One important use of American kestrels is in falconry. It is often considered a beginner's bird, though the careful weight control needed to maintain the kestrel's desire to aggressively hunt takes skill. Falconers experienced in extracting the best performance the species is capable of, report they are highly reliable on the normal game of sparrows and starlings. More aggressive individuals are sometimes capable of capturing prey up to approximately twice their own body weight, allowing the occasional capture of true game birds such as quail and dove. However, most falconers interested in the reliable taking of such game do prefer larger falcons or hawks. The advantage the American kestrel offers the experienced falconer is its suitability to simple and urban falconry not requiring large tracts of land or the use of hunting dogs. This form of falconry is sometimes referred to as "micro-falconry" or "micro-hawking."  The other small raptor species commonly used in micro-falconry are the merlin, the sharp-shinned hawk (the smallest accipiter), and the European kestrel (a true kestrel).
Hawking with the American kestrel requires adapting to the strengths and weaknesses of the bird.  It is a tiny falcon, and even for its size, it is less muscular than other small falcons such as the athletic and swift merlin.  It is more adapted to ambush hunting and short chases than to the longer aerial chases larger falcons often adopt.  Used within its limits, it is effective.  Experienced falconer Matthew Mullenix, author of the book "American Kestrels in Modern Falconry", in an article comparing kestrels to merlins, summed their abilities up as follows:
1. "Kestrels are thin-winged, flat-chested, under-powered and lack acceleration compared to merlins. I say that with much affection for them and with thousands of kestrel kills to prove these are not necessarily damning differences. Comparing a red-tailed hawk to a Harris' or goshawk will conjure equally negative points of fact, yet we all know how good trained red-tails can be!"
2. "The chief variable to choosing between a kestrel and a merlin may be your hawking land. If you live in open country or have access at least to good pasture for cattle, a merlin can excel there. If you plan to hunt mostly in town or suburb, and especially if you plan to hawk from a car, I'd recommend the kestrel. The consideration coming in at close second is your intended quarry. To snipe, dove, quail and open-country sparrows, merlins are best suited. For most blackbirds (Icteridea), either falcon can prove effective. Starlings in close are extremely vulnerable to kestrels, but in the open are best prey for merlins. The same holds true for house sparrows, with this exception: sparrows in thick cover are better quarry for kestrels. This is the slip for which I feel the American kestrel is perfect."
3. "Once committed to an attack, trained kestrels tend to follow through to the end. They will stoop into cover, chase birds on foot, bind to quarry twice their size, and never let go voluntarily. They have small feet, but as written elsewhere, also have the strongest feet for their size. It is a simple fact that American kestrels hold starlings better than merlins, on average, and will gladly tackle larger quarry than will any jack (male merlin)."
American kestrels do not train so easily as some larger falcons (particularly the peregrine falcon) in the art of "waiting on" to perform a diving stoop on flushed prey.  However, some individual kestrels do master this skill. Falconers sometimes train them to climb to a stooping position with tidbits on kites or balloons that the kestrels learn to climb after.  More common hunting techniques are to "slip" them after spotted game from the fist, or to release them from a vehicle window close to spotted quarry.  These techniques are more of a natural fit to the kestrel's ambushing methods in the wild.
Falconers using the American kestrel should be alert to protect the falcon from larger predators that may attack the kestrel, particularly if it is distracted on the ground with captured prey.  Domestic cats and dogs are the greatest threat to attack the falcon on the ground, but the Cooper's hawk is well known to boldly attack kestrels.  This mid-sized American accipiter has sufficient size and strength to carry the kestrel away, though falconers have reported often being successful in recovering the kestrel unharmed by acting quickly to intimidate the larger hawk into releasing the kestrel.
American kestrels are bred in captivity for use in falconry and are among the easier falcons to breed.  They are also sufficiently common that "passage" birds in their first year are relatively easy to trap.  Wild-caught kestrels "tame down" fairly quickly.  They will usually be eating from a falconer's hand the day after capture, be training within a week, and be ready to hunt in three to five weeks.  A very tame American kestrel will allow itself to be picked up around the body with one hand while accepting tidbits from the other hand. Such tameness is very useful when checking or treating the bird for injury or illness.
Migratory raptors native to the United States are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, so American kestrels are illegal to possess without a permit (such as a falconry permit) in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.


