For the past few weeks I’ve had a motion-sensing camera monitoring a muskrat carcass I found along a game trail at the Delaney Project. All sorts of animals stopped by to investigate the remains. In the video clip you’ll see a coyote, a family of four river otters, and raccoons with and without tails.
If you find a raccoon tail, please let me know so I can return it to its rightful owner. 
These four river otters were filmed by a motion-sensing camera as they bounded along a game trail near the water’s edge at the Delaney Project in Stow.
This northern flicker discovered a pile of silt and fine sand in my back yard, and turned it into a dust bath. Several times a day the flicker would fly down from the nearby woods and scratch around in the sand while fluffing his feathers.
Early registration ends Saturday, April 30th for the 2011 Run for the Woods. Act now and save $10 over waiting until race day entry.
This year’s Run for the Woods is Sunday, May 22, and is the marquee happening of the second day of Stow’s annual Springfest weekend. We have four events in one, a 1-mile fun for kids 12 and under, a 5K running road race, a 5K race walk, and a 5K recreational walk. All 5K finishers receive a handsome cast medal and the kids earn an athlete’s ribbon. Last year’s race attracted 484 runners and walkers from Stow and surrounding towns. And, besides being a great time, proceeds benefit the Stow Conservation Trust’s land conservation and stewardship programs. The kids’ race is a 9AM, the walkers start at 9:50 and the runners go at 10AM.
New this year we are offering no-fee online registration through Wufoo.com. And, you have the option of paying with a credit card, PayPal balance, or by mailing us a check. http://stowrunforthewoods.wufoo.com/forms/2011-stow-run-for-the-woods/
or if you prefer you may still register online at Active.com (however there’s a small service fee). http://active.com/running/stow-ma/stow-run-for-the-woods-2011
or if you like you may print out and mail-in an entry form-
http://stowconservationtrust.org/images/2011Mail-InEntryForm.pdf
We’re looking forward to seeing you on May 22nd!
Any questions, please see http://StowConservationTrust.Org/ and if the answer isn’t there please email Aims Coney at StowRunForTheWoods@GMail.com.
More information is available at the SCT Web site:
http://www.stowconservationtrust.org/RFTW.php
Carol Gumbart writes:
On Sunday night April 24th around 10 p.m. I had the unexpected pleasure of hearing a whippoorwill just beyond my yard. My yard abuts Carver Hill Orchard and Gardner Hill Conservation land. I didn’t hear it again last night so it may be migrating through. They are known to arrive in the area late April to early May.
We were out grilling lunch in our back yard last Thursday when a Pileated Woodpecker flew over the pond, calling, and landed on a big white pine just inside the woods. It flew from tree to tree, and eventually came down to the edge of our pond and investigated a fallen tree at the waterline. My wife whispered “why doesn’t he come see our tree?” since we have left a dead birch snag in our back yard which the woodpeckers love.
As if on cue, the Pileated flew directly to our birch, only 20 feet from where we were grilling. We froze and watched silently as the big red-headed woodpecker worked its way down the snag. Each time it rapped on the trunk, the entire tree swayed. The woodpecker would rap a few times, then stop and listen, and move a bit lower on the tree. We were so close we could hear each claw scratch along the bark.
When the woodpecker reached ground level, our dog, who had been snoozing beside us as we cooked lunch, decided this was worth investigating, and trotted over to say hello. The woodpecker headed back to the woods, and we turned our attention back to the grill.
The accompanying photo is of a prior visit of a Pileated Woodpecker to our yard. It was taken in March 2006, as the bird hunted for insects on the dead limb of our pond-side willow.
Laura writes:
I just wanted to report a wild turkey sighting on Gardner Hill this past Sunday! We were hiking up the hill and startled him (definitely a male) — he ran off and then took wing through the trees. Lovely sight. At the top of the hill we also saw a Mourning Cloak butterfly, second one of the season (they hibernate and are one of the earliest butterflies to appear).
