Buteo jamaicensis

Hawks appear to thrive in the urban Providence biome.

flight

Bold

In years past squirrels have gained access to their winter quarters by chewing holes into the attic of my house.
This one had a better idea.

Corvus brachyrhynchos, Ginkgo biloba

The state bird of Virginia is (yawn) the Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis). The state tree is the (yawn yawn) Dogwood, cornus florida, more a bush than a tree.
Let the state bird be the American Crow and the state tree something whup ass, a Ginkgo, a survivor. Anything other than the dogwood please (d-wood is the state tree of Missouri and New Jersey)

on a silhouette jag

Sylvilagus floridanus

Bos primigenius

hide and seek a popular pastime with cows, provides opportunity for them to display their inestimable cool.

mister big stuff

Madison County, Virginia. Good natured angus bull.

columba livia

Police are observant.
A Charlottesville patrol officer noticed I had a camera, directed me west, "there is something you've got to see."
Feral pigeon on the corner, flightless, fearless, impersonating a penguin.

let them eat crack

Walked from Brooklyn Heights to the Central Park Zoo without seeing a single Obama sign, very odd.

white animal

The perfect house gift for a Manhattanite, didelphis virginiana.

Opossums help maintain a clean and healthy environment. They eat all types of insects including cockroaches, crickets, beetles, etc. They catch and eat rats and mice. They consume dead animals of all types. They like overripe fruit, berries and grapes that have fallen to the ground and they think that snails and slugs are a delicacy. They are one of the few animals that regularly prey on shrews and moles. They are known as "Nature's Little Sanitation Engineers!"--pleasebekind.com

The Virginia Opossum is the original animal named "opossum". The word comes from Algonquian 'wapathemwa' meaning "white animal", not Greek or Latin, so the plural is opossums. Colloquially, the Virginia Opossum is frequently called simply possum. The name is applied more generally to any of the other marsupials of the Didelphimorphia and Paucituberculata orders, which includes a number of opossum species in South America.--Wikipedia

River Possum
Road Possum

focused attention

uria aalge

These are aviary birds. They are looked after, fed, protected. Living the good life.
A raptor flew by their enclosure.

These are Wachovia Corp stock-holders...
Their attention is focused. Come on now Wachovia, you are not Washington Mutual. You are a southern bank that did some stupid things while on vacation in California. Get a grip stockholders!


The first breeding season takes place at the age of 4-6 years. The common murre does not use nesting material, as the one egg is laid on the bare rock or soil of a steep cliff or ledge facing the sea. The egg is pyriform or pear-shaped which prevents it from rolling off of the ledge.-ADW

big brother

observers observed

Thanks for contacting us about Woody, the Alaska SeaLife Center's male Steller sea lion. Woody is one of three resident Stellers here at the Center, Sugar and Kiska are our female Steller sea lions. All three came to us from the Vancouver Zoo shortly after the building opened in 1998. They were all born in May 1993 and collected from an island in British Columbia at the same time. Woody, Sugar and Kiska have spent all their lives in captivity and are extremely popular among visitors.

Steller sea lions have three classified populations; the Eastern stock, the Western stock, and the Russian stock. They can be found as far south as northern California, all up and down the northern Aleutian chain, and as far south as the Sea of Japan. The Russian stock is currently under watchful eye, but seems stable. The Eastern population, east of longitude 144 which passes near Cordova, is considered threatened. The Western population was classified as a federally recognized endangered species in 1997.

The Western population declined rapidly between the early 1970s and 2000, dropping nearly 80%. No one knows exactly what has caused the population decline; however, it is one of the main issues driving research at the Alaska SeaLife Center. Availability of prey, feeding habits and diet, predation, disease, and pollutants are all possible causes that we are studying.

date with destiny-8/29/05

Homo sapiens

When a Homo sapiens walks past Woody's window he checks them out. If the human was cut into appropriate sized chunks would Woody be interested? Does Woody check to see if the human has a herring in his pocket?

little ear

This sea lion has been named Woody by his bipedal keepers.

The eared seals or otariids are marine mammals in the family Otariidae - one of three groupings of Pinnipeds. They comprise 16 species in seven genera commonly known either as sea lions or fur seals, distinct from true seals (phocids) and the Walrus (odobenids). Otariids are adapted to a semi-aquatic lifestyle, feeding and migrating in the water but breeding and resting on land or ice. They reside in subpolar, temperate, and equatorial waters throughout the Pacific and Southern oceans and the southern Indian and Atlantic oceans. They are conspicuously absent in the north Atlantic.
The name otariid comes from the Greek otarion meaning "little ear",[1] referring to the small but visible external ear flaps (pinnae) which can be used to distinguish them from the phocids.--Wikipedia

census

Steller sea lions are suffering declining number in Alaskan waters.

halibut

Urban Archery Season

odocoileus virginianus mortuus

Big gun deer season ended in Virginia a week ago. But for the enterprising, deer can still be hunted, unintentionally, with motor vehicles. Additionally. the Urban Archery Season runs from now until March 29.
Really. For details, visit the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. Which Virginia City should tote your bow and arrows to? My suggestion, Rocky Mount.

"...the bear wandered by Carillion Franklin Memorial Hospital and stepped on the sensor that triggered the automatic doors to open. People scattered as he entered the emergency room area and moved down the hallway."

Trichechidae Trichechus

UVA Radiologist Paul Dee saw these bones and immediately named the creature...

