13 April—Judging by the unusually chubby robins, mourning doves, and starlings that have been feasting on the grubs and worms under the lawns around The Monitor’s editorial offices of late, it’s not necessary for human bird mothers (who can’t bear to see skinny children) to put out seeds for their avian darlings this spring. We’ve even seen some northern flickers and red-bellied woodpeckers picnicking on the lawns rather than on the plethora of dead and moribund trees.

Not putting out bird seed should also make the anti-Ursus americanus lobby happy. You may wonder how anyone around here could be anti-American. Well, Ursus americanus is the American black bear, a species all too many Connecticut hunters (and others) would like to decimate. Or worse.

The few black bears we’ve seen since they’ve come out for the spring don’t look particularly undernourished. So the only thing we worry about is their not making it safely across local roads with all the idiot speeders on them.

Evidently our local black bears are able to sustain themselves by raiding larders, kitchens, and garbage cans. Talk about dining out in style.

The industrious and indefatigable little grey squirrels also appear to be thriving. Last fall, as they do every year, the Northwest Connecticut branch of Sciurus carolinensis stored their treasured caches of black walnuts here and there and everywhere. The cleverest ones took over what used to be our hay shed to get out of the weather. They made condos of nests at either end of the shed, one in a lawnmower grass catcher we’ve never used—which they also deconstructed for the purpose. Does anybody around here use grass catchers?

Housekeeping evidently isn’t the grey squirrels’ thing. They’ve randomly (or not) deposited walnut husks—whole interspersed with dekerneled—in muck buckets and feeders, storage baskets and tool carriers, and of course on all the shelves and all over the floor.

The other day a pair of grey squirrels got into a fight on the east lawn when one started digging up what was probably a black walnut trove buried by the other. It’s amazing how the little creatures can remember where they’ve stashed all their goodies. It’s also amazing how quick and agile they are. Nails and tails . . .