naturalist.charlie

Hey Neal!

Yeah, I think you're right... it's staghorn

Although I don't know the species of oak, they often have flowers like that in the spring. They are wind-pollinated and don't need to attract pollinators so they aren't colorful and large like many other flowers are.

I hope it isn't in a hurry, because North is still pretty icy!

In California we called it Bougainvillea which sounds like the same thing as you called it but with a different spelling :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bougainvill...

These are really common on the oaks in California. They don't appear to harm the tree... for all we know there is even some benefit to the tree in harboring wasps. Oak galls are poorly understood but there are many, many different kinds.

Trevor, if you have a sunny porch or window, you should try a potted basil plant. They work pretty well in pots, but need even more water than they do when in the ground.

Neat info! Sounds like the trees live in the same habitat as they do here in Vermont. Do you have beech bark disease there? Here in Vermont it kills many of the trees in association with a fuzzy insect - I think a scale insect - but some seem to be immune.

This is a neat bird, it is in a symbiotic relationship with certain pine species - they need each other to survive.

Or die. It's notoriously hard to get the 'right' dose. I hear in the old days if you died, they just said you angered the spirits.

Looks like some sort of cormorant.