The first formal description of the Eurasian hobby was by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the present binomial name Falco subbuteo. The genus name falco derives from Late Latin falx, falcis, a sickle, referring to the wing profile of the bird. The species name subbuteo is from Latin sub, "below, less than, under" and buteo, "buzzard". The species' English name comes from Old French hobé or hobet. It became the trademark for the Subbuteo games company after its creator, who was an ornithologist, was refused permission to register "Hobby".
Currently two subspecies are recognized:
F. s. subbuteo: the nominate race is resident in Africa, Europe and Central and East Asia, winters in Central and South Africa and South Asia
F. s. streichi: described by Hartert and Neumann in 1907, is smaller in size and is found further east of F. s. subbuteo's distribution range


The common kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) is a bird of prey species belonging to the kestrel group of the falcon family Falconidae. It is also known as the European kestrel, Eurasian kestrel, or Old World kestrel. In the United Kingdom, where no other kestrel species commonly occurs, it is generally just called "kestrel".
This species occurs over a large range. It is widespread in Europe, Asia, and Africa, as well as occasionally reaching the east coast of North America. It has colonized a few oceanic islands, but vagrant individuals are generally rare; in the whole of Micronesia for example, the species was only recorded twice each on Guam and Saipan in the Marianas.


The common kestrel starts breeding in spring (or the start of the dry season in the tropics), i.e. April or May in temperate Eurasia and some time between August and December in the tropics and southern Africa. It is a cavity nester, preferring holes in cliffs, trees or buildings; in built-up areas, common kestrels will often nest on buildings, and will reuse the old nests of corvids. The diminutive subspecies dacotiae, the sarnicolo of the eastern Canary Islands is peculiar for nesting occasionally in the dried fronds below the top of palm trees, apparently coexisting with small songbirds which also make their home there. In general, common kestrels will usually tolerate conspecifics nesting nearby, and sometimes a few dozen pairs may be found nesting in a loose colony.
The clutch is normally 3–7 eggs; more eggs may be laid in total but some will be removed during the laying time. This lasts about 2 days per egg laid. The eggs are abundantly patterned with brown spots, from a wash that tinges the entire surface buffish white to large almost-black blotches. Incubation lasts from 4 weeks to one month, both male and female will take shifts incubating the eggs. After the eggs have hatched, the parents share brooding and hunting duties. Only the female feeds the chicks, by tearing apart prey into manageable chunks. The young fledge after 4–5 weeks. The family stays close together for a few weeks, during which time the young learn how to fend for themselves and hunt prey. The young become sexually mature the next breeding season. Female kestrel chicks with blacker plumage have been found to have bolder personalities, indicating that even in juvenile birds plumage coloration can act as a status signal.
Data from Britain shows nesting pairs bringing up about 2–3 chicks on average, though this includes a considerable rate of total brood failures; actually, few pairs that do manage to fledge offspring raise less than 3 or 4. Compared to their siblings, first-hatched chicks have greater survival and recruitment probability, thought to be due to the first-hatched chicks obtaining a higher body condition when in the nest. Population cycles of prey, particularly voles, have a considerable influence on breeding success. Most common kestrels die before they reach 2 years of age; mortality up until the first birthday may be as high as 70%. At least females generally breed at one year of age; possibly, some males take a year longer to maturity as they do in related species. The biological lifespan to death from senescence can be 16 years or more, however; one was recorded to have lived almost 24 years.


The main areas of European distribution are in southern Russia and Ukraine. The species occurs in large numbers in Hungary, Romania and Serbia. Smaller populations exist in Italy, Bulgaria and Moldova, in Austria, Slovakia and in Belarus. The red-footed falcon also breeds irregularly in the Czech Republic and in the Baltic States, occasionally also in Germany. In Asia, the breeding occurrences run in a relatively narrow band somewhat south of the taiga eastwards to the upper Lena, where they touch the range of the sister species Falco amurensis east of the Baikal. The northern border lies between the 63° and 58° north latitude, the south border around 45° north latitude. It  runs along the north slope of the Altai and then westward follows the transition of open pine forests into the treeless steppe areas of Central Asia. Further to the west, the  breeding areas on the lower reaches of the Volga and on the north coast of the Caspian Sea reach Europe. The southernmost occurrences are in the steppe areas north of the Caucasus and in South Georgia. Some isolated breeding areas are located in northern Turkey. The red-footed falcon winters in southern and eastern Africa.


