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Seen any unusual mammals or birds or insects in Cornwall lately? Send an e-mail about your sighting to hannakg@optonline.net and we'll list it on this page. Jacque and Tom Schiller report: we saw a beguiling young bobcat Saturday (12/29) sauntering up the driveway of our neighbors near Town and Lake roads. 
On May 18, 2006 Lori Welles wrote: We have now had our regular Spring visitor the Indigo Bunting at our feeder. The Orioles are back in the trees. We have had Orioles for years and always have them nesting. They seem to be in our Apple trees a lot and then build in the Silver Maples. We have suddenly been introduced to the female Red bellied Woodpecker. As I said before we always had the male over the Winter, but never saw the female. She appeared about three weeks ago and is feeding on the suit, along side the male and all the other Woodpeckers. And just for fun, the bear was on the deck this week, but exited stage left at the bark of our dog, Remo. Now has anyone seen a Scarlet Tanager? We have seen several Orchard Orioles at our suet feeder (Flat Rocks just off Rte 45) on May 14; first time in well over 10 years. Also red winged blackbirds who used to be common at the edges of our pond but have also not been seen in a very long time. The orioles and red bellied woodpeckers are really exiting. Is it something about the climate or is it the suet that is bringing them? Hanna Grossman On May 2, 2006 Jane Bean watched a Titmouse land and ride on the back of our daily raccoon visitor. While the coon was eating, the bird would land on his back and proceed to take hair out of the coon's back. I mean lots of hair, presumably for nest building. The raccoon seemed pretty unpeturbed by this, just glancing over his shoulder now and then, and going back to his food. I am still dazed by this little glimpse into the world of animals and birds around here. One trick we have learned is to put out short pieces of string this time of year and watch the birds carry them off - especially Orioles. But, keep them short so the birds can't "hang" themselves as they build their nest. Lori Welles at the Ballyhack says, on April 10th: Have just started to see the first Mourning Cloak butterflies this last week. We also had a Pine Warbler feeding on the deck for a day. We are also wondering if anyone has seen the female Red Breasted Woodpecker? We have a male that stays with us most of the year, but have never seen a female. In mid January 2006 we have had reports of redpolls at feeders from Lori Welles and Jane Bean. Lori says they have not been seen here since 1998. Steve Davis says he has regularly seen porcupines at dusk in an Apple Tree near Ralph Gold's house,October 2005. This was a first in 20 or more years in the Cornwall woods. He wonders whether an apparent increase in porcupines is to be celebrated or bemoaned. Steve also said he has a motion sensitive camera attached to tree(s?) in the woods and has pictures of coyotes, fishers, etc. to show for it. Early December 2005. We just had the return of the Northern Goshawk to our feeder, on The Ballyhack. This is not unusual for us as we have a large variety of hawks and even an occasional Peregrine Falcon sighting. Also the Pileated woodpeckers are working away on our old trees. With this cold snap the feeders are full and the seed is going fast. Lori Welles, The Ballyhack West Cornwall Lori Welles I wonder how common porcupines are in Cornwall. Have others seen them? We seem to now have a resident porky (maybe two of them). During the past two mornings, a rather fat, healthy-looking porcupine crossed the lawn from behind our house and crossed over the road to disappear into the woods on the other side. I'll keep a camera ready for the next crossing. --Steve Senzer On October 1st John O'Neill on River Road reported: Both Karen and I have seen mature bald eagle(s) recently over and near River Rd. in West Cornwall. Marty from Housatonic Meadows told me there is a pair that stayed in the area all summer and are occasionally seen cruising the Housey. We are waiting for the three pair of eagles that were around all last winter. Also had a goshawk pick doves off at my bird feeders. When we lived in San Francisco,ravens used to fly over our garden, but here in the Northwest Corner they are pretty shy. However this past week a raven has been hanging around our house and perching on nearby trees. He/she is so large that the first time I saw it soaring overhead I thought it might be an eagle. Hendon Chubb Last night a ruckus in the kitchen startled us. I guessed it might be a rat, but a careful exploration (with brooms and husband in tow) revealed three baby raccoons on the back porch, desperately trying break down our back door! They had already demolished