FLORA & FAUNA - Hunter D'Antuono

A female Merlin, a species of falcon, tears into her freshly-dispatched pigeon on the side walk in front of the Murray Hotel on Monday evening. Merlins, due the grayish color of the males, are sometimes

referred to as pigeon hawks, said retired Yellowstone National Park Ornithologist Terry McEneaney.

Merlins' diets consist primarily of other birds, which the pluck from midair with their powerful talons in high-speed surprise attacks.

Dewdrop-studded blades of grass sparkle at sunrise in Livingston, Montana on May15, 2018.

A prairie rattlesnake coils into striking position, flicking its forked tongue in and out on a sunny, dry hillside behind Livingston artist Parks Reece's residence last month.

A prairie rattlesnake coils into striking position, flicking its forked tongue in and out on a sunny, dry hillside outside of Livingston, Montana.

Fall leaves adrift in a stream in the Trail Creek area of Montana on Sept. 23, 2018.

An osprey returns to the nest with dinner fresh from the Yellowstone River in Livingston, Montana's Miles Park.

A blood star is pictured in the sand on the shore of Whidbey Island, Washington at low tide on August 29, 2016.

One of hundreds of bees is busy pollinating the blooming flowerbeds of the Livingston Food Resource Center’s Community Garden in front of the Lincoln School on Wednesday morning.

A bee pollinates the blooming flowerbeds of the Livingston Food Resource Center’s Community Garden in front of the Lincoln School in Livingston on July 6, 2016.

White-tailed deer poke their heads up from the grass along Old Clyde Park Road in Livingston

Emigrant Peak sleeps beneath a blanket of snow and low clouds in Montana's Paradise Valley on Nov. 4, 2017.

A spider feeds on a fly atop an oxeye daisy along South 11 Street on Sunday evening.

A spider feeds on a fly atop an oxeye daisy along South 11th Street in Livingston.

A mangrove tree off the coast of Caye Caulker, Belize in May 2016.

Evening sunlight casts the shadow of a honeybee on the petals of poppy flower in Somers, Montana on June 12, 2019.

The last light of day kisses the Absaroka Mountains in the Paradise Valley as viewed from the junction of Suce Creek and East River Road on September 24, 2016.

The last light of day kisses the Absaroka Mountains in Paradise Valley, Montana as viewed from the junction of Suce Creek and East River Road on Sep. 24, 2016. After days of gray and rain, the sun will return with highs well into the 70s expected throughout the week.