The global population of red-footed falcon is estimated to be between 300,000-800,000 individuals, with 26,000 to 39,000 pairs in Europe. Most of the population breeds in the steppe grasslands of Russia and central Asia, although a significant amount also breeds in the Ukraine, Romania and Hungary. In 2005, the population in Hungary was estimated to be between 700 and 800, showing a steady decline. Red-footed falcons can be considered as a classic umbrella species because they affect other species living in the community. They play a popular role in the Natura 2000 designation process. Therefore, locating their breeding sites or creating breeding sites by providing artificial colonies has additional conservation and socio-economic benefits for both wildlife and the local human population.


The mud snake is mostly aquatic and nocturnal. It preys mostly on giant aquatic salamanders in the genera Siren and Amphiuma, but it also eats other amphibians. They are known to use their sharply pointed tails to prod prey items, leading to the nickname "stinging snake", although their tail is not a stinger and cannot sting. Enlarged teeth occur at the rear of the upper jaw, which presumably help to hold slippery prey. Upon being disturbed, mud snakes will sometimes tuck their head beneath their coils and expose the red underside on the tail as a warning display.


Breeding of F. abacura takes place in the spring, mostly in the months of April and May. Eight weeks after mating, the female lays 4 to 111 eggs in a nest dug out of moist soil, sometimes in alligator nests. There is a positive correlation between body length and clutch size, with larger females having larger clutch sizes. She will remain with her eggs until they hatch, in the fall, usually September or October. Although unhatched eggs have not been found in the winter or spring, many juvenile mudsnakes are captured entering wetlands in the spring, most likely from clutches deposited and hatched in the preceding late summer or autumn. It is thought that mudsnake hatchlings either enter aquatic habitats in the autumn or delay entering them until the spring, but it is not known if they remain in a terrestrial nest or disperse into terrestrial habitats during this time.


The mud snake is found in the southeastern United States, in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.


First observed in Madagascar, it is present in New Zealand since the 1950s, where it became an invasive species. It has recently spread around the world. In 1999 it was first found in Italy. The second European country where it appeared was Spain. There it was first found in 2004 near the Monte Deva, Gijon, by D. Francisco Casero, president of the Asturian Society of Mycology. In 2012 it was found in Great Britain and in 2013 it was sighted in Portugal. In 2015 it was found in France and Switzerland. In 2019 it was found in Belgium and in November 2020 it was found in the Netherlands, the most northerly known site until now.
Its distribution in America is not well documented, but it was collected in Venezuela, Brazil and Peru. It is also present in Costa Rica and is widespread on the islands of Hawaii, although it had not been found there before 2009.
It is also widespread in Australia and was first collected on Norfolk Island in 1994, but in opposition to its early spreading in New Zealand it was not collected in mainland Australia until the year 2004. It was also found on the French Islands Réunion Island and Mayotte, which are located near the mainland of Africa. There it was found in Kenya, DR Congo, Tanzania and Zambia. Its also present on the Seychelles. In Asia it was first found in Thailand and China with a high level of genetic variation between the collections. More recently, it was found in India and on the island of Sumatra. It is uncertain whether F. calocera is native to Madagascar or was introduced to the island from Asia. A recent study concludes that Favolaschia calocera is a species complex and renames the samples from Madagascar as Favolaschia calocera sensu stricto; the complex also includes three new species from China (F. brevibasidiata, F. brevistipitata and F. longistipitata), the new species F. minutissima from China and Thailand, and a variety raised to species rank called Favolaschia claudopus, to which the samples from Oceania, Africa and Europe seem to belong.


The purple hairstreak (Favonius quercus) is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae distributed throughout much of Europe, North Africa, Anatolia, Caucasia, and Transcaucasia.
The larva feeds on Quercus robur, Quercus petraea,  Quercus cerris  and Quercus ilex.


This active little butterfly is most often seen fluttering around high up in oak trees on warm sunny July and early August days. Males have a glossy purple sheen on the upperside, females have two patches on the forewing only. The underside is light grey with a white streak, edged in black, running down the middle of both wings. The hindwings have a short tail with two orange spots at the base on the underside. It is common and widespread across southern and central England and Wales, becoming rarer and more isolated in the north as far as central Scotland. In Ireland it occurs in a few isolated colonies scattered across the country but is probably still under recorded due to its reclusive habits. Males tend to stay high up in trees, females come down to lower levels to lay eggs. Both sexes feed mainly on honeydew although females are occasionally attracted to flowers whilst taking a break from egg laying.


