Danbury, Connecticut resident Camila Bortolleto spotted a bear near her home on Monday evening and shared this video of the sighting with The Mercurial. The bear was spotted on Park Avenue, which is just east of the Danbury Mall. Learn more about the… Read more »
An extraordinary natural phenomenon is about to take place. This year the 17-year cicada will emerge from colonies in undisturbed forested regions in south-central Connecticut. Expect to see and hear these fascinating creatures starting at the end of May and throughout the month of… Read more »
The Department of Energy and Environmental and Protection (DEEP) has advised motorists in the Farmington to use extra caution and be observant while driving due to the sighting of a moose on Town Farm Road, approximately 2.5 miles from Interstate 84. Moose near roadways… Read more »
Four U.S. Senators are pushing for increased funding for the preservation of the Long Island Sound. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), and Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) are asking Senate leaders of the Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies… Read more »
The City of Danbury has once again been named as a “Tree City USA,” making 2013 the 23rd year the city has received the accolade. Danbury was chosen due to its comprehensive community forestry program, dedicated Forestry Division, tree care ordinances, and Arbor Day… Read more »
Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) is reminding residents that snakes are starting to come out of their winter dens at the same time people are venturing outdoors to enjoy the nicer weather, start yardwork, or participate in various outdoor activities like… Read more »
We at Cougars of the Valley, a Connecticut-based mountain lion research group, are consistently receiving high quality reports of sightings as well as track and scat photos from the Newtown, Connecticut area. Enough reporting has come in that we would like to focus one… Read more »
Need a quick growing fix? Look no further than a seed packet of micro greens. With minimal effort you can go from seed to salad in 10 days, making micro greens a perfect You Can Grow That! success story. On the fourth of… Read more »
It’s a girl! The LEO Zoological Conservation Center in Greenwich, Connecticut welcomed a healthy baby Rothschild giraffe into the world last Friday morning. Petal, a six-year-old endangered Rothschild giraffe, gave birth to the unnamed baby girl giraffe on March 22. Born at just under six… Read more »
The Keystone XL Pipeline is a proposed $3.3 billion 875-mile pipeline project which would stretch from Alberta, Canada to oil refineries in the Gulf Coast areas of Texas and Louisiana. Its purpose would be to deliver up to 830,000 barrels of crude oil obtained… Read more »
Hike Style: Loop Region: Litchfield County, CT Hike Length: 5 miles Trail Map: map_steep_rock Trail Head and Parking Lot: Map Park Rules: Rules and Regulations Date of Report: 2/24/2013 Approximate Time: 3-5 hours Difficulty: Easy to moderate. Ascent to the summit is moderately… Read more »
On Friday, March 22, the Danbury Museum & Historical Society will be hosting a a lovely lunch buffet with guest speaker Colleen Plimpton as she presents Beatrix Farrand, Rediscovered, a 45-minute, first-person presentation of the life, times, and work of this distinguished “landscape gardener.” Beatrix Farrand… Read more »
Connecticut’s Invasive Plants Council (CIPC) announced last month that it has released its 10th annual report, which is now available online. This report highlights actions undertaken in Connecticut to address problems caused by terrestrial and aquatic invasive plants. To view the full annual report,… Read more »
The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) and the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) announced yesterday that the emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) has been detected in three new Connecticut towns – Cheshire, Oxford, and Middlebury – all located in New Haven County… Read more »
The New York Times fired back at Tesla’s Elon Musk after the outspoken CEO posted a tweetclaiming a Times article critical of Tesla’s flagship electric sedan was “fake.” The New York Times piece, entitled “Stalled out on Tesla’s Electric Highway,” detailed writer John Broder’s trip from… Read more »
Moose sightings were rare in Connecticut once upon a time, but beginning in the mid-1990s, sightings increased dramatically. As old farmlands reverted back to forests and moose populations increased in neighboring Massachusetts, the moose bagan expanding their territory into Connecticut. The largest… Read more »
The first known nest of one of the world’s rarest birds – the critically endangered Stresemann’s Bristlefront – has been discovered in Brazil. Of perhaps equal significance is that strong evidence of active nestlings was also found. The Stresemann’s Bristlefront is one of… Read more »
Connecticut has the fifth most cases of Lyme disease in America and the second most in New England. Dr. Neeta Connally Connally, professor of biology at Western Connecticut State Universtity, is an expert on tick-borne, or vector-borne, diseases. She is a member of the American… Read more »
I always heard the river before I could see it. Leaving my truck by the stone wall and crossing down through the meadow, I would swing my wader-clad legs through thick hay or scuff my boots over the stubble after a cutting, listening and… Read more »
Before the turn of the new year, Governor Dannel P. Malloy announced awards of more than $9 million in Open Space and Watershed Land Acquisition grants to support 35 communities in purchasing 2,732 acres to be preserved as open space. “Land conservation is… Read more »
As more seed catalogs arrive in the mail, gardeners will begin dreaming of next year’s gardens. Following the mantra “plant diversely and they will come” may be one way for gardeners to help troubled bee populations. Multiple bee species are showing declining populations… Read more »
Get ready bird watchers: the eagles are back. In what has become an annual migration, graceful bald eagles fly down from more frozen northern climes each winter to Southbury, Connecticut. The birds have learned that the running waters of the Shepaug Dam on the… Read more »
Representatives from Maine to Florida will gather Friday in Baltimore to vote on just how far to cut back the commercial catch of Atlantic menhaden along the East Coast. The population of menhaden has dropped 90 percent in the last 30 years, prompting… Read more »
If you build it, they will come. Sounds simple, right? This common phrase is often used to describe situations with definite outcomes. Hang up a bird feeder and you get birds. Plant wildflowers and you get bees. Put up a bluebird nest box and… Read more »