In the spirit of the season, workers unwrapping the Christmas tree at NYC’s Rockefeller Center last month found a little present. The 75-foot high Norway spruce trucked from Oneanta, NY was sheltering what appeared to be a baby owl.

The unusual stowaway turned out to be an adult northern sawhet, one of the smallest species. None the worse for wear from its journey, “Rocky” had hidden among the branches until it was discovered and rescued. No word whether this feathered tourist planned other holiday stops.

Another feature of year-end festivities is the upsurge of SPAC announcements and closings. As we’ve covered in our special series, blank-check companies are taking share from regular-way IPOs. As “IPOs about nothing” (as one Barron’s piece called them), it’s not until an acquisition is made does the cash get deployed.

With many SPACs launching, there will be plenty of appetite for deals. “There’s been a significant surge of activity on the front end,” one attorney specializing in SPACs commented, “so there needs to be an increase in [merger] activity.”