Feniseca tarquinius, the harvester, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae, and the only member of the monotypic genus Feniseca. It is found in eastern North America.
This butterfly is the only carnivorous (i.e., insectivorous) butterfly in North America (there are a handful of carnivorous  moths, for example Fulgoraecia exigua). The larvae feed on various aphids, such as Neoprociphilus, Pemphigus, Prociphilus, and Schizoneura.
It is found in early spring until fall and is generally scarce. It lives in wooded areas near streams close to alders.
The wingspan is 23–32 mm.
Another butterfly which is possibly carnivorous is Celastrina serotina. It feeds on galls on  black cherry and possibly also on the eriophid mites that make the galls.


This cactus is native to the eastern Mojave Desert and western Sonoran Desert Ecoregions in: Southern California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah in the Southwestern United States; and Baja California, and Sonora state in Northwestern Mexico.
It is found in gravelly, rocky, or sandy soils, in Creosote Bush Scrub and Joshua Tree Woodland habitats, from 60–1,500 metres (200–4,920 ft) in elevation.


Having a sculptural form and picturesque qualities, this already uncommon cactus is threatened by plant collectors. It is also losing habitat to clearing for new wind farms and solar power plants in the Mojave Desert and Colorado Desert.
Protected areas with notable populations include
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
Joshua Tree National Park
Mojave National Preserve
Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument


The European pied flycatcher is an Old World flycatcher, part of a family of insectivorous songbirds which typically feed by darting after insects. The Latin word ficedula means “small fig-eating bird”. The term hypoleuca comes from two Greek roots, hupo, “below”, and leukos, “white”.
The species was described in Linnaeus's Fauna Svecica (1746), a work that was not binomial and that is therefore unavailable nomenclaturally. Later, in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae
and the next edition of Fauna Svecica (1761), Linnaeus confounded this flycatcher with the Eurasian blackcap and the Whinchat. To this point, the European Pied Flycatcher still lacked a proper valid binominal name. The species was finally named as Motacilla hypoleuca by German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas in 1764. However, he described this species anonymously in the appendix of a sales catalogue of the collection of Adriaan Vroeg, popularly known simply as the “Adumbratiunculae” among ornithologists. The authorship of the Adumbratiunculae could later be attributed to Pallas. Given the initial anonymity of the publication and the inferred authorship by external evidence, the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature advocates that Pallas's name should appear enclosed in square brackets in the species' name. Thus, the correct form of the scientific name of the European pied plycatcher is Ficedula hypoleuca ([Pallas], 1764).
Ficedula hypoleuca currently has four recognized subspecies: the nominate F. h. hypoleuca ([Pallas], 1764), F. h. speculigera (Bonaparte, 1850), F. h. iberiae (Witherby, 1928), and F. h. tomensis (Johansen, 1916). The subspecies F. h. muscipeta (Bechstein, 1792) is currently considered synonymous with F. h. hypoleuca, but could represent an actual distinct subspecies. The name F. h. atricapilla (Linnaeus, 1766) is a junior subjective synonym of F. h. hypoleuca; and the name F. h. sibirica Khakhlov, 1915 is invalid, the correct form being F. h. tomensis (Johansen, 1916).


The European pied flycatcher has a very large range and population size, and is thus deemed to be of least concern by the IUCN. This species occupies areas of many different countries in Europe and northern Africa, also being present in the west Asian portion of Russia. More specifically, the nominate subspecies F. h. hypoleuca inhabits the UK, central Europe and Scandinavia, F. h. speculigera inhabits Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, F. h. iberiae inhabits in the Iberian Peninsula, and F. h. tomensis in eastern Europe and Russia. The species is noted as a vagrant species in places in other countries in Africa and South Asia, such as Sudan and Afghanistan. This flycatcher typically spends winter in tropical Africa.
The European pied flycatcher is a terrestrial bird, typically inhabiting open forests, woodlands, and towns. In 2005, the European population was listed to hold 3–7 million pairs.


