A young bear decided to visit downtown Richmond yesterday, playfully running across fields down at Tredegar.
Thankfully, Richmond Animal Care and Control, the Richmond Police, and Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries were able to sedate and capture him so that he was not injured. He will be relocated to another setting after evaluating.
RACC said it ended up naming the bear Fuzzy Wuzzy.
Now, hopefully, the next call RACC gets isn’t about a lion or tiger.
Laurel Street cat framed by porch scrollwork as photographed by neighbor Charles Pool.
(Editor’s note: I can’t keep up with all the lost/found/concerned cat posts on the neighborhood Facebook group, but if a cat has been missing for an extended period, I am happy to post something here. Please be aware of how many birds outdoor cats kill- it is surprisingly significant. Also, while the science is studying coronavirus pets, they don’t believe that pets are a big concern- that said, wash your hands after any interactions anyway.)
Photo by Anne Soffee, real estate agent extraordinaire.
This fox was spotted on the 600 block of S. Laurel Street. It was not showing any eagerness to get away from people.
Another theory concerning these increasing animal sightings is that creatures are being pushed out of their more hidden natural areas by competition with coyotes.
photo courtesy of Brandon Baldwin
There have been a lot more sightings of raccoons in the neighborhood lately. Some of it is probably due to the warm winter so far. Some if it may be due to other disturbances in the local wildlife population.
If you do see a raccoon on the street or sidewalk, leave it alone and consider calling an animal rescue group. If a raccoon approaches too closely, make yourself appear larger: stand up, shout, and wave your arms. If he continues to approach, throw or spray water, or even stones if needed. A raccoon that is very aggressive–or too tame, or seems to be disoriented or staggers may be sick or injured.
As seen on Laurel Street….
OHNA President Todd Woodson posted this today:
So proud of our great Open High students. Our neighborhood association partnered with Open, Richmond Parks and with a generous grant from Dominion Energy, we established a pollinator curriculum with a working hive area that the students maintain. The Mentor checked the hives today and said he’d never seen hives flourish like this with lots of honey already produced. This is the first initiative of its kind in the area. Would love to see it grow and flourish as well! We love our bees and our great students!!
This beautiful black snake was on China Street. Photo supplied by Garrett Edwards.
No, these are not the new Oregon Hill bees, but a different type that can be found on Belle Island. Miner bees (the correct scientific name for this genus being ‘Andrena’) are one of the largest groups of solitary bees. It is believed to consist of over 1,300 known species of bees across the world.
In general, they seem to prefer to build nests in sandy soil, although some species are apparently less fussy, whilst others are more selective. The Ashy mining bee, Andrena cineraria is thought to prefer sloping sites, whereas the Grey-patched mining bee, Andrena nitida will nest in formal lawns but also sheep-grazed hillsides. They build little tunnels that look sort of like worm casts.
Neighbors are concerned about the increased activity due to Dominion River Rock and other outdoor events that could disturb the Belle Island miner bees, and asked that the City park keepers put some of these signs back up.
frogsincanal from Scott Burger on Vimeo.
This movie was taken about a month ago from the bridge over the Kanawha Canal on the Brown’s Island Way/Second Street Connector. The camera faced west towards the Lee Bridge but you can hear on the audio all of the wildlife noises. If you listen carefully, you can also hear a rock cover band playing a song at a private function at Tredegar.
Oregon Hill neighbors recently learned that New Market corporation has quietly submitted (with Venture Richmond’s support) an application to fill the canal just east of this site, adjacent to Tredegar Iron Works. More on this later and in the meantime you can read about past struggles between those who went to destroy and those who want to protect the canal (including the “Fences Of Contention“), but for right now listen to the nighttime nature sounds while you still can.
Last week some neighbors discovered a “wild” swarm of bees in Oregon Hill. Local bee experts have confirmed that those bees were NOT part of the hive installed recently by Open High students in Linear Park behind the 600 block of S. Pine St. From their statement:
During the inspection yesterday we found the
—queen,
—newly laid eggs,
—larvae, and
—pupating new bees.
Our hive showed no swarm queen cells.
Our bees are happy and busy building new comb on our widens frames, storing up lots of nectar and pollen and doing what bees do.
Next week the students will install the second nucleus hive. Hosting and caring for two hives will double the odds we have bees next spring.
There will BEE more information soon as well as announcements for a couple of public bee workshops later in 2019. In the meantime, if there are questions, please contact Pine Street neighbor Stephenie Harrington. Her telephone number is 804-551-0603.