There are 85 species of sandpipers in the world, and although 43 species live in North America, the Solitary Sandpiper stands out among them. This slender shorebird is mostly brown above with a bright white belly. Its head and the upper parts of its breast are streaked with brown, and its back and wings have tiny white spots on them.
In the United States there is an obscure group of very small freshwater fish that most people have never heard of – and certainly never seen. These fish are called darters, and they are in the perch family. There are at least 225 species of darters in North America, and most of them sport dazzling colors during the spring spawning season.
The spring bird migration is underway, and warblers are heading north from their wintering grounds in the southern United States, Central America and South America. There are more than 100 warbler species in the world, and more than 50 of them can be found right here in North America.
If you have milkweed plants in your garden for the benefit of monarch butterflies, good job! Monarchs need milkweed as a host plant where they can lay their eggs. Monarch caterpillars feed exclusively on milkweed plants, including their close milkweed relatives.
Most people in the United States are very familiar with the American robin. This bird can be found from coast to coast and in every state in the contiguous USA, and they breed as far north as Alaska and some of the extreme northern fringes of Canada.
When it comes to butterflies that are fast “on-the-wing”, skippers are near always near the top of the list. These speedsters tend to fly in an erratic, darting motion that can really make a person dizzy if you try to follow them.
Yellow-rumped warblers are fairly large when compared to other warblers, since they have a wingspan of up to nine inches. But, of course, they are small when compared to many other birds.
Salamanders are not creatures that most people see every day. In fact, I would bet that most people rarely see salamanders – and many people never see a salamander in their entire lives. But salamanders are very cool and quite interesting.
Of the many species of ducks in the USA, the blue-winged teal is one of the favorites of many people. They are quite beautiful and the males are very distinctive-looking. Males have heavily speckled flanks and chest, and their head is dark gray with a broad white stripe between their eye and their jet-black bill.
Although some of our most recognizable butterflies are brightly colored, most moths tend to be a muted brown or gray color. One exception is the Southern Emerald moth. This interesting little moth is a fairly bright green color, and green is a color that is somewhat unexpected when talking about moths (or butterflies).
Visitors to our Gulf coast states, like Florida, Texas and Louisiana – just to name a few – are certainly familiar with the brown pelican. Many brown pelicans are year-round residents along the salty shores of these states, but these pelicans also live along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, as well.
Anyone who digs around in the dirt or leaf litter – or who has lifted a rotting log to see what is under it – has probably seen one or more species of millipedes. Millipedes are those creepy, crawly, many-legged creatures that usually scurry away as soon as you uncover them.
