The Brown bear (Ursus arctos) is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of Brown bears are called Grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is known as the...
The Bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is a magnificent bird of prey found in North America. It is found near large bodies of open water with an abundant food supply and old-growth trees for nesting. It builds the largest nest of any North...
The American bison (Bison bison) is a species of bison native to North America. Sometimes colloquially referred to as buffalo (a distinct species of bovine), it is one of two extant species of bison, alongside the European bison. Once roaming in...
The Mourning dove (Zenaida macroura) is one of the most abundant and widespread of all North American birds. It is also one of the most popular gamebird, with more than 20 million birds (up to 70 million in some years) shot annually in the U.S.,...
The pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) is a species of even-toed mammal native to North America. Though not an antelope, it is known colloquially in North America as the American antelope, prong buck, pronghorn antelope, and prairie antelope, because...
The Red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) is a passerine bird found in North America and Central America. Claims have been made that it is the most abundant living land bird in North America; bird-counting censuses of wintering Red-winged...
The Milk snake (Lampropeltis triangulum) is a species of kingsnake. The subspecies have strikingly different appearances, and many of them have their own common names. The Milk snake is not venomous to humans.
The American badger (Taxidea taxus) is a member of the Mustelidae, a diverse family of carnivorous mammals that also includes weasels, otters, ferrets, and the wolverine. It is similar in appearance to the European badger, although not closely...
The Plains garter snake (Thamnophis radix) is a slender, medium-sized snake native to the United States and Canada. This species is mildly venomous, although its venom is not toxic to humans.
The massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus) is a venomous rattlesnake species found in midwestern North America. Like all rattlesnakes, it belongs to the pit viper family. Rattlesnakes receive their name from the rattle located at the end of their tails,...
The Eastern hog-nosed snake (Heterodon platyrhinos) is a species of mildly venomous rear-fanged snake found only in North America. Its teeth inject a mild amphibian-specific venom into prey and also are used to "pop" inflated toads like a balloon to...
The Snow goose (Anser caerulescens) is a North American species of goose whose name derives from the typically white plumage. These are birds of cold timberline that migrate more than 3,000 mi (4,800 km) from traditional wintering areas to the...
The Gopher snake (Pituophis catenifer) is a species of nonvenomous colubrid snake endemic to North America. This snake is often mistaken for the Prairie rattlesnake but can be easily distinguished from a rattlesnake by the lack of black and white...
The Mountain bluebird (Sialia currucoides) is a small thrush that is found in mountainous districts of western North America. It is a relative of the Eastern and Western bluebirds.
The northern harrier (Circus hudsonius ) is a bird of prey. It breeds throughout the northern parts of the northern hemisphere in Canada and the northernmost USA. The northern harrier migrates to more southerly areas in winter with breeding birds in...
The Prairie rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis) is a venomous pit viper species native to North America. Currently, two subspecies are recognized, including the Prairie rattlesnake, the nominate subspecies, and the Hopi rattlesnake.
The Western meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta) is a medium-sized icterid bird. It nests on the ground in open grasslands across western and central North America. The Western meadowlark is the state bird of six states: Montana, Kansas, Nebraska, North...
The Ferruginous hawk (Buteo regalis) is a large bird of prey and belongs to the broad-winged buteo hawks. An old colloquial name of this majestic bird is Ferrugineous rough-leg, due to its similarity to the closely related Rough-legged hawk. The...
The Short-eared owl (Asio flammeus) is one of the world's most widely distributed owls. Eared owls have tufts of feathers resembling mammalian ears. These "ear" tufts may or may not be visible. The Short-eared owl will display its tufts when in a...
The Greater prairie chicken (Tympanuchus cupido) is a large grouse from North American. This species was once abundant but has become extremely rare and extirpated over much of its range due to habitat loss. One of the most famous aspects of these...
The Northern pintail (Anas acuta) is a duck species that has a wide geographic distribution. Unusually for a bird with such a large range, it has no geographical subspecies if the possibly conspecific duck Eaton's pintail is considered to be a...
Swainson's hawk (Buteo swainsoni) is a large bird of prey named after William Swainson, a British naturalist. It is colloquially known as the Grasshopper hawk or Locust hawk, as it is very fond of locusts and grasshoppers and will voraciously eat...
