Wildlife
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The Scarlet Tanager is a medium-sized American songbird. Adult males are crimson-red with black wings and tail. Scarlet Tanagers breed in deciduous and mixed deciduous-evergreen forests in eastern North America.
Snow Bunting is a sparrow like bird with small conical bill. Non breeding females have rusty patches on head, ear and chest. The back is dark with rusty streaks. Walks along barren places with a hunched-over posture, easily blending in with the ground.
Compact bird with a very short tail, almost no neck, and a sharp bill. Sharply marked with a black crown, white eyebrow, and black eyeline. Blue-gray above and rust below. In the northeast you will find them in forests of oak, hickory, maple, birch, and other deciduous trees.
Snowy Owls are very large owls with smoothly rounded heads and no ear tufts. The body is bulky, with dense feathering on the legs that makes the bird look wide at the base when sitting on the ground. Look for Snowy Owls sitting on or near the ground in wide-open areas. They often perch on rises such as the crests of dunes, or on fenceposts, telephone poles, and hay bales.
Barred Owls are large, stocky owls with rounded heads, no ear tufts, and medium length, rounded tails. They are mottled brown and white overall, with dark brown, almost black, eyes. Barred Owls roost quietly in forest trees during the day and at night they hunt small animals.
The Eastern Screech Owl is a small owl that is relatively common in Eastern North America. Two color variations are referred to as "red or rufous morphs" and "gray morphs". This is the "gray morph".
The Grasshopper Sparrow is a small American sparrow. Adults have upperparts streaked with brown, grey, black and white; they have a light brown breast, a white belly and a short brown tail. Their face is light brown with an eye ring and a dark brown crown with a central narrow light stripe.
Downy Woodpecker is a familiar sight at backyard feeders and in parks and woodlots. The black upperparts are checked with white on the wings, the head is boldly striped, and the back has a broad white stripe down the center. Males have a small red patch on the back of the head.
Long-legged, slender blackbird with a long V-shaped tail. Look for Great-tailed Grackles in rural and developed areas of the Midwest and West, foraging in agricultural fields and in suburbs including golf courses, cemeteries, parks, and neighborhood lawns.
Long-eared Owls are medium-sized, slender owls with long ear tufts. The head, roughly as wide as it is long, looks squarish. The facial disks are long and narrow. Roosts in trees during the day.
Prairie dogs are burrowing rodents native to the grasslands of North America.
The male Painted Bunting is often described as the most beautiful bird in North America. Its colors, dark blue head, green back, red rump, and underparts, make it extremely easy to identify. Painted Buntings forage on the ground in dense cover, among grasses, or at seed feeders. Sometimes they venture out into grass to forage on seeds.
A big and tall owl with a large round head. Silvery gray overall - patterned with fine white, gray, and brown streaking and faint barring. Across the neck sits a white "bow tie" with a black center. Great Gray Owls spend their time in dense evergreen pine and fir forests with small openings or meadows nearby.
The Pied-billed Grebe is a species of the grebe family of water birds. They are mainly brown, with a darker crown and back. The Pied-billed Grebe is primarily found in ponds throughout North America.
The Bohemian Waxwing is grayish brown overall with subtle peach blushing around its black mask. The wings have 2 distinctive white rectangular patches and red waxlike tips on the secondaries. The undertail is rusty and the tail is tipped in yellow. Bohemian Waxwings spend the nonbreeding season in open areas that have plentiful fruit, from city parks to forest patches near streams.
Small duck with slender bill and flamboyant oversized head. Hood can be raised or lowered changing the shape of the head. Look for Hooded Mergansers on small bodies of freshwater. In summer, these small ducks nest in holes in trees, often near freshwater ponds or rivers. For winter, they move to larger bodies of freshwater.
Large, chunky sparrow with a large head. Face is gray; bill is black and yellow. Fox Sparrows spend a lot of time on the ground. They spend winters in scrubby habitat and forest, when they are most likely to be seen kicking around under backyard bird feeders.
Large, gangly waterbird with a long, hooked bill. Juveniles have orange-yellow skin around the bill and a paler neck and breast. After fishing, stands on docks, rocks, and tree limbs with wings spread open to dry. Double-crested Cormorants are the most widespread cormorant in North America, and the one most frequently seen in freshwater.
The Prothonotary warbler is a small songbird of the New World warbler family. It has an olive back with blue-grey wings and tail, yellow underparts, a relatively long pointed bill, and black legs. The adult male has a bright orange-yellow head. Females and immature birds are duller and have a yellow head.
Blue-winged Warblers are small birds with a sharp and pointed bill. Adult males are bright yellow below, yellow-green above, and have two obvious wingbars on blue-gray wings, and a black eyeline. The Blue-winged Warbler is a shrubland specialist, and are found in brushy fields, thickets, and forest edges.
The Hooded Warbler is a small bird and mid-sized warbler. It has a plain olive/green-brown back, and yellow underparts. Males have distinctive black hoods which surround their yellow faces.
The white-tailed deer, also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States. In North America, the species is widely distributed east of the Rocky Mountains, but elsewhere, it is mostly replaced by the black-tailed or mule deer.
