Back yard critters

Iguana Parmigiana at Cucina Cellie?

NOT kosher

yea, Florida…
.
North beach ? :giggle:

Better than Iguana's.

NOT kosher

I know the prep isn't, but I DID NOT KNOW that reptiles aren't Kosher. Learn something every day. Now I have to find which locusts are Kosher, LOL...

*All reptiles, all amphibians and insects with the exception of four types of locust are not kosher**.*

Iguanas, colored to background… 2 big males fighting… cellie…
.

DR. Phil had an entire show dedicated tse creatures today with some whacko who loves them and all others describing them as an invasive menace in South Fla.

ahhhhhhh

go for it

[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.google.com/search?q=iguna+recipe&rlz=1C1JZAP_enUS992US992&sxsrf=AJOqlzVYciwl2W4c1pMQHIKp1EvPAw9saA%3A1675471243265&ei=i6ndY-XlD_q-0PEP2NuH6AY&ved=0ahUKEwil16Ti0Pr8AhV6HzQIHdjtAW0Q4dUDCBA&uact=5&oq=iguna+recipe&gs_lcp=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_V5oA3ABeACAAbECiAGlHJIBBzAuOC44LjGYAQCgAQGwARTIARPAAQHaAQYIARABGAnaAQYIAhABGAjaAQYIAxABGAE&sclient=gws-wiz-serp[/URL]

He's baaccckkkk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Will have to keep my eyes open, all our waterside window shades were drawn tight yesterday to keep out the cold...

[HEADING=2][SIZE=7]Rare Steller’s sea eagle makes highly anticipated return to Maine[/SIZE][/HEADING]
[pressherald.com/2023/02/04/rare-stellers-sea-eagle-makes-highly-anticipated-return-to-maine/]('https://www.pressherald.com/2023/02/04/rare-stellers-sea-eagle-makes-highly-anticipated-return-to-maine/')

By Kelley Bouchard February 5, 2023
[]('')
The rare Steller’s sea eagle, above in Georgetown, took up residence in Maine last winter thousands of miles from its home range. Zachary Holderby, Downeast Audubon via AP
The “incredibly rare” and [highly anticipated]('https://www.pressherald.com/2022/09/23/will-the-rare-stellers-sea-eagle-return-to-maine-this-winter/') Steller’s sea eagle has returned to Maine, according to Maine Audubon.
It was found at 12:45 p.m. Saturday along the Back River, spotted by Stacy Hildreth from the Route 127 bridge between Arrowsic and Georgetown, staff naturalist Doug Hitchcox reported on Maine Audubon’s website.
“We’ve waited, we’ve debated, and now we know: The Steller’s Sea-Eagle is back!” Hitchcox wrote of the vagabond bird that has captured the attention of avid birders and others around the globe.

Then it moved north, Hitchcox said, spending the summer of 2022 in Newfoundland before wandering south in the fall.
The last sighting had been in northeast New Brunswick in November.

[HEADING=2][SIZE=7]The Prospect Park Gator Was Not the First. Here Are Other Urban Gators.[/SIZE][/HEADING]
A brief history of New York City alligators.

An emaciated alligator found in Prospect Park last week was the latest in a long line of saw-toothed reptiles found all over New York City, raising several obvious questions: What? How? And why does this keep happening?

[The animals appear in the city often enough]('https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/26/nyregion/alligators-sewers-new-york.html') to bolster a century-old rumor about alligators roaming in the sewer system, likely first inspired by the 1935 discovery of one, roughly eight feet long,[ in an East Harlem storm drain]('https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1935/02/10/87876864.html?pageNumber=29'). [Films such as “Alligator]('https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080354/')” over the years have added even more intrigue. Sometimes a year or two goes by between urban alligator discoveries, but five were captured in Brooklyn and Staten Island in 2018 and 2019 alone.

The past three years have been a dry spell. The Animal Care Centers of New York City, which is often called in when an alligator is spotted, had not received a single report about alligators since 2019, said Katy Hansen, the organization’s communications director.

But the city was once again captivated on Sunday, when a female alligator, later named Godzilla, was [pulled from Prospect Park Lake]('https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/20/nyregion/alligator-prospect-park-brooklyn.html'), in Brooklyn, by a maintenance worker with the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation.

The American alligator, who was about five feet long and was taken to the Bronx Zoo for treatment, had ingested a four-inch wide bathtub stopper and was “lethargic and suffering from exposure to cold temperatures,” [according to a zoo statement on Wednesday]('https://newsroom.wcs.org/News-Releases/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/18742/Update-on-American-Alligator-Rescued-from-Prospect-Park-Lake.aspx'). An alligator of her size should weigh between 30 to 35 pounds; she weighed 15, the statement said.

