave., still shoulder to shoulder. They're probably the ones we saw as fawns last summer down in the bottom of the field. I love it! Still haven't seen a frog yet!
April 2 - L. Winters - Warren saw two bluebirds on Maple Ave on 3/17 & 3/28 and we had our first chipping sparrows of the spring on our feeders this past weekend. Also, we have a pair of mourning doves nesting on the ledge above our front door. If people want to quietly walk down Grove Ave. they can take a look.
April 11 - Vicki Andrews reports seeing Jack-in-the-pulpit, bellwort and lots of salamanders in the West Woods (woods near the lake)
April 22 - B. Klinger saw a bluebird in the East woods. It was just beyond the path that runs behind the Center Street houses. George Paine reports an intriguing phenomenon. He has on two occasions in March and April, surprised a group of five deer in the middle of the Sacred Circle after ten at night. Both times, as he approached the circle, the deer bolted in different directions. Immediately after, he watched as two or three cats, which apparently had been in the same spot, also bolted. The mystery of a mixed cat-and-deer herd, scattering upon discovery has George dreaming of all kinds of dangerous alliances. Has anyone else witnessed cats mixing with deer?
May 8 - Mimi Bolotin watched as a Baltimore Oriole flew across Ridge Road today! It perched in a tree in the driveway shared by the Compton, Odick and Hayward families. Meira and Asher Kirschbaum discovered the nest of a pair of Carolina Wrens in their tool shed. (Center St near Ridge Rd) The birds entered through a round, quarter-sized hole in the wall and built a very loosely shaped nest in the corner of a bookcase-style set of shelves. When Meira and Asher found the nest, there were four eggs in it. The babies are just now learning to fly.
May 13 - John Lottes, of Ridge Road extended, E-mailed three observations. He has noticed the Baltimore Orioles near his place this past week. He also describes a beautiful red fox vixen with 4 or 5 kits which seems to have taken up residence in a stone pile behind his home. And he questions whether anyone else feels the deer herd seems depleted and less healthy this year.
May 21 - John and Karen Lottes were surprised to see what LOOKED like a groundhog lounging on a tree branch in their yard and nibbling the leaves. Having heard a recent claim of a groundhog climbing a tree to escape a dog, I checked out this story. YES! Groundhogs(or more correctly, "woodchucks") DO climb trees both to forage and toescape pursuit. PS - "Groundhogs at Hoghaven" is a terrific website for young and old!
May 24 - Doris Gordon is incredulous about the Robins nesting in the wreath on the front of the Yachup house next door to her on Maple. She describes Mrs. Robin's mate who for much of the past two weeks has perched on a chair a few feet from the wreath and from there, flown repeatedly into the living room window. Perhaps he sees his reflection as a rival. Even stickers that the Yachups put on the window don't deter him!
May 30 - Jim and Barb Leng are seeing and hearing lots of Indigo Buntings near their house in the first block of Ridge Road. The buntings especially enjoy dipping and drinking from their little pond. Pileated Woodpeckers have visited their feeders a lot lately too. And they think a Baltimore Oriole has decided to nest in or near their yard again this year because the male has been chasing other birds from his territory! Meghan O'Connell, around the corner on Center Street, has noticed the Pileated Woodpeckers and the Orioles also. She points out that our woods include wonderful dead trees for nesting and foraging woodpeckers. Vicki Andrews of Daylily Lane writes: "Katie (age7) and Matt (age 6) have spotted a young raccoon hanging around our house. Matt chased it out of the garage the other morning. It had been gorging on our cat food. We have seen it for about the past week, maybe 10 - 12 daytime sightings."
September 24 - Ann Briggs reports that she and Ellywere gone during the first half of September when so many birds move through here, but yesterday (the 23rd) was still pretty exciting along Grove Avenue. Within a 20-minute period, while the afternoon sun was shining so brightly, the berrying dogwood trees attracted: wood peewee, scarlet tanager (male,in fall plumage...brighter than usual), blackburnian warbler (again, male in fall plumage), and a GORGEOUS male rose-breasted grosbeak. These were in addition to the usual wonderful assortment of carolinas, downys, red-bellies, titmice and chickadees, crows, jays, starlings, etc. etc. etc. We had a hummer zooming around our kitchen window, and Don Henninger says they have seen several hummers within the past week or so. Probably moving through? On Sunday morning, I heard (but did not see) town bluebirds near the tennis courts and, late in the day, I heard a wood thrush sing. This was most surprising as they have been quiet for many weeks now. The coming cooler days and nights should bring some very good birding by mid/late week. Peep-peep! Ann
November 13 - Ann Briggs: So far, November in the Grove has had some real pluses: during this glorious weather, a red-shoulder hawk takes off over playground area almost every day about 9 am, beset by crows, so he's easy to spot. We may see aSharpshin or even a Cooper's in the vicinity of any bird feeders as the winter progresses. Bluebirds chortle (we saw 5 on the soccer goal posts in late October), the Carolina Wren calls and calls and calls. The Brown Creeper is back, but I haven't heard or seen a Sapsucker yet this fall. Shortly, the hermit thrush should turn up in the woods, seeking a winter shelter from its more northerly summer home. The only sound I've heard them make during this winter sabbatical is a soft cluck or chuck, but they seem to come back each year. Since they're the only spotted thrush around here during the winter, they are unmistakable. The winter birds will begin to turn up before much longer, usually after Christmas. Anyone seeing red-breasted nuthatches or evening grosbeaks, either Kinglet...please report! This past week has been fox week along Grove Avenue. Several nights we've heard the eerie shriek of the fox around 3 am. Assume it's a red fox. Has anyone seen it? Happy Turkey Day!