On rooftops and windowsills, the Baristaville critter watch continues.

A tipster sent this photo of a hawk, who recently “took a breather” on a house being renovated at 6 Adams Place in Glen Ridge. Is it the harbinger of good real estate luck to come, or is it finding a new place to perch, knowing that PSE&G is thinking of cutting down lots of trees in that area.

I recently had my own visitor, whose quiet presence in my living room seemed to be telling me something — other than the fact that I must have a breach of indoor/outdoor secutiry somewhere. It seemed kind of regal, perched there, and my family thought that it was the bearer of good tidings.

In the Chinese culture, the hoppers symbolize longevity, happiness, good health, good luck, wealth, abundance, fertility and virtue. Wow! That’s pretty good, though I’ve had enough of the fertility thing for this lifetime.

Recently, some of our community members have had bats, opossums and even skunks find their way indoors. I like the hawk on the roof, but anything bigger than my green insect friend can stay away, thank you.

Anything wild going on in your house?

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46 replies on “Critters, Indoors and Out”

  2. LOL, Kit!

    We continue to have wild turkey sightings, the black-and-white mama and her six chicks. The chicks are almost fully gown and will soon be venturing out of their own. Wonder how she feels about that?

  3. About a month ago a few catbirds decided to start living in our backyard. Their chirping or whatever you want to call it is seriously annoying. Am trying to find harmless ways of getting them to leave.

  5. A few weeks ago, raccoons (2 babies and their mama) took up residence outside my 3rd floor bedroom, on the landing. They’ve since moved on and I know they could rip my face off, but those babies were awfully cute!

  7. We rarely go outdoors in this season because the of the flora and fauna…(its almost scary) The birdfeeder supplys last only 1/2 day….no squirels because we use hot pepper…the chip munks eat it anyway…I dont see any brook mice because the racoons take care of them…there are ducks…blue herrin…there is an occasional turtle and some baby fish. The racccons come out in droves at night…oppossums… beaver…muskrats…coyotte…turkey….deer (forgetaboutit!)…an elk…hawks eat their prey in the carport and leave basketball sized furballs…
    Inside the house, there is only one inopportune critter…the occasional cave cricket…because of the proximity to the brook. If you encounter one…it defends itself by jumping on you…its completely terrifying if it catches you off guard…like being visciously attacked by a baby frog! When this happens I fantasize about living in the Colonades in Newark….with a nice view of the NYC skyline…they were designed by mies van der rohe.

  8. …and years ago, the lobby was graced with barcelona chairs too! Not so sure now, but The view would still be breath taking anyway, especially from a corner apartment on the south side of the building.

  9. The living spaces are spectacular…floor to ceiling glass with the most spectacular view in the world…those shiny black waxed floors…my family moved to Clifton Avenue in 1870. Their house was on the corner of Clifton and Park…they moved to Berkeley Heights Park in the 1940s and the Newark house became a funeral parlor…. This was our neighborhood….I love my current house and would never want to move…but I would LOVE the Colonades…

  10. Fgg……Mies did a great job on the Colonnades at a time when Newark was truly thought to be going into a Renaissance not reversing into Medieval times.
    The chairs have all been pilfered away and if you moved there now it would be like living on an island. With all the cut backs in Newark, safety would be my #1 concern.

  11. What memories of Newark in the ’60s…it may be because it was all seen from a child’s eye…but at Christmas…visiting relatives in those gorgeous old houses in Forest Hill…spectacular…glamorous!

  12. @PAZ, thanks for IDing my critter. Does the Angular-winged Katydid also bring all that good luck stuff like the hopper? If not, just lie to me…

  13. lucinda,

    Me too. We had 3, but mom’s been absent… We call them Nelson and Mandela (the rabbit in the way back is named Biko).

    I sometimes send the little prof off to camp with a sandwich and I (used to) toss the crust on the deck for the squirrels, TILL ONE DAY Nelson and Mandela were right outside the screen door, staring down our cats- and giving me the dead-eye.

    Being all about peace and fellowship, I invited them in for coffee, they obliged and now they come over for ribs on Sunday. So what some call critters and pests, I call guests!

  14. Katydids are very lucky and considered a spirit guide, probably one of your ancestors paying a visit to remind you of something coming up.
    It’s the Katydidn’ts I would be wary of!

    Fgg….Bamberger’s at Xmas time riding the monorail train above the toy dept!

  15. Thanks, PAZ. FYI, I gently pushed the green guy into a cup and placed it on a flower in my garden. Glad to know that I did right by my visiting ancestor.

  16. Bambergers! It was magic…just even riding the elevators with the uniformed operators and how elegantly appointed everything was…that was Newark then…but you can’t even find elegance like that today on Madison Avenue….

  20. montclair dweller, we have a few resident catbirds in our yard, too, but they are one of my favorite birds. They’re really quite pretty with that black cap and rich brown patch under the tail. And they are mimics, too, like mockingbirds. Yes, that cat meow call can be a bit annoying and they are vocal but listen to their song–it’s really interesting and kind of sweet.