Research has shown that F. nodosa could be utilised in biofiltration systems such as constructed wetlands to remove heavy metals, phosphorus and nitrogen concentrations in storm water runoff, particularly in saline environments, where F. nodosa occurs natively. Due to the plant’s ability to grow well in salt-water conditions, along with nodosa’s ability to collect large amounts of nitrogen in its shoots, the plant makes an excellent candidate for constructed floating wetlands in native regions. If grown alongside Phragmites australis, Sarcocornia quinqueflora, and Baumea juncea, the shoots and roots of the plant could be harvested to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations. F. nodosa is particularly effective for nitrogen removal due to its ability to sustain a constant level of nitrogen removal for salt concentrations below 10.4 mS cm⁻¹.
The Māori people utilised several native sedges and similar plants, including F. nodosa, to thatch the roofs of whare (traditional buildings).
F. nodosa is commonly recommended as a sand binder or as a mixed landscape feature around bodies of water such as filtration beds and ponds in the native regions of Victoria, and South Australia. Furthermore, F. nodosa is often found to control sand movement in dune slacks due to its binding abilities, and therefore, is often used in dune restoration projects within its native range.


Ficus aurea ranges from Florida, across the northern Caribbean to Mexico, and south across Central America. It is present in central and southern Florida and the Florida Keys, The Bahamas, the Caicos Islands, Hispaniola, Cuba, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, San Andrés (a Colombian possession in the western Caribbean), southern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama. It grows from sea level up to 1,800 m (5,500 ft) above sea level, in habitats ranging from Bahamian dry forests, to cloud forest in Costa Rica.
Ficus aurea is found in central and southern Florida as far north as Volusia County; it is one of only two native fig species in Florida. The species is present in a range of south Florida ecosystems, including coastal hardwood hammocks, cabbage palm hammocks,
tropical hardwood hammocks and shrublands, temperate hardwood hammocks and shrublands and along watercourses. In The Bahamas, F. aurea is found in tropical dry forests on North Andros, Great Exuma and Bimini. F. aurea occurs in 10 states in Mexico, primarily in the south, but extending as far north as Jalisco. It is found in tropical deciduous forest, tropical semi-evergreen forest, tropical evergreen forest, cloud forest and in aquatic or subaquatic habitats.


Ficus pumila, commonly known as the creeping fig or climbing fig, is a species of flowering plant in the  mulberry family, native to East Asia (China, Japan, Vietnam) and naturalized in parts of the southeastern and south-central United States. It is also found in cultivation as a houseplant. The Latin specific epithet pumila means "dwarf", and refers to the very small leaves of the plant.


The white-necked jacobin (Florisuga mellivora) is a medium-size hummingbird that ranges from Mexico south through Central America and northern South America into Brazil, Peru and Bolivia. It is also found in Trinidad & Tobago.
Other common names are great jacobin and collared hummingbird.


The nominate subspecies of white-necked jacobin, F. m. mellivora, is found from southern Veracruz and northern Oaxaca, Mexico, through southern Belize, northern Guatemala, eastern Honduras and Nicaragua, eastern and western Costa Rica, and Panama into South America. In that continent it is found in much of Colombia and Ecuador, eastern Peru, northern Bolivia, most of Venezuela, the Guianas, the northwestern half of Brazil, and the island of Trinidad. F. m. flabellifera is found only on the island of Tobago. The nominate has been recorded as a vagrant in Argentina and on the islands of Aruba and Curaçao.
The white-necked jacobin inhabits the canopy and edges of humid forest and also semi-open landscapes such as tall secondary forest, gallery forest, and coffee and cacao plantations. It is usually seen high in trees but comes lower at edges and in clearings. In elevation it usually ranges from sea level to about 900 m (3,000 ft) but has also rarely been seen as high as 1,500 m (4,900 ft).


Spectacled parrotlets are endemic to Middle and South America, including northern and central Colombia, Venezuela, and eastern Panama (subspecies can be found in specific regions of Colombia and Venezuela, see above). Natural habitats are lowland evergreen forest edge, thorn scrub, llanos, gallery woodland, and heavily degraded former forest or low-density woodland. Spectacled parrotlets are not found at altitudes higher than 1,600 metres (5,200 ft) above sea level.
Green and blue coloring helps spectacled parrotlets camouflage with the tropical trees in their habitats. Though color mutations such as the yellow pied mutation may occur in captivity, they are rare in wild due to the fact that a brighter color compromises a bird's ability to hide from predators.