She was the sixth alligator that Animal Care Centers, a group that finds homes for abandoned and homeless animals, has helped to rescue in the city since 2018, according to Ms. Hansen.

[HEADING=1]The Alligators of New York[/HEADING]
The most recent cluster of alligator discoveries, according to Animal Care Centers, began in 2018 with Bobby, who was discovered in January on Staten Island by the police department’s gang unit.

Toby was found abandoned in Brooklyn that April.

Then in 2019, three alligators were recovered: Poland, a 5-year-old American alligator, was brought to Animal Care Centers in July after being found abandoned in a Staten Island park. Tick Tock was recovered in Brooklyn in September by the Police Department after it executed a search warrant. Wally was discovered by a parks department worker on Staten Island in October.

Aside from the boroughs in which the recent crop of alligators were found and the names Animal Care Centers gives them, information about them — how they got here and where they are now — is difficult to find, Ms. Hansen said.

The Police Department — which houses the Animal Cruelty Investigation Squad and the Emergency Service Unit — does not keep specific data on alligators they encounter, an official said. A parks department spokeswoman said their recent records show they have recovered alligators from a [Queens park in 2015]('https://twitter.com/NYPD110Pct/status/643859726229471232') and on Staten Island in 2019.

But local newspapers have published stories about the encounters at least as far back as August 1815, when John T. Brouwere found an alligator while hunting near Newtown Creek, said Michael Miscione, the former official borough historian for Manhattan.

“He had a rifle on him and basically shoved the thing in the alligator’s mouth and pulled the trigger,” Mr. Miscione said. According to the Long-Island Star, which recorded the incident, the alligator was later displayed in a collection in Manhattan.

Over the years, alligators have also been spotted sunbathing in a park [in Queens]('https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/29/nyregion/a-parkgoer-in-alligator-skin-call-911.html'), [behind an apartment building]('https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/29/nyregion/29lizard.html?searchResultPosition=4') and [in a backyard]('https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/29/nyregion/alligator-is-found-in-yard-not-sewer.html?searchResultPosition=7') in Brooklyn. One [three-foot alligator ]('https://twitter.com/NYPD34Pct/status/624336009933791233?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E624336009933791233%7Ctwgr%5E555e37925d604aef3de480df02dde8bec0a4ce9b%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2015%2F07%2F25%2Fnyregion%2Falligator-found-crossing-a-street-in-manhattan-dies.html')even tried his luck [crossing the street during evening rush hour]('https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/25/nyregion/alligator-found-crossing-a-street-in-manhattan-dies.html?searchResultPosition=8') in Manhattan in 2015.

In one famous incident two decades ago, city officials spent days tracking the movements of what was believed to be an alligator [spotted in Central Park’s]('https://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/21/nyregion/dressed-for-the-park-in-alligator-skin.html') Harlem Meer, in the northeast corner of the park.
Nearly two dozen people reported seeing it: It was sunning itself, they said, and peering out of the water. An expert alligator wrangler was sent by a publicity firm from Florida to capture it.

When the nearly two-foot reptile [was caught days later]('https://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/22/nyregion/myth-of-alligator-is-dispelled-when-team-captures-caiman.html?searchResultPosition=10'), it was discovered to be a spectacled caiman, a species of crocodile native to Central and South America.
[HEADING=1]How Alligators Get to the City[/HEADING]
Alligators are not native to New York. They prefer southern climates, and can usually be found as far north as North Carolina. To make it so far north, they likely either come by mail or prospective owners must travel to pick them up.

“You can’t buy them in New York City,” Ms. Hansen said. The pandemic may have led to a decrease in the animals because travel was more restricted, she added.

Mr. Miscione said there’s also a long history of advertisements in magazines for mail-ordered alligators, at least as far back as the 1930s.

“You could get a mail-order alligator for $1.50,” he said. “And these weren’t hoaxes. You wouldn’t get a rubber alligator, you’d get a live alligator.”

A United Parcel Service driver was driving his route in August 2001 when a leaky box alarmed him. The box was shipped from Atlanta and headed to a home in Brooklyn.

When workers at a parcel service center in the borough opened the box, [they found a five-foot alligator thrashing around]('https://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/04/nyregion/surprise-at-ups-alligator-in-the-box.html?searchResultPosition=6'), its snout and legs tied with duct tape.

