What's your favorite urban plant or animal?

[urbpan]

This is the question I ask every person who passes my table when I'm at a zine fair with The Urban Pantheist. cottonmanifesto and I have made urban wildlife trading cards, and most of the time we have a card for their answer. Sometimes they surprise me, and over the course of several events, we've added to our set of trading cards. Now I'm putting it out there to you all: What's your favorite urban plant or animal? Is it on the list below? (Our cards reflect our geographic bias. I would love to create subsets of cards for other geographic areas. Below is the "Northeastern North America set")


Urban Wildlife Trading Card List

Mammals
squirrel (gray squirrel, Sciurus carolinensis)
rat (norway rat, Rattus norvegicus)
opossum (Virginia opossum, Didelphis virginiana)
muskrat (Ondatra zibethica)
cat (feral cat, Felis domesticus)
dog (Canis lupus familiaris)
raccoon (Procyon lotor)
skunk (Striped skunk, mephitis mephitis)

Birds
pigeon (rock dove, Columba livia)
heron (great blue heron, Ardea herodius)
goose (Canada goose, Branta canadensis)
crow (American crow, Corvus brachyrhyncos)
starling (European starling, Sturnus vulgaris)
hawk (red-tailed hawk, Buteo jamaicensis)
sparrow (house sparrow, Passer domesticus)


Other Vertebrates
(none, yet)

Invertebrates
roach (American cockroach, Periplaneta americana)
centipede (house centipede, Scutigera coleoptrata)
Slug (Spotted garden slug, Limax maximus)

Plants and Fungi
lamb's quarters (Chenopodium album)
dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)
tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima)

New cards in the works:
human (Homo sapiens)
red fox (Vulpes vulpes)
grackle (Quiscalus sp.)
bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana)
gingko (Gingko biloba)

Other possibilities:
coyote
wild turkey
snapping turtle

[ack! I lost my italics when I copy-and-pasted! forgive me!]

Comments

[morrigandaughtr.livejournal.com]

I'm awfully fond of Live Oaks.

~ Crow, in Texas

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Mm. I saw those in Jacksonville when I visited a couple years ago. I like their twisty long limbs, and the way they look when they are dripping with Spanish moss.

[morrigandaughtr.livejournal.com]

Yes - exactly!

[ninthraven.livejournal.com]

We're seeing a lot of deer in DC. One even jumped the tracks of the Metro early one morning and was caught on tape.

But my favorites are squirrels, cats, and crows.

Oh, and there is a warren of brown rabbits near my friend's house in NE Washington, DC, around the warehouse district.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes, rabbits! Thanks, that was one that I had forgotten about.

I'm writing an article about deer (and other large animals) in the city for the next Urban Pantheist.

[anais2.livejournal.com]

It's a special day when I see an indigo bunting!

Does anyone ever answer "ailanthus"? What a stinky plague!

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Most people don't know what it's called, but I've had one or two people describe it. It's a totally amazing plant, you gotta admit. (And I admit that it's a stinky plague, as well.)

Cities get the wildlife they deserve.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I would say it's an amazingly special day when you see an indigo bunting in Somerville!!

[anais2.livejournal.com]

Our area is 31-100 on the BBS map. We see them every year!

[ms-cantrell.livejournal.com]

i live in bellevue, just east of seattle. we've had some coyote move into the large stretch of woods behind my house. it's a very rugged stretch with two often-used trails through them, but no one goes off the trails. a neighbor saw one streaking down the street about a week ago, right past her. that's my new favorite urban animal.
i also really like crows. we have a ton of them up here. very solitary during the day, but in huge flocks (murders!) of them at night.
plants, i'm pretty ignorant about, sadly.

[vampyrusgirl.livejournal.com]

My answer? I'll give you one guess - bats, bats, bats! And for urban ones, the best would be little brown and big brown, but others such as reds could fit that description, too!

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

I agree!!! We've seen a BUNCH of bats! We need a bat card!

[vampyrusgirl.livejournal.com]

Where are you seeing them? Other than captive ones, the closest I've seen one was when there was one in my house. I tired him out my making him fly around a bit, then put him in a pot and out the window. Of course, my new digital camera didn't come in the mail until the next day. :( What a cutie!!

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

We live along a waterway (the muddy river) and quite near several ponds. At dusk when it's warm enough you can see a LOT of bats flying around. We've even seen them in broad daylight (I have photographic evidence)! Oh, and I saw one on the wall of the food court a block away from my work - he must've been disturbed while trying to roost and had to find someplace else quick!

Here's a picture of the guy (it was right at eye level!):

[vampyrusgirl.livejournal.com]

How cute! Yeah, I've seen them at night, but not during the day. Last year, when it was so cold, the Ruwenzori bats at work started roosting near the old gift shop. Most people didn't notice them, but it was cool to have them so low and visible.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Can you identify the bat in cottonmanifesto"s picture? I assumed it's a big brown, but not for any good reason (just 'cause they're most common).