the weatherstripping under the door, and their little paws were reaching through the crack, trying to open a bigger hole. I guess our cooking is quite enticing! I'm hoping a coating of Citronella spray will discourage them from continuing their labors tonight. -Ona Kiser Town Street, West Cornwall   This ball of baby raccoons appeared on my deck rail when the mother was teaching them to eat sunflower seeds from my bird feeder. Very cute at the time, but less cute as they got aggressive about the food! Biffie Dahl Estabrook  From Tim Prentice A Bear which tried to crash a lunch party last weekend (perhaps looking for some cream fresh) but decided to crash some kinetic sculpture instead More bears! A bear walked into my sight Friday at noon on Flat Rocks Rd, got up on his hind feet, put his front paws on the bird feeder and broked the chain. He spent thenext 15 minutes shaking and rolling the feeder and licking up the sun flower seeds he got out. He could not open this feeder or break it! When all the seeds were gone he left. He was completely uninterested in noises I made, banging on the house, etc. nor concerned when I came out to photograph him. I don't think he was full grown. Hanna Grossman Cathy and John McMahon report a lynx at 9PM on July 12 at their house on College Street. John was out on the deck and saw a Lynx walk through the yard from the woods toward the pond. "I looked at the cat for 15-20 seconds as it strutted by and then called to Cathy, the cat then turned to look at me, turned away disinterested and kept the same pace continuing on to the pond till disappearing in the shadows." John said it was unbelievably strong looking and bigger than he expected . Cathy notified DEP about it. On May 23, at my house on Flat Rocks Rd, just off Rte. 45, I saw a mink crossing the dam at the bottom of my pond, continuing down to water's edge and following the pond around. I lost sight of him when he came to one of the entering streams, where he probably turned to follow it. Before that he passed close to a pair of Canada geese, one of whom slightly raised a wing at him, but then calmed down again. Yesterday, mid-morning, I discoverd a young fawn curled up at the edge of a flower garden where he must have been since dawn . He remained all day, moving only his ears,eyes and nose. I was concerned that he had been left so long, but a deer rehabilitator assured me that such a long absence by the doe was not unusual and nothing to be alarmed about. And, indeed, this morning the fawn was gone. Hanna Grossman Jane Bean writes on May 17th from Grange Hall Rd.: We had another bear in our yard, but this time it was really big and tagged with #170 in both ears. He didn't seem very afraid and it took quite a bit to scare him off so we could bring in the feeders and bird food. We're also having fun watching a yellow bellied sapsucker on the suet every day. They're so cautious, he spends more time looking around for potential threats than actually eating, but when he finally does eat suet flies everywhere!  During the first week of May I was passing the beaver pond on Cogswell Road,
between Town Street and Rattlesnake Road...a rustle in the grass startled
me, and I saw a bird I've never seen - a bittern. It walked quickly away
from the road, into the reeds. According to the DEP website, it is
endangered in Connecticut.I was lucky to have my camera with me, and got a quick snapshot of it...picture attached. -Ona Kiser Janet Abish writes: This sighting occurred during the early morning hours of Mon., April 14, 2003 on Warren Hill Rd. I woke up around 2:45 a.m.; I was cold so I got an extra blanket (I had foolishly put away the down comforter, thinking it really WAS spring, finally!). I got back into bed and was just warming up when I heard a metallic "thunk" outside. About ten minutes later, I heard another, similar sound. Deciding there might actually BE something in my yard, I got up and looked out the dining room window. There was still enough moonlight for me to see that the aluminum birdfeeder pole was lying across the lawn. There was also enough moonlight to see the silhouette of a bear sauntering away, heading south, on the other side of the driveway from where the feeder pole had stood. We enjoyed a fascinating sighting last evening – not as dramatic as a big bear destroying our bird feeders, but just as interesting. It all started with a phone call from Mike Root. He thought we would be interested in the spotted salamander migration which might take place that evening. It seems that on the first warm rainy day of spring, spotted salamanders leave their winter homes underground in the woods and migrate to nearby vernal pools or bodies of water to lay their eggs. One can see them crossing the roads between the woods and the wetlands. So after