“We would have never accepted a package with a live animal in it,” Norman Black, a spokesman for U.P.S., said at the time. “And certainly not an alligator.”
[HEADING=1]What Happens to Abandoned Alligators[/HEADING]
Alligators who come in the mail may seem cute when they arrive, but they can rapidly outgrow their dwellings. And while mailing them may be legal, [at least when they are babies]('https://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52c5_008.htm#ep184096'), owning them as pets in New York City is not,[ according to the city]('https://portal.311.nyc.gov/article/?kanumber=KA-02255').

When alligators are discovered, either abandoned or confiscated by police, they are sent to zoos and or animal rescue organizations that care for reptiles, Ms. Hansen said.

But she said she did not have specific information about where the rescued creatures live out the rest of their lives. A spokesman for the Bronx Zoo referred questions on Thursday about alligator cases to the police.

For those with illegal pets, New York City’s 311 page says owners can drop them off at Animal Care Centers shelters located in each of the boroughs, adding that those who do will not receive a violation.

[HEADING=2][SIZE=7]The Prospect Park Gator Was Not the First. Here Are Other Urban Gators.[/SIZE][/HEADING]
A brief history of New York City alligators.

An emaciated alligator found in Prospect Park last week was the latest in a long line of saw-toothed reptiles found all over New York City, raising several obvious questions: What? How? And why does this keep happening?

[The animals appear in the city often enough]('https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/26/nyregion/alligators-sewers-new-york.html') to bolster a century-old rumor about alligators roaming in the sewer system, likely first inspired by the 1935 discovery of one, roughly eight feet long,[ in an East Harlem storm drain]('https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1935/02/10/87876864.html?pageNumber=29'). [Films such as “Alligator]('https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080354/')” over the years have added even more intrigue. Sometimes a year or two goes by between urban alligator discoveries, but five were captured in Brooklyn and Staten Island in 2018 and 2019 alone.

The past three years have been a dry spell. The Animal Care Centers of New York City, which is often called in when an alligator is spotted, had not received a single report about alligators since 2019, said Katy Hansen, the organization’s communications director.

But the city was once again captivated on Sunday, when a female alligator, later named Godzilla, was [pulled from Prospect Park Lake]('https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/20/nyregion/alligator-prospect-park-brooklyn.html'), in Brooklyn, by a maintenance worker with the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation.

The American alligator, who was about five feet long and was taken to the Bronx Zoo for treatment, had ingested a four-inch wide bathtub stopper and was “lethargic and suffering from exposure to cold temperatures,” [according to a zoo statement on Wednesday]('https://newsroom.wcs.org/News-Releases/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/18742/Update-on-American-Alligator-Rescued-from-Prospect-Park-Lake.aspx'). An alligator of her size should weigh between 30 to 35 pounds; she weighed 15, the statement said.

She was the sixth alligator that Animal Care Centers, a group that finds homes for abandoned and homeless animals, has helped to rescue in the city since 2018, according to Ms. Hansen.

[HEADING=1]The Alligators of New York[/HEADING]
The most recent cluster of alligator discoveries, according to Animal Care Centers, began in 2018 with Bobby, who was discovered in January on Staten Island by the police department’s gang unit.

Toby was found abandoned in Brooklyn that April.

Then in 2019, three alligators were recovered: Poland, a 5-year-old American alligator, was brought to Animal Care Centers in July after being found abandoned in a Staten Island park. Tick Tock was recovered in Brooklyn in September by the Police Department after it executed a search warrant. Wally was discovered by a parks department worker on Staten Island in October.

Aside from the boroughs in which the recent crop of alligators were found and the names Animal Care Centers gives them, information about them — how they got here and where they are now — is difficult to find, Ms. Hansen said.

The Police Department — which houses the Animal Cruelty Investigation Squad and the Emergency Service Unit — does not keep specific data on alligators they encounter, an official said. A parks department spokeswoman said their recent records show they have recovered alligators from a [Queens park in 2015]('https://twitter.com/NYPD110Pct/status/643859726229471232') and on Staten Island in 2019.

But local newspapers have published stories about the encounters at least as far back as August 1815, when John T. Brouwere found an alligator while hunting near Newtown Creek, said Michael Miscione, the former official borough historian for Manhattan.

“He had a rifle on him and basically shoved the thing in the alligator’s mouth and pulled the trigger,” Mr. Miscione said. According to the Long-Island Star, which recorded the incident, the alligator was later displayed in a collection in Manhattan.

