mthew

This heavily-marked Red-tailed Hawk was trying to break off a branch for nest material as a lone Blue Jay registered a complaint.

Turkish Hazel/Corylus colurna *** In other news, I suspected Oppenheimer would win a bunch of Oscars in the industry’s own award-itself-fest, so I delved into the history in more detail.

Sad. This was a mighty Quercus alba. Half way down the slope, so one of its branches nicely aligned with naturalist’s level at the top of the hill. I documented half a dozen gall wasp species on this grand old tree, plus handful of other lifeforms. That wasn’t even a drop in the bucket.

The female on the look-out. She dropped down to the ground and then flew up to another perch with one of the local Northern Italian Wall Lizards. The first time I heard of lizards in NYC was when I saw a photo that was making the social rounds: this showed an American Kestrel carrying one…

Across the bay, a mural in Jersey City reaches up 20 stories. (Closer view & details here.)

The emergent crocuses got some action when it reached about 65 last weekend.

Under a pine, cause of death unknown.

Not Cruella de Ville or Susan Sontag.A Striped Skunk. Unfortunately not in good shape: canine distemper is riling the local population, just as they’re out and about mating. Bit a theme going here… this is a skull of a Common Raccoon. Rodent teeth in Great Horned Owl pellet.