Everywhere I've stayed previously: Moscow, Dubai, Singapore, Delhi, Kanpur and Boston have been cities. Princeton is therefore my first experience of suburbia, and I think I'm beginning to see the plus side to it. Yes you don't have the ability to walk out, take a tram and get yourself to a book store, or coffee shop and I very desperately miss the ability to go on long walks through city streets, and end up serendipitously at a cinema hall, or half drunk by a riverside. But there's another sort of amusement that opens up to you here.
Right in front of our home, there's a lake and this lake feeds the flora and fauna of the surroundings. I never realized before now how important water is to life. There are other parts of NJ that are also lush and get good rain but the lake is where you end up with a lot more wildlife. Just opposite to our home we have a small recess in the ground, and it is covered by dense shrubs and some trees. This spring, two little deer were born in this enclosure. They are always going around with their mother. They are really beautiful animals. Unlike the mother, their tail is really fluffy and white and they have many white spots on them.
Besides this, two tiny rabbits often come around to munch on the grass next to the patio, and fireflies make the little forest buzz with lights in the night. The rabbits can co-exist with the deer pretty easily and now they don't seem too afraid of us either. There are a few possums as well. The other night I even saw a red fox run away from our home as we were entering it! That's the cutest animal of the lot!
On the lake, there are families of swans and ducks. The geese are the most noticeable since they come out to land to shit and hiss. These assholes do still pop out fairly cute babies so it's all good, I suppose. They had dozens over springtime and they tend to form similar V patterns on the ground as they do in the air while eating grass. There are also turtles, who typically rest around on logs. I've not spotted snakes yet, but a shed snake skin was lying around in the grass close by.
My office has turned into a sanctuary for bird watching. All those trips to arboreta in Boston and elsewhere cannot replace this experience. The engineering quadrangle has, as quadrangles do, a central lawn area, only this lawn is very much a tiny forest with many big trees. I saw the most beautiful sight the other day as a huge number of Goldfinches sat around on a tree with yellow leaves. Only when the goldfinches moved (and there were many dozens on them on that one tree) could you see that the yellow on the tree was not just from leaves!
There are also the usual suspects: warblers, pigeons, crows (I saw a fist fight between three crows a week ago!), and woodpeckers. I've also spotted two white-breasted nuthatches on the tree in front of me.
I so wish to record all this but one requires a really good camera to do so. Perhaps I should invest in one.
Right in front of our home, there's a lake and this lake feeds the flora and fauna of the surroundings. I never realized before now how important water is to life. There are other parts of NJ that are also lush and get good rain but the lake is where you end up with a lot more wildlife. Just opposite to our home we have a small recess in the ground, and it is covered by dense shrubs and some trees. This spring, two little deer were born in this enclosure. They are always going around with their mother. They are really beautiful animals. Unlike the mother, their tail is really fluffy and white and they have many white spots on them.
Besides this, two tiny rabbits often come around to munch on the grass next to the patio, and fireflies make the little forest buzz with lights in the night. The rabbits can co-exist with the deer pretty easily and now they don't seem too afraid of us either. There are a few possums as well. The other night I even saw a red fox run away from our home as we were entering it! That's the cutest animal of the lot!
On the lake, there are families of swans and ducks. The geese are the most noticeable since they come out to land to shit and hiss. These assholes do still pop out fairly cute babies so it's all good, I suppose. They had dozens over springtime and they tend to form similar V patterns on the ground as they do in the air while eating grass. There are also turtles, who typically rest around on logs. I've not spotted snakes yet, but a shed snake skin was lying around in the grass close by.
My office has turned into a sanctuary for bird watching. All those trips to arboreta in Boston and elsewhere cannot replace this experience. The engineering quadrangle has, as quadrangles do, a central lawn area, only this lawn is very much a tiny forest with many big trees. I saw the most beautiful sight the other day as a huge number of Goldfinches sat around on a tree with yellow leaves. Only when the goldfinches moved (and there were many dozens on them on that one tree) could you see that the yellow on the tree was not just from leaves!
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| Deer living right across our home. |
I so wish to record all this but one requires a really good camera to do so. Perhaps I should invest in one.
