Of all the duck species in North America, the Surf Scoter is one of the most unusual-looking. It is a medium-sized sea duck, and the males are completely black except for small white patches on the back of their head, on their forehead, and at the base of their bill.
Gardeners who enjoy growing tomatoes have many things to worry about: are their tomato plants getting enough water? Enough sun? Too much water? Not enough fertilizer? But one thing almost all of these gardeners hate is the tobacco hornworm, sometimes called the tomato worm
Most people would think they need to go to Africa to see an Egyptian goose. And at one time, that would be true. The Egyptian goose is native to Africa, especially east Africa and southern Africa.
Most people don’t like beetles. And it’s understandable, since most beetles fall into the “creepy-crawly” category. But some beetles are very interesting. Take longhorn beetles, for example.
The American Oystercatcher is a strange-looking, but very cool bird. It is a fairly large shorebird (about the size of a crow), and it lives most of its life along saltwater beaches and shorelines.
Skipper butterflies are very small, and the Least Skipper is certainly one of the smallest of the skippers. Least Skippers, also called Least Skipperlings, have a wingspan of only three-quarters of an inch to one inch.
Many birds are somewhat secretive. The hermit thrush is one of those stealthy birds. These inconspicuous birds tend to move around and hunt for insects in the brushy undergrowth of woodlands and along the edges of northern forests.
Turtles are common sights around ponds, lakes, and streams, and there are about 58 different species of turtles living in the United States today.
European starlings are one of many non-native bird species that can be found just about everywhere in America, and they range throughout much of Canada, too. They were introduced into the United States from Europe in the 1890s, and today there are more than 200 million starlings in North America.
Although many species of butterflies in North America are shy of humans and fly away if we get too close, the Hackberry Emperor butterfly often acts just the opposite. These small butterflies routinely fly in circles around a person and then boldly land right on their skin!
The American white ibis is a fairly large wading bird of the southeastern United States, and especially of the Gulf Coast. As their name implies, they are mostly white in color, although the tips of their wings are black.
On a recent trip to Branson, Missouri, I wanted to do some fishing. Crappie fishing, to be exact. My friend Bill Cooper and I had scheduled a half day fishing excursion with Capt. Josh Isaacs from Branson's Full Throttle Fishing Adventures, and he recommended that we fish Bull Shoals Lake.
