quercus macrocarpa

branch from below
Quercus macrocarpa is cultivated by plant nurseries for use in gardens, in parks, and on urban sidewalks. Bur oak makes an outstanding ornamental tree. Among the white oaks, it is one of the most tolerant of urban conditions, and is one of the fastest-growing of the group. It has been planted in many climates, ranging northwards to Anchorage, Alaska, and as far south as Mission, Texas. It withstands chinook conditions in Calgary, Alberta.–wikipedia

Big acorns on the downtown mall.

Maladera castanea, Asiatic garden beetles

breakfast buffet for crows
The Asiatic Garden Beetles are back, feeding at night on tender oak leaves. The AGBs are attracted to electric light. Don’t swim well. So this tupperware pool, lit from below, attracts about twenty-five beetles per night. The beetles tread water until just after dawn when the crows come and enjoy crunchy breakfast buffet.

A native of Japan and China, where it is not an important pest, the
Asiatic garden beetle (Maladera castanea) was first discovered in
the United States in New Jersey in 1922. Asiatic garden beetle grubs
feed off the roots of grasses and weeds in early spring. Adult beetles
attack many different vegetable, herb, fruit, and ornamental plants,
feeding mostly at night where they strip, shred, and notch the foliage
of their hosts. Asiatic garden beetle damage is especially prevalent
around the leaf margins.–University of New Hampshire

Bill

William Stone Weedon (July 5, 1908 – May 13, 1984), was a scholar, university professor (philosophy, mathematics, logic, linguistic analysis), and U.S. Navy Officer.

William Weedon was an individual not bound by conventions. He was a member of the Albemarle Garden Club at a time when the club had only one other male member.[8] He won a Blue Ribbon Prize in a flower arrangement contest by placing a solitary rose inside a horse’s skull.–Wikipedia

Didelphis virginiana

Fritz the possum
Opossums have 50 teeth, more than any other North American land mammal.
Opossums have 13 nipples, arranged in a circle of 12 with one in the middle.
An early description of the opossum comes from explorer John Smith, who wrote in Map of Virginia, with a Description of the Countrey, the Commodities, People, Government and Religion in 1608 that “An Opassom hath an head like a Swine, and a taile like a Rat, and is of the bignes of a Cat. Under her belly she hath a bagge, wherein she lodgeth, carrieth, and sucketh her young.”–Wikipedia