Yesterday afternoon I got a call from the Parks Maintenance Department, as the man was asking about the dead chicken. [I assumed the Park Ranger gave him my number after my report(s)] So I explained (again) the body was at the Armory Street trash can at the entrance adjacent to the playing field. The man said they were having trouble finding it….then he said he thought they found it. (I also took the opportunity to tell that the barbecue grill was moved behind a bush, but still there – after two weeks.)

This morning, I rolled out early to beat the heat and expected a pretty nice walk. So I come through the gate…and yes, the dead chicken, outside the box now, is still there on the ground next to the barrel. I took another picture, but it is too gross to post.

None of the trash has been emptied (the Chicopee end barrel has been full since Friday, which I also reported.) —So here’s the punch line, — as I was leaving park, a white-haired employee was riding a noisy, smelly, mower was jockeying around at the edge of the field. [Yeah, carcasses can decay, trash can overflow, tires and plastic can fill the ponds.....but the grass gets cut.]

So sad. Every year I have eagerly counted the yellow fuzzy goslings to arrive at a peak (15 this year) and see the numbers dwindle. This past week it seemed there was a constant 12 being cared for two sets of parents in a big bunch.

Yesterday I walked with my daughter and her boyfriend. As we came in the south gate and approached the view of the water under the pines, I saw large piece of blue trash, as I got closer, I saw more and went about my clean-up. The kids followed me down toward the shore and I heard a quiet, “Oh, no.” My daughter recognized a dead chick on the ground, its body being scavenged.

I’m always afraid of the animals being entangled in fishing line (as happened to at least one gosling last year), but there was no visible clue to cause of death. My daughter stated a natural predator would have eaten the goose, so what killed it? –No CSI here. No care for wild things from those appointed to ‘care’ for city resources.

Additional: That barbecue grill someone left two Sundays ago is still here, though I thought it gone, it was just moved behind a bush and no longer visible from the track. Oh yeah, the box with the headless chicken in it —still there, right on Armory Street.

My daughter and I went running to see why some Canada Geese were honking like crazy, -always a bit fearful they and/or the little ones were being accosted. As we topped the rise where we could see to the water’s edge, two loud adult geese directed their attention to a couple on the ground nearby. The movement of the female pulling her top back on drew my eye. –Oops.  –We expected they would leave since they knew other people were in the park.  However, from the other side of the pond, they were in clear view and engaged in an act for which laws  were written to protect sensibilities of human beings, -if not those of the geese.

Found evidence of animal cruelty, too which I’ve reported before here, -and through phone calls to the park rangers. Below, is a cardboard box with the body of dead chicken inside. The green string appears to have been used to behead the bird.

More animal cruelty

Just returned from a later than usual visit and found the water’s edge at every clearing filled with people fishing. Discovered goose families upon shore and counted at least 15 young today.

Goslings on shore 16 May 2010

The sandpiper was there in the same spot! Also saw a hermit thrush and catbirds,one of which was singing a surprisingly lovely song. First brown-headed cowbird, possibly with one its young.

The usual bird species I have not reported here for a while include: robins, red-winged blackbirds, grackles, jays,mourning doves,cardinals and woodpeckers.

Counting an average of 14 squirrels (3 black morphs Saturday) and 19 chipmunks today.

Lastly, found a leopard frog hopping across the park road and saw a bullfrog’s head peaking out of the small pond.

Baltimore Oriole - Juvenile

So sad to find this beautiful bird dead early this afternoon. It did not appear to have been mauled by an animal. It has been very gusty the last several days and it may have been injured in a fall-as it wasn’t an experienced flier. –I moved the poor darling and nestled it into the leaves beneath a bush with small, white blooms.

Does anyone know what type of sandpiper this might be? First ever seen in the park!

First sighting of goslings - 11 May

Amid the trash and despite unleashed dogs and tramping humans, the miracle of life persists. You can see five little ones here, and there was another couple, but with only one baby.

It’s May and cooler than it’s been through April. There seem to be only three (3) Canada geese staying here this season. Though I rarely see them, I believe there are also three (3) mallards, one pair and an extra male.  Painted turtles can usually be seen sunning on logs (numbers are moderated by the the presence of humans tramping the pond edges).  The chipmunk count was seventeen (17) the other day, a high for the season.

There are signs of some clean-up. I was told that a group from Greenwood School came out and picked up the woods behind the building. If I had known, I’d have brought them cookies and pinned a medal on the teacher(s) who suggested the activity. This gives me hope. –I hoped too that the Parks Dept. might have supported the effort by taking the abandoned shopping carts out of the dingle….but they remain.

I had a couple of encounters with city employees over the last week. –The first was with a police officer preparing to drive through the south gate.  I thanked him heartily for coming, then suggested a police presence in the evening, when the drug traffic, drinking, cock fighting, fire-setting routinely occur, -would have more of an impact on crime. He agreed and explained that there was no overtime available, and thus he was assigned to watch the walkers like me and moms strolling with their babies in the afternoon sunshine.  -On paper, the administration can say there is a police presence in Van Horn Park. Yet Springfield law enforcement dollars are being wasted while crime flourishes in the park after dark.

The other was more disturbing, literally. I heard the sound of a chain saw. There was a large white vehicle and a man in a hard hat. I was unable to stop him from tossing a log off into the rhododendrons where chipmunks and dozens of other species of wildlife are raising young.  I suggested for these reasons that this was a bad idea and he was affable and polite. He said that the log in question was rotted so he didn’t want to leave it with the piles he created to be picked up later.

I countered that this was a wooded park, and this task need not be done at all.  Fallen tree limbs could stay where they are –to provide shelter for critters and decay naturally replenishing the soil. He understood what I was talking about because he said, “The Forestry Department used to be in here,”  and admitted he is just a guy doing what his boss told him he had to do to keep his job.

I would feel a little better if this chainsaw disturbance were directed only to fallen tree limbs, but the next day, opposite the playing fields was a  stump of a tree with about an 18 inch diameter, that I don’t remember being dead or even failing. –Yesterday (Mon, 5/10) behind the school that truck was back. Red ‘tree work’ signs cut off the track and as I cut through the dingle, it looked like the crew was decimating a huge healthy tree with roots lifted just slightly (this happened a few years ago). What bothered me most was the fact they were right next to a pile of hollow logs where my daughter and watch chipmunks, and where we had seen a baby the day before. –I dread what we may find on our visit today.