GrrlScientist is an evolutionary biologist, ornithologist, aviculturist, birder and freelance science and nature writer. A native of the Pacific Northwest, she relocated from Seattle to NYC with her parrots after earning a BS in Microbiology (emphasis in Virology) and PhD in Zoology (Ornithology) from the University of Washington. In NYC, she was the Chapman Postdoctoral Fellow at the American Museum of Natural History for two years, pursuing part of her "dream" research project by reconstructing a molecular phylogeny of the parrots of the South Pacific islands. GrrlScientist and her five parrots are currently relocating to Germany, where she will continue writing her blog while also writing a book and learning German. (Meanwhile, her parrots will continue to nibble on her extensive personal library.) If you appreciate GrrlScientist's writing, you can help pay her living expenses by hiring her to "blog" your conference, speak at your club or write articles for your publication (or by clicking on the Paypal button below). If you read an essay on this blog that you especially enjoyed, please nominate it for inclusion in 
tags: mystery image, Image of the Day
Photographic proof of the existence of the "Ghost of Central Park's Shakespeare Garden" is available for the first time. It's existence was news to me. Having never heard a rumor that the place was haunted I was doubly shocked to have stumbled on the provocative and eerie scene at just the right moment. I assure you that the photo was not concocted in Adobe Photoshop or some other software. It's a genuine image. So what is the spectral figure lurking in the shadows?
The photographic solution follows tomorrow.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [larger image].
Humanities & Social Science
Comments
Aw, there's a little kitty in there... I actually see something relatively similar when sitting in my living room from time to time. The smallest of the cats I have, Charlotte, loves to sit in a little hole in the scratching post and look out into the other room, so I usually see the eye shine from the tapetum lucidum when the light is just right.
Posted by: Laelaps | August 30, 2007 3:15 PM
I bet it's got big nashy teeth!
Posted by: matthew | August 30, 2007 3:23 PM
I agree with Laelaps - looks like a cat.
There are a number of other animals common to the area (like raccoons), which also have a structure similar to a tapetum lucidium.
Posted by: llewelly | August 30, 2007 11:30 PM
I'll guess that it is a pussy cat.
Posted by: Chris' Wills | August 31, 2007 11:24 AM
Kitty! Laser eye kitty. Hosta are good fur hidin, I see.
Posted by: Victor Tabbycat | September 4, 2007 11:16 AM