[vampyrusgirl.livejournal.com]

It does look like a big brown, but sometimes bigs and littles can be hard to differentiate when they're not side by side (at least for me, they are!). I would also suggest picking up Stokes' Field Guide to Bats (that may not be the exact title, but it's close to that.) I know one of the authors from a zoo bat group, and it's a great book.

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure about the size of the bigs vs littles. Here's some context:

[vampyrusgirl.livejournal.com]

Oh, my god, how CUTE!!! I'm still going to go with big brown, put I wouldn't put a ton of money on it.

Virginia honors bat

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=816&e=1&u=/ap/20050210/ap_on_re_us/virginia_state_bat

Re: Virginia honors bat

[vampyrusgirl.livejournal.com]

That's pretty cool. But you know, that mosquito thing is one of my biggest pet peeves. Bats eat more moths than they do mosquitoes, but if it helps their image, I guess it could be worse. Franklin Park's AAZK (American Association of Zookeepers) is having a Trivia Night event tonight at the Tropical Forest. It's about $8 to get, food and drinks included, with lots of animal trivia. It's fun, and the winning team gets to pick which organization gets the money raised. You should come if you can, even though it's rather late notice - sorry! It starts around 5:30.

Re: Virginia honors bat

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Oh, man, I'd love to!! But my class is tonight at 6:00 :(
Thanks for letting me know, though--next time!

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

That's the sort of "right in my face but I'm not thinking of it" answer that I was hoping for. Thanks!

Since bat ID is pretty difficult at a distance, I'll probably mention the three species you just did, plus the Mexican free-tailed bats for their exciting contribution to Austin.

[zipotle.livejournal.com]

I'm partial to 'possums and crows.
Is chicory up there in fancy dress? I like chicory but I don't know the real name.
What about mint? That grew all over the yard where I grew up (southwestern VA). It's also growing in my friend's yard in Belgium, which is weird to me. Neat though.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Ooh, yeah, chickory! Too bad the cards are black and white, it'll be hard to tell the chickory from the dandelion.

Chickory is my favorite wildflower color.

There are a few urban mints. The most common ones here are not especially fragrant or useful.

Stinging nettles is one we should do, too.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

And hey, I just misspelled chicory a whole bunch of times. Cichorium intybus is the scientific name.

[desu.livejournal.com]

Pigeons, mourning doves, and pillbugs (Armadillium vulgaris).

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

oooooh! I LOVE pillbugs!!!

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

We have wonderful terrestrial isopods here, but no pillbugs. I found them in San Fran, and I bet they're common in a lot of cities...hmmm

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

I had 'em in my yard when I was a kid.

Hmmm. so many to chose from

[(Anonymous)]

Favorite urban animal, eh. Well of course there's the white tigers, lions, penguins, flamingos and of course, the odd twenty foot boa constrictor. But you probably mean wild ones so I'll have to rule a lot of those out. I'm pretty fond of the rabbits, jack and otherwise, but I mostly see them over by Wayne Newtons house. There are a few domesticated rabbits living up the block, and I often see them nibbling on their lawn at night. One of them, a big white one I call Haigha has adopted our yards, both front and back. I'm pretty fond of that little fellah. I've taken to naming the local cats who frequent our yard. I'm particularly fond of Ahab, who we watched slaughtering a family of rats in our backyard. Apparently house cats are hell on the native lizards, so I don't see too many of them around my house. Plenty of them over at the Desert Demo Garden though. I do stop in my tracks every time i spot a preying mantis, but that's only twice in my 14 years out here. I saw a roadrunner once in town, but that was years ago in the stretch of land where the Orleans casino is now. Humming birds are cool. Those giant carpenter bees are impressive, but unnerving. I'm more clueless then I should be on the plants. I like to watch the russian thistle (tumbleweeds) traveling through the neighborhoods on a windy day. I do love the smell of wet creosote when it rains. I don't know, I guess I'll say the lizards for the time being.

[(Anonymous)]

What a great idea. There really is a lot of wildlife in a city, even if most people tend to ignore it. Since I'm a plant person I thought I'd contribute some of my favorite city plants: common plantain (Plantago major), common blue violet (Viola papilionacea), white clover (Trifolium repens), purslane (Portulaca oleracea), yellow wood sorrel (Oxalis stricta), sheep sorrel (Rumex acetosella), field garlic aka chives (Allaria vineale), and mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris). Those are all edible, too.

For animals, I think my favorites are deer, foxes, and squirrels. We also now have coyotes in DC (I saw one last summer in Rock Creek Park, which was so cool). Oh, and there are tons of other birds you could do. My father's a big birder, and he sees all kinds of things in the city, like a peregrine falcon a couple months ago. And my parents now have a screech owl living in front of their house.

By the way, according to my mammology professor, they changed the scientific name of cats to Felis catus.