The Western hognose snake (Heterodon nasicus) is a rear-fanged nonvenomous snake native to North America. These snakes get their common name, "hognose", from the modified rostral (nose) scale that is formed in an upturned manner, providing a very...
Blue-winged teal (Spatula discors) are small members of the dabbling duck group found in North America. They are often the first ducks to migrate south in the fall and the last ones to return in the spring. During migration, some Blue-winged teal...
The Prairie falcon (Falco mexicanus) is a medium-large sized falcon from North America. Having evolved in a harsh desert environment with low prey density, the Prairie falcon has developed into an aggressive and opportunistic hunter of a wide range...
The monarch butterfly or simply monarch (Danaus plexippus) is a milkweed butterfly (subfamily Danainae) in the family Nymphalidae. Other common names, depending on region, include milkweed, common tiger, wanderer, and black-veined brown. It is...
The Eastern fox snake (Pantherophis vulpinus) is a species of rat snake native to North America. It is a non-venomous colubrid. The scientific name of this species ‘vulpinus’ means ‘fox-like’. Fox snakes earned their name because the musk they give...
The Greater short-horned lizard (Phrynosoma hernandesi) is the most widely distributed lizard in North America. Like other horned lizards, it is often called a "horned toad" or "horny toad", but it is not a toad at all. It is a reptile, not an...
Phidippus audax, the bold jumper or bold jumping spider, is a common species of spider belonging to the genus Phidippus, a group of jumping spiders easily identified by their large eyes and their iridescent chelicerae. Like all jumping spiders, they...
Solenopsis invicta, the fire ant, or red imported fire ant (RIFA), is a species of ant native to South America. A member of the genus Solenopsis in the subfamily Myrmicinae, it was described by Swiss entomologist Felix Santschi as a variant of S....
Vespula vulgaris, known as the Common wasp, is a species found in regions that include the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, India, China, New Zealand and Australia. It is sometimes known in English as the European wasp, but the same name is used...
Oncopeltus fasciatus, known as the large milkweed bug, is a medium-sized hemipteran (true bug) of the family Lygaeidae. It is distributed throughout North America, from Central America through Mexico and the Caribbean to southern areas in Canada....
Papilio polyxenes, the (eastern) black swallowtail, American swallowtail or parsnip swallowtail, is a butterfly found throughout much of North America. An extremely similar-appearing species, Papilio joanae, occurs in the Ozark Mountains region, but...
Fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas), also known as fathead or tuffy, is a species of temperate freshwater fish belonging to the genus Pimephales of the cyprinid family. The natural geographic range extends throughout much of North America, from...
Tapinoma sessile is a species of small ant that goes by the common names odorous house ant, sugar ant, stink ant, and coconut ant. Their colonies are polydomous (consist of multiple nests) and polygynous (contain multiple reproducing queens). Like...
Pogonomyrmex barbatus is a species of harvester ant from the genus Pogonomyrmex. Its common names include red ant and red harvester ant. These large (5– to 7-mm) ants prefer arid chaparral habitats and are native to the Southwestern United States....
Narceus americanus is a large millipede of eastern North America. Common names include American giant millipede, worm millipede, and iron worm. It inhabits the eastern seaboard of North America west to Georgetown, Texas, north of the Ottine...
Blissus leucopterus, also known as the true chinch bug, is a small North American insect in the order Hemiptera and family Blissidae. It is the most commonly encountered species of the genus Blissus, which are all known as chinch bugs. A closely...
Tetramorium immigrans—also known as the immigrant pavement ant, pavement ant, and the sugar ant in parts of North America—is an ant native to Europe, which also occurs as an introduced pest in North America. Its common name comes from the fact that...
Micrathena gracilis is a spider in the family Araneidae (orb-weavers), commonly known as the spined micrathena or castleback orbweaver. This spider spins a moderately large (can be about 20 cm long in diameter) and very tightly coiled web. The...
Formica fusca is a black-colored ant commonly found throughout Europe as well as parts of southern Asia and Africa. It has the common names silky ant or dusky ant. The range within the palaearctic region extends from Portugal in the west to Japan in...
Choristoneura fumiferana, the eastern spruce budworm, is a species of moth of the family Tortricidae native to the eastern United States and Canada. The caterpillars feed on the needles of spruce and fir trees. Eastern spruce budworm populations can...