Percoidea

These "minnows" photographed in the waters of Dividing Creek on the Chesapeake Bay, I need a scientific classification.

suidae sus scrofa

88 teeth (2x44) Hezzy's hogs from Gillette, Arkansas

Didelphis virginiana

by river, by road

Gallus gallus in the house

The chicken is a type of domesticated fowl, believed to be descended from the wild Indian and south-east Asian Red Junglefowl.
The chicken is one of the most common and wide-spread domestic animals. With a population of more than 24 billion in 2003,there are more chickens in the world than any other bird. Humans keep chickens primarily as a source of food, from both their meat and their eggs.--Wikipedia

fowl at large

CHO Municode Sec. 4-8. Fowl at large.
It shall be unlawful for any person to permit any chickens, ducks, geese, pigeons or other fowl belonging to him to go at large in the city; except, that homing pigeons may be released for return to their cote without violating this section.

Article in the WaPo today about a pitbull, that same story. Unprovoked dog puts teeth to human.
Should legislation be considered? You can't legislate against a type of dog?
I wonder who the chickens offended?

odocoileus virginianus mortuus

habitat conflict, tires v hooves.
They look like this standing up.

Blue Run, Black Snake

Talked to Emma last night, she'd been walking in the wilderness for a few days, lost her way, back-tracked via her footprints in the snow pack, crossed the US/Canada border, returning to the beginning. I've been missing posts, engaged with projects that demand attention. Like Emma, I end back at the beginning.
In the darkroom, blackdog, darkly.

mystery

found these birds in a basement, masonry foundation, no access.

free

curious

downs

near Lewes

catfish

"even a fish wouldn't get into trouble if he kept his mouth shut"- author unknown
quotegarden

Dasypus novemcinctus

Litters typically consist of four, same sex young which develop from a single fertilized egg and are hence genetically identical.
The shell-pig, a very cool animal.

7521 miles from Bethlehem

Lynn Cove Road

AZ

366 days ago

madison county

rob amberg's llama

Ovis Aries

Sheep were among the first animals domesticated. An archeological site in Iran produced a statuette of a wooled sheep which suggests that selection for woolly sheep had begun to occur over 6000 years ago. The common features of today's sheep were already appearing in Mesopotamian and Babylonian art and books by 3000 B.C.- Oklahoma State University

Mammalia Ungulata Artiodactyla Pecora Bovidae Caprinac Ovis Aries

Opening reception, 5-8PM, Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society

missing the beach

...and missing the person on the beach. Edith Mary Moss, born in Stainfield, Lincolnshire, 1889. On Vero, 1960.

black widow

Latrodectus mactans:

They can also be found around lids of dust bins, around seats of outdoor privies, spaces under chips of wood, around stacked materials of any kind, in deserted animal burrows or rodent holes, and entwined in grape arbors.-University of Michigan Museum of Zoology

Under the seats of privies, that's the worst.

cathartidae

black vultures or turkey vultures? help!

Popillia japonica

Popillia japonica

Japanese beetles travel and feed in groups. A swarm of beetles have been known to strip a peach tree in 15 minutes, leaving behind only bare branches and the fruit pits (Encyclopedia Britannica Online).
Tooth and claw. I plant the trees, the J. beetles eat the leaves. Ah!
This new b&w predator does something to the beetle, don't think its a friendly hug. Whatever, predator is keeping the beetle-mouth off the leaves. Would be interested if anyone can supply caption info .

Corvus corax

Emory, E. is home

A wild raven was recorded living for 13 years and 4 months. Captive birds may live much longer, one captive individual was recorded to have lived 80 years and captives at the Tower of London in England live for 44 years or more.-UMMZ

Sylvilagus floridanus

Eastern cottontails are solitary animals, and they tend to be intolerant of each other.

Age at sexual or reproductive maturity, 2 months
A mating pair performs an interesting ritual before copulation. This usually occurs after dark. The buck chases the doe until she eventually turns and faces him. She then spars at him with her forepaws. They crouch, facing each other, until one of the pair leaps about 2 feet in the air. This behavior is repeated by both animals before mating
Rabbits average three to four litters per year.

Vocalizations of the eastern cottontail include distress cries (to startle an enemy and warn others of danger), squeals (during copulation) and grunts (if predators approach a nesting doe and her litter). Eastern cottontails are short-lived; most do not survive beyond their third year. Females are larger than the males.- University of Michigan Museum of Zoology

In America, people like rabbits. Disney propaganda? Thumper? They definitely thump a lot.
When moving this rabbit out of the road I wondered about contracting Tularemia.

Several precautions can protect individuals from tularemia.
? Avoid drinking, bathing, swimming or working in untreated water where infection may be common among wild animals.
? Use impervious gloves when skinning or handling animals, especially rabbits.
? Cook the meat of wild rabbits and rodents thoroughly.

Why is there concern about tularemia as a bioweapon?

Tularemia, in aerosol form, is considered a possible bioterrorist agent. Persons who inhale an infectious aerosol would likely experience severe respiratory illness. Any suspected cases of tularemia inhalation should be immediately reported to local and state health departments.- Illinois Department of Public Health

Bovinae

bos taurus

Rain has paused here, still in the forecast, 40% chance. Eight inches of rain.

More cows

grey lady

WHEREAS, furtherance of the aforementioned purposes, the Purchasers are willing to enter into agreements, easements, or other legally binding prohibitions of any further development of the subject property, and

Didelphis virginiana

'Possums gestate in thirteen days.

necessity

Life is rife with and riven by alliances.

alliances

Who is looking out for you, who has got your back?

Treed!

terricolous

Raccoons are nocturnal, asocial animals. The males and females don't hang out together. They are territorial. But show racoons the money, give them a good steady supply of dogfood, and the rules the species has developed over the past 10,000 years go out of the window.