    Have I sold you yet?

    https://tinyurl.com/4xhaaqa

  22. My most significant interaction with wildlife this week has been with loons. We hear their wonderful haunting calls all night long. By day there’s a pair plies the lake. Sometimes if you paddle very quietly they’ll let you get up close enough to see the black-and-white patterns on their backs, before they dive for fish, or take flight, staying so close to the water’s surface that the tips of their wings almost touch the water on the downstroke. With real flesh and bone and feather creatures like this, who needs unicorns?

  23. So far this year I’ve seen a raccoon, a couple of groundhogs, a bat and the usual squirrels, chipmunks and catbirds. I love catbirds, they’re very smart. If you feed them they’ll become friendly.

  24. Tudlow, the catbirds in my yard don’t sound like that – at least not all the time. As soon as I go outside to relax and read a book, they start with MAH! MAH! MAH! every two seconds non-stop for hours. Drive me crazy so I can’t enjoy the yard.

  27. Mtcdweller…..That’s their warning cry. Put up a bird bath and they’ll visit quietly and they will let you know when it needs fresh water. I’d still rather hear a mockingbird sing.

  28. dweller, they might be protecting a nest, which is usually in dense shrub. It will stop, I swear! Re: food, they like suet and also grape jelly and oranges.

    (I understand where you are coming from, though, with their meow call.)

    You just need to get in a catbird state of mind. Embrace the catbird. 🙂

  30. The reason we are seeing more catbirds is because they will eat almost anything, they will feed on the ground as well as in the bushes and trees, they like insects, berries and yummy spiders. They hide their nests well and breed twice in a season.

  31. They are very curious and will get used to anyone who puts out food. They LOVE suet, but I’ve also tried pine cones with some peanut butter. Sadly, that will also attract squirrels.

  33. gall, I used to see bats flying around my house, the pool, at Van Vleck, etc but I haven’t seen any this year. Obviously there are some because people have reported them here on Baristanet but the population has decreased dramatically seemingly due to a fungus (white-nosed syndrome).

    Here’s a nice article and video about the syndrome.

    JG, my fellow catbird lover, I have found that any food attracts squirrels. I use the squirrel proof feeders from Wild Birds Unlimited and they do a decent job but I watched a squirrel determinedly chew through the wires of my suet cage this summer, little bugger.

  34. Close encounters with a bald eagle, which lives somewhere on or near the lake. Saw it yesterday in the evening canoe ride, and this morning it flew right over the cottage as we were having breakfast. What an impressive creature, powerful wings. Also saw a falcon yesterday circling above u as we were going off the rope swing. The loons seem to be playing cat and mouse, won’t let us get within 100 feet before diving and resurfacing at some distance. Eventually you get tired of turning the canoe around and move on.

  35. These birds are so beautiful, it’s painful to think that during the course of normal life they’re so inaccessible. Sometimes the odd thought pops into my head that I’d have been better of never having seen one. But then I think, nah, I’m better off.

  36. Unmitigated…..The bats around No. Fullerton & Claremont come from the Immaculate Conception & Presbyterian church steeples.

  39. There have been a few midnight ‘dissagreements’ between some of the local fauna. I can’t identify the animals. They aren’t cats. Maybe skunks and or racoons. The shrieking high pitched angry yowls are disquieting, kinda like demons fighting. It always creeps me the *&$! out when I hear one of these encounters.

  40. MB……That is the sound of a mother raccoon shooing away her kids. She’s tired of them hanging on to the teat and need to get a life of their own.

  41. I had a nice little growl from under my car the other night in the carport. As it turned out, I’m lucky that my leg didnt become a hamburger for a family of raccoon.

  42. That reminds me, Mellon, of a night I once spent on an island in the middle of a big lake that was on the edge of a wilderness area in the great north woods. I’ve listened to loons all my life, but nothing had prepared me for the sounds I heard that night. It made me think that most of us have no idea what goes on in truly wild areas. It was beautiful, but terrifying, too, like stepping a bit too far over onto the wild side. And these were just birds, Mellon. Harmless birds. All the more unsettling when they’re scavengers in your driveway.

  43. Walleroo,

    Very true. I used to camp alot and did some backpacking. Night time is always my favorite time of the trip. Even in relatively ‘tame’ campgrounds you can feel the wilderness vibe, especially during the 2am pee-pee break, when the quiet is deafening, the camp fires are guttering and it’ just the moonlight slanting through the trees and a sense of deepening mystery that still gives me the chills when I think about it. Or maybe that’s the chill you get after a resoundingly satisfying p*ss.

  44. Funny! I know what you mean, Mellon. Sitting in the tent, sheltered from the mosquitos, a bit nervous perhaps about that rustling sound you hear now and then from a few feet away. And then you steel yourself, unzip the door, scurry out… But it’s often the best moment of the trip. Once as I stood there, a coyote called out a few feet away, which was a wonderful moment only in retrospect. Once I found myself looking down at the stars all around me, reflected in the water.

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