Over the years, alligators have also been spotted sunbathing in a park [in Queens]('https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/29/nyregion/a-parkgoer-in-alligator-skin-call-911.html'), [behind an apartment building]('https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/29/nyregion/29lizard.html?searchResultPosition=4') and [in a backyard]('https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/29/nyregion/alligator-is-found-in-yard-not-sewer.html?searchResultPosition=7') in Brooklyn. One [three-foot alligator ]('https://twitter.com/NYPD34Pct/status/624336009933791233?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E624336009933791233%7Ctwgr%5E555e37925d604aef3de480df02dde8bec0a4ce9b%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2015%2F07%2F25%2Fnyregion%2Falligator-found-crossing-a-street-in-manhattan-dies.html')even tried his luck [crossing the street during evening rush hour]('https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/25/nyregion/alligator-found-crossing-a-street-in-manhattan-dies.html?searchResultPosition=8') in Manhattan in 2015.

In one famous incident two decades ago, city officials spent days tracking the movements of what was believed to be an alligator [spotted in Central Park’s]('https://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/21/nyregion/dressed-for-the-park-in-alligator-skin.html') Harlem Meer, in the northeast corner of the park.
Nearly two dozen people reported seeing it: It was sunning itself, they said, and peering out of the water. An expert alligator wrangler was sent by a publicity firm from Florida to capture it.

When the nearly two-foot reptile [was caught days later]('https://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/22/nyregion/myth-of-alligator-is-dispelled-when-team-captures-caiman.html?searchResultPosition=10'), it was discovered to be a spectacled caiman, a species of crocodile native to Central and South America.
[HEADING=1]How Alligators Get to the City[/HEADING]
Alligators are not native to New York. They prefer southern climates, and can usually be found as far north as North Carolina. To make it so far north, they likely either come by mail or prospective owners must travel to pick them up.

“You can’t buy them in New York City,” Ms. Hansen said. The pandemic may have led to a decrease in the animals because travel was more restricted, she added.

Mr. Miscione said there’s also a long history of advertisements in magazines for mail-ordered alligators, at least as far back as the 1930s.

“You could get a mail-order alligator for $1.50,” he said. “And these weren’t hoaxes. You wouldn’t get a rubber alligator, you’d get a live alligator.”

A United Parcel Service driver was driving his route in August 2001 when a leaky box alarmed him. The box was shipped from Atlanta and headed to a home in Brooklyn.

When workers at a parcel service center in the borough opened the box, [they found a five-foot alligator thrashing around]('https://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/04/nyregion/surprise-at-ups-alligator-in-the-box.html?searchResultPosition=6'), its snout and legs tied with duct tape.

“We would have never accepted a package with a live animal in it,” Norman Black, a spokesman for U.P.S., said at the time. “And certainly not an alligator.”
[HEADING=1]What Happens to Abandoned Alligators[/HEADING]
Alligators who come in the mail may seem cute when they arrive, but they can rapidly outgrow their dwellings. And while mailing them may be legal, [at least when they are babies]('https://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52c5_008.htm#ep184096'), owning them as pets in New York City is not,[ according to the city]('https://portal.311.nyc.gov/article/?kanumber=KA-02255').

When alligators are discovered, either abandoned or confiscated by police, they are sent to zoos and or animal rescue organizations that care for reptiles, Ms. Hansen said.

But she said she did not have specific information about where the rescued creatures live out the rest of their lives. A spokesman for the Bronx Zoo referred questions on Thursday about alligator cases to the police.

For those with illegal pets, New York City’s 311 page says owners can drop them off at Animal Care Centers shelters located in each of the boroughs, adding that those who do will not receive a violation.

The only gators I like have laces and a sole on them.

I use to have one about that size

Mr friend had one about 4 ft. He ran up my chest when I was sitting on his couch and shedded my stomach and chest. Just so it could rest on the top of the couch

Had 4 extra for dinner this evening...

the big male is watching over his girlfriend… cellie…
.

Could mean coming soon to Chez Roccus' backyard? I've seen a few, including 1 locally, but would really love to see one munching on the willows in my yard...

[HEADING=2][SIZE=7]Early data show possible dramatic drop in moose calves felled by winter ticks[/SIZE][/HEADING]
[pressherald.com/2023/03/28/state-biologists-encouraged-by-new-data-in-moose-collar-study/]('https://www.pressherald.com/2023/03/28/state-biologists-encouraged-by-new-data-in-moose-collar-study/')

By Deirdre Fleming March 28, 2023

A state biologist says new data from Maine’s moose-collar study shows encouraging signs in an area of the state where moose have been ravaged for years by parasitic winter ticks.

