Yesterday in nature I saw a red-headed agama. Granted, this bit of nature is in the downtown. But it’s still a wild animal. It’s not a good thing, either. Agamas and Tegus are invasive species and should not be here in SW Fla. But now i’ve been seeing a bunch of tegus warming themselves behind the art center for the past month or so. The agama is a new arrival there.
I had to look that up. I’ve been in Florida all my life and never saw one of those.
My daughter took this picture of a baby gator near her workplace the other day. Poor little feller’s all covered in oak pollen.
Sun dogs and 22-degree halo today, March 13, in Maryland
Hmm, normally these show up in the thread, but just click the link and you’ll see it. It’s worth it, I promise.
Yeah, that’s cool.
Beautiful! 
Spectacular, @zimaane !
Less spectacular - yesterday I saw my first bluebells of the year. Really scrawny, but another sign that spring is almost here. I’ll post a photo when they’re worth looking at.
Also: I usually nominate a bird of the year (South East England division) based on how well particular species are doing. This year you just can’t go anywhere without hearing the sound of woodpeckers drumming. We live in a town - OK, it’s pretty well wooded, but it’s still a town - and there are woodpeckers either side of our house who spend hours drumming away at each other - never known anything like it before. So, Bird Of The Year: Greater Spotted Woodpecker.
Side note: you can be confident it’s Greater Spotted because the Lesser Spotted is so damn rare. But it is believed that a breeding pair may have been found in a wood not so very far from us (!!)
Cool!
j
Yeah, that’s a great halo, @zimaane .
This evening, I was out walking the dogs with my mom and a couple of her neighbors, and there were four deer ambling around in a front lawn a few houses down from us. They maintained that distance as we approached, but didn’t seem to be nearly as perturbed as they should have been by a pair of wolves and four predatory apes. Eventually they ducked down a driveway into a back yard; not sure where they went from there.
Cool! A great horned owl killed one of our chickens. I mean, that’s terrible. But also really cool! He’s liable to get seconds if he hangs around, because the rest of the flock didn’t learn a damn thing. They’re out foraging all over the yard.
My friend in San Diego (Scripps Ranch) had a coyote checking out her patio yesterday:
Awww, so cute! And I hope your friend doesn’t have any outdoor pets…
Extremely cool indeed! Is the owl fulfilling Socrates’ last wish or is he Jewish Orthodox? It was not the eve of Yom Kippur, was it? Then it must be a wise owl (symbol of wisdom anyway) versed in the history of philosophy.
Chickens a dumb anyway, let the owl get seconds.
Yeah, cats and small dogs are definitely on the menu for those critters. When I lived in San Diego the apartment complex was on the edge of a canyon. Often times when new people moved in with cats it wasn’t long before I’d see “Missing Cat” flyers posted on the community bulletin board.
I caught Venus and a fingernail moon w/earthshine on Thursday night, and then some Turkey Vultures wheeling in the sky in front of the moon the next day:
I love that first one so much.
Great photos @beowulff !
Here’s some urban wildlife. Seagulls ripping a refuse bag open to get at lunch; and a robin helping me weed my allotment.
j
And here’s a third urban wildlife (avian division) note. I think it’s a legal requirement that every English cathedral has to have a breeding pair of peregrine falcons joke. We were in Chichester on Saturday and yes, of course, they have their falcons. They also have a falcon cam, and here it is:
It’s quiet at the moment - the falcons are around but are not yet in breeding mode.
They ain’t as dumb as pigeons, There were literally scores of them flapping around that nest box and perching in it’s vicinity.
Interesting aside about peregrines and peregrine snacks:
The breeding range includes land regions from the Arctic tundra to the tropics. It can be found nearly everywhere on Earth, except extreme polar regions, very high mountains, and most tropical rainforests. The only major ice-free landmass from which it is entirely absent is New Zealand. That makes it the world’s most widespread raptor and one of the most widely found wild bird species. In fact, the only land-based bird species found over a larger geographic area, domestic and feral pigeons, owe their success to human-led introduction. Both are domesticated forms of the rock dove, and are a major prey species for peregrine populations. Due to their greater abundance in cities than most other birds, feral pigeons support many peregrine populations as a staple food source, especially in urban settings.
j
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That robin is adorable.
Not much happening in falcon-land right this minute, I’ll have to check back later.
I once saw a ranking of farm animals by intelligence, that went something like:
Cat
Dog
Pig
Horse
Cow
Wheat
Sheep
Rocks
Chicken
sigh - My local peregrine cam has gone silent after avian influenza seemingly wiped them out 
. The population in my region seems to have dropped by over two-thirds in the last few years and still is struggling. Hopefully the survivors start building back immunity in the future, but after booming the prior couple of decades it’s been a disheartening crash.
That is very, very cool. Though I imagine the chickens might disagree.