Sandhill Cranes are very large, tall birds with a long neck, long legs, and very broad wings. These are slate gray birds, often with a rusty wash on the upperparts. Adults have a pale cheek and red skin on the crown. Their legs are black. Sandhill Cranes forage for grains and invertebrates in prairies, grasslands, and marshes.
Large, long-legged wading bird with a football shaped body and a long, curved bill. White Ibises are wetland birds. They use freshwater marshes, flooded pastures, mudflats, and swamps. They usually forage in shallow areas with less than 8 inches of water.
The Eastern Screech Owl is a small owl that is relatively common in Eastern North America. Two color variations are referred to as "red or rufous morphs" and "gray morphs". This is the "red morph".
Looks like a hawk with its sharp beak and talons, behaves like a vulture, and is technically a large tropical black-and-white falcon.Juveniles are brown and white and lack the adult's yellow-orange legs and facial skin. The Caracara only reaches a few states in the southern U.S.
Large sparrow with long tail and fairly small, grayish bill. Distinctive gray face with black cap and yellow crown patch. Golden-crowned Sparrows are most visible during migration and winter, when they frequent forest edge, shrubs, and backyards of the West Coast.
Large sea duck with oblong head and a smaller bill. Males have ornately colored blue, green, and orange head and a black and white body along with a orange bill.
The Red-tailed Hawk is a bird of open country. Look for it along fields and perched on telephones poles, fenceposts, or trees standing alone or along edges of fields.
The white tiger or bleached tiger is a pigmentation variant of the Bengal tiger. Such a tiger has the black stripes typical of the Bengal tiger, but carries a white or near-white coat.
Nanday's are medium-sized parakeets. The black head and green body are the basic identifiers, but they also have a tinge of blue in the chest and wings, and bright, reddish-orange "cuffs" on their legs. The species is native to South America but have established self-sustaining populations in some areas of Florida.
The Northern Saw-Whet owl is a small owl native to North America. They are close to the size of an American robin. The northern saw-whet owl has a round, light, white face with brown and cream streaks; they also have a dark beak and yellow eyes.
American Tree Sparrows are small, round-headed birds that often fluff out their feathers, making their plump bodies look even chubbier. Look for small flocks of American Tree Sparrows in winter in weedy fields with hedgerows or shrubs, along forest edges, or near marshes. They readily visit backyards, especially if there's a seed feeder.
Black-and-white Warblers are medium-sized warblers (small songbirds). They have a fairly long, slightly downcurved bill. These birds are boldly striped in black and white. Deciduous forest and mixed forest are the preferred summer habitats of Black-and-white Warblers.
Slim songbirds with a straight, sharply pointed bill. Adult males are black above and rich reddish-chestnut below. They have a black head and throat, with a reddish-chestnut patch at the bend of the wing. Look for them along river edges, in pastures with scattered trees, and in parks and orchards.
The Blue Grosbeak is a medium-sized seed-eating bird in the same family as the Northern Cardinal. The male blue grosbeak is almost entirely deep blue. Blue Grosbeaks are found in old fields beginning to grow back into woodlands.
The Great Horned Owl is a large owl native to North America. Great Horned Owls are mottled gray-brown, with reddish brown faces and a white patch on the throat. Great Horned Owls are nocturnal. You may see them at dusk sitting on fence posts or tree limbs at the edges of open areas.
Short-eared Owls are medium-sized owls with rounded heads. The "ears" mentioned in their name are difficult to see. The wings are broad and the tips are smoothly rounded and the tail is short. The short-eared owl is mostly found in open country, occupying tundra, marshland, grassland or sand dunes.
Tree Swallows are streamlined small songbirds with long, pointed wings and a short, squared or slightly notched tail. Their bills are very short and flat. Foraging flocks are frequently seen over wetlands, water, and agricultural fields.
Stocky and compact heron. Often tucks neck into it's body creating a hunchback look. Adults have a black cap and back that contrasts with it's whitish to pale gray belly and gray wings. Black-crowned Night-Herons often spend their days perched on tree limbs or concealed among foliage and branches. They forage in the evening and at night, in water, on mudflats, and on land.
The White-throated Sparrow is a large, full-bodied sparrow with a fairly prominent bill, rounded head, long legs, and long, narrow tail. They're brown above and gray below with a striking head pattern. The black-and-white-striped head is augmented by a bright white throat and yellow between the eye and the bill, which is gray. White-throated Sparrows stay near the ground, scratching through leaves in search of food, often in flocks.
This is a fairly small heron with a slight body, slender neck, and fairly long legs. Look for Little Blue Herons on quiet waters ranging from tidal flats to streams, swamps, and flooded fields.
Brewster’s Warbler has the facial characteristics of a Blue-winged and the body coloring of the Golden-winged (Golden-winged x Blue-winged hybrid).
Very large raptor with long, broad wings. Dark body contrasts with it's white head and tail. Their legs and bills are bright yellow. Look for Bald Eagles near lakes, reservoirs, rivers, marshes, and coasts.