Lee Kantar, Maine’s moose biologist, told a state committee Tuesday that only two of the 69 moose calves collared in Wildlife Management District 4 in northwestern Maine have died this winter. That compares to 61 of 70 collared calves who died in the study area last year because of winter tick infestation. Based on this year’s early data, the mortality rate plunged from 87% to less than 3%.
Kantar stressed the findings are preliminary, and it’s too soon to tell how moose in the study will fare this year because winter mortality in moose calves in northern Maine typically continues into April, until after the snowpack is gone. But on Tuesday he was cautiously optimistic.

“This is really weird. Normally we would expect quite a bit of mortality in March and then it really goes up in April,” Kantar said in an address to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s Advisory Council.

Kantar’s report came at a meeting where biologists proposed a 2% [increase in moose permits]('https://www.pressherald.com/2021/03/23/maine-proposes-hike-in-moose-permits-to-combat-winter-tick-infestation/') in the fall to 4,155. Most of the additional 75 permits would be allocated in WMD 4, near the Quebec border and just west of Baxter State Park. Biologists are trying to determine if increasing the moose harvest in the district may lead to a healthier herd by providing fewer hosts for winter ticks. IFW is entering the third year of the study.

Last fall was the first time since biologists started fall tick counts in 2006 that they noted a low tick count on harvested moose at tagging stations. Biologists check about 180 tagged moose for ticks each fall, Kantar said.

“That’s a predictor – a predictor of what spring mortality looks like in the spring,” Kantar said of ticks on tagged moose.

Maine has the highest density of moose in the contiguous United States, but the estimate in 2019 of 60,000 to 70,000 was down from 76,000 in 2012.

Winter ticks have devastated moose herds from Maine to Minnesota and as far north as Alberta, Canada. At first, Maine biologists tried to combat the rise in the parasite by decreasing permits – by as much as 25% in 2014. But in recent years, state biologists decided to try to prove the theory that if the moose population is reduced, it will minimize the transmission of winter tick and help moose in Maine thrive.

In 2014, [Maine biologists started collaring moose]('https://www.pressherald.com/2016/01/10/radio-collar-study-vital-in-understanding-moose-habits/') around Moosehead Lake in the first moose-collar study in Maine, one similar to studies done in New Hampshire and Minnesota. The results of earlier radio-collar studies typically have been grim.

In the first year of the study at Moosehead Lake, in the spring of 2014, 22 of 30 (73%) collared calves died. In 2015, 21 of 35 (60%) died.

The recent study enters the third of five years in northwestern Maine. State biologists on Tuesday recommended increasing the number of moose permits in WMD 4 from 550 to 600.

Maine birding guide Bob Duchesne, a member of the advisory council, said he hopes the next three years of the study bear the same results.

“Certainly Lee would say that one year is one data point and one year is not a trend,” Duchesne said. “It’s encouraging. I think the biologists put their finger on it that the density of moose in some areas means the ticks can more easily transmit around. And if the trend continues with a warming climate, the ticks are not going away.”

Many guides and sportsmen were skeptical when IFW first proposed the new study, said Mike Hickey, a registered Maine guide who works out of a sporting camp on the Aroostook River in the fall.

“We’re all in tune with how the permits are divided. It’s a big part of our industry. When they said they were giving out a ton of permits to Zone 4 with the theory that decreasing the moose population would kill off the ticks, people were divided,” Hickey said. “I didn’t have a strong belief either way. I think moose hunting is good for the economy. Moose hunting is such a big thing in Maine. People come from around the country, the world for it.”

But Hal Blood, a registered Maine guide from Jackman, who’s guided moose hunters in WMD 4 for 25 years, said he thought the state should have tried to cull the herd even before the recent study.

“It was common sense to me, logical. You have to lower the moose herd for the ticks to go away,” Blood said. “The less moose obviously the less that can carry the ticks. So it’s good news, if it went from 61 to two, that’s pretty remarkable. I would say it’s got to be due to giving out all those (moose) tags.”

Saw my 1st butterflies & 2 Hummingbirds or the season while working in the backyard.
(y)

oh

and one snake - one BIG ass snake easily 3+ feet.............
:oops:

another snake!

A raft of Common Eiders, and the errant Herring Gull and Bufflehead, through this AM's fog in the backyard cove...

my backyard is like a "Bunny Haven" these days - Max would have had a field day..................

Miss the ol' bugger.