dinner, armed with flashlights, we drove a loop around Cream Hill and Rattlesnake Roads. Sure enough, we saw these six to eight inch long yellow-spotted creatures crossing the roads one by one. There were also a lot of frogs of all sizes making the passage and the air was filled with the cacophony of their peeping. Some of them didn’t make it safely across the road, but that’s life in the animal and automobile worlds. In total, we saw perhaps two dozen salamanders on our loop. But that was just the beginning! When we returned home, we inspected the small shallow ponds in our back yard. And there they were – dozens and dozens of these creatures swimming and writhing around in tangled masses at the bottom of the ponds. It looked like a snakepit; it was scary! This morning there were no salamanders to be seen, but there were a few left over sperm sacs looking like pieces of white gravel. We understand from Mike that the females had used similar sacs to fertilize their eggs, and will then lay them, perhaps tonight. Mike tells us that the males have probably already headed back into the woods, to be followed by the females after they have deposited their eggs in the pond. We’ll keep an eye out for the hatching eggs. Stephen Senzer writes: We've had a couple of interesting visitors (on Coggswell Hill Rd.) lately: First was a weasel, which scampered through the nearby woods. Actually, there were sightings on two different days - the same weasel returned or were there two of them? Then this morning a largish dark creature crossed our driveway; we think it was a porcupine. And, Celia just saw a rather fat healthy beaver in the pond at the junction of Rattlesnake and Cream Hill Roads. This was no surprise as the beaver lodge is and has been very visible for several years now, and we saw beavers last fall. Finally, how about an otter, seen in the ponds along the road to Milton? Ona Kiser reports: A mob of crows chased a raven around my back yard on Town Street this morning. It was easily twice the size of the crows, and quite agile in dodging their dives. I've never seen one before. Jacque and Tom Schiller report that during early and mid October on Lake Road, they saw: two young tan foxes, a rather large and cranky snapping turtle (who knew they had 10 inch tails?) an owl and what appeared to be a bobcat or supposedly non-existent mountain lion. Whichever, he/ she was muscular and seemingly ambivalent to our presence. Last year I saw a bobcat trot through the backyard, pursued by a mob of crows. On Sept. 19 at 6:45pm I saw her for the second time - and it's definitely a female, as she was followed by two half-grown kittens!! -Ona Kiser Town Street West Cornwall Stephen Senzer wrote: CreamHillLake has been the scene of several nice nature sightings recently, nothing spectacular but lots of activity.Start with kettles (as they’re called) of circling turkey vultures over the woods bordering the lake, then look to the water for jumping fish.Small fish jump when pursued by larger ones, so there must be some hungry big guys in the lake.A number of small areas of rippling water indicate that schools of small fish are aggressively surface feeding.Several people have reported seeing blooms of what must be some sort of fresh water jelly fish.And finally, there has been a solitary visiting bird diving and feeding in the lake; first thought to be a loon, but later identified as a stray cormorant. Although not a rare sight in Cornwall, I seldom see a bobcat sitting in a clearing a short distance from my home.After admiring the scenery for several minutes, this sleek beauty wandered off into the woods. What a lovely treat! He/she was here at about 7:30 this morning, August19th. Pauline Sobotka pavla@snet.net This past week has been a great one for "critter sightings" on Woodruff Lane at the top of Buck Mountain. The other morning at about 9:30, yet another bear appeared a few feet from where I was working. It was not tagged, nor did it wear a tracking collar. I believe he is quite young and much smaller than the others who have been here. I think he wanted to play! Three times during the week a beautiful grey fox visited looking for chipmunks, and then one evening at dusk a Great Horned Owl perched on a fence post very close to the house. I assume he was looking for a meal. He was huge!. Pauline Sobotka pavla@snet.net July 8: Some nature hit me yesterday. I left the window of my truck open and when I got in it there were two humming birds inside. Let me tell you, they don't hum when confronted in a small space! .It scared the poop out of me and it took a while to get them out. Richard Griggs, July 9 thingmkr@optonline.net July 18: Stephen Senzer senzer@optononline.net
John Miller jlm186@optonline.net |
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