Nicely documented. I have one suggestion, and this is just me being a stickler about the photos. Make sure that your camera is the appropriate distance away from whatever you're trying to focus on. I find that people often take photos a little too close and thus they end up focusing on the background, as opposed to the part of interest. Most of your photos are well-focused, there are just a few which are not. -Audric

I'm guessing no one's responding as it's the wrong time of year for this. Perhaps try again in the Spring, but also, please post this at the Exchange Area, the designated place for this.

Hunter, Palms arent too common here either! Some of the botanical gardens and zoos are catching on though and a few houses nearby do have palms, but its nothing that you would find too easily (unless you knew where to look). Virginia Beach has tons of palms considering that if you go just a bit north or west, you will barely see any! I think that VB is the farthest north you can go to get that Palmy southern feel (Norfolk, Virginia also has a few palms around and lots of other southern favorites like live oak, crape myrtles, southern magonlias, long leaf pines, camellias, and gardenias so it defintely feels a bit subtropical there as well, but not much futher north or west than that). Also, I doubt the sagos survived. It was a cold winter and even during a warm winter, they arent usually expected to survive (unless they have protection). Islandbreeze, the trunk and fronds on that palm looked a bit trachycarpus like to me, but they do look similar when very young, especially when there is a ton of vegetation covering most of the plant. Chadec, I will have to check that agave out! Do you have it and if you do, did it survive the winter? -Alex

Stephen, I found the pictures on the New York bird list. I didn't see the owl myself although my daughter did she didn't have a camera though or binoculars she borrowed another birders. Here is another picture of the owl from New York bird list. I read on Pa. bird list today that it is now in a holly tree 50 yards away from original Norway spruce. Sarah Here is a link that might be useful: central park owl