There are a number of subspecies and forms:
Fragaria chiloensis subsp. chiloensis forma chiloensis
Fragaria chiloensis subsp. chiloensis forma patagonica (Argentina, Chile)
Fragaria chiloensis subsp. lucida (E. Vilm. ex Gay) Staudt (coast of British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California)
Fragaria chiloensis subsp. pacifica Staudt (coast of Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California)
Fragaria chiloensis subsp. sandwicensis (Decne.) Staudt – ʻŌhelo papa (Hawaii)


Small saplings can be hand-pulled, but control of larger examples is best achieved using herbicides. Frangula alnus and the related species Rhamnus cathartica have been banned from sale, transport, or import to Minnesota and Illinois. It is considered invasive, but not banned, in Connecticut.


The Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica), also known as the common puffin, is a species of seabird in the auk family. It is the only puffin native to the Atlantic Ocean; two related species, the tufted puffin and the horned puffin, are found in the northeastern Pacific. The Atlantic puffin breeds in Russia, Iceland, Norway, Greenland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and the Faroe Islands, and as far south as Maine in the west and France in the east. It is most commonly found on the Westman Islands, Iceland. Although it has a large population and a wide range, the species has declined rapidly, at least in parts of its range, resulting in it being rated as vulnerable by the IUCN. On land, it has the typical upright stance of an auk. At sea, it swims on the surface and feeds on small fish and crabs, which it catches by diving under water, using its wings for propulsion.
This puffin has a black crown and back, pale grey cheek patches, and white body and underparts. Its broad, boldly marked red-and-black beak and orange legs contrast with its plumage. It moults while at sea in the winter, and some of the brightly coloured facial characteristics are lost, with colour returning again during the spring. The external appearances of the adult male and female are identical, though the male is usually slightly larger. The juvenile has similar plumage, but its cheek patches are dark grey. The juvenile does not have brightly coloured head ornamentation, its bill is narrower and is dark-grey with a yellowish-brown tip, and its legs and feet are also dark. Puffins from northern populations are typically larger than in the south and these populations are generally considered a different subspecies.
Spending the autumn and winter in the open ocean of the cold northern seas, the Atlantic puffin returns to coastal areas at the start of the breeding season in late spring. It nests in clifftop colonies, digging a burrow in which a single white egg is laid. Chicks mostly feed on whole fish and grow rapidly. After about 6 weeks, they are fully fledged and make their way at night to the sea. They swim away from the shore and do not return to land for several years.
Colonies are mostly on islands with no terrestrial predators, but adult birds and newly fledged chicks are at risk of attacks from the air by gulls and skuas. Sometimes, a bird such as an Arctic skua or black back gull can cause a puffin arriving with a beak full of fish to drop all the fish the puffin was holding in its mouth. The puffin's striking appearance, large, colourful bill, waddling gait, and behaviour have given rise to nicknames such as "clown of the sea" and "sea parrot". It is the official bird of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.


The Atlantic puffin is a bird of the colder waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. It breeds on the coasts of northwest Europe, the Arctic fringes, and eastern North America. More than 90% of the global population is found in Europe (4,770,000–5,780,000 pairs, equaling 9,550,000–11,600,000 adults) and colonies in Iceland alone are home to 60% of the world's Atlantic puffins. The largest colony in the western Atlantic (estimated at more than 260,000 pairs) can be found at the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve, south of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. Other major breeding locations include the north and west coasts of Norway, the Faroe Islands, Shetland and Orkney, the west coast of Greenland, and the coasts of Newfoundland. Smaller-sized colonies are also found elsewhere in the British Isles, the Murmansk area of Russia, Novaya Zemlya, Spitzbergen, Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Maine. Islands seem particularly attractive to the birds for breeding as compared to mainland sites, likely so as to avoid predators.
While at sea, the bird ranges widely across the North Atlantic Ocean, including the North Sea, and may enter the Arctic Circle. In the summer, its southern limit stretches from northern France to Maine; in the winter, the bird may range as far south as the Mediterranean Sea and North Carolina. These oceanic waters have such a vast extent of 15×10⁶–30×10⁶ km² (6×10⁶–12×10⁶ sq mi) that each bird has more than 1 km² of range at its disposal, so is seldom seen out at sea. In Maine, light-level geolocators have been attached to the legs of puffins, which store information on their whereabouts. The birds need to be recaptured to access the information, a difficult task. One bird was found to have covered 7,700 km (4,800 mi) of ocean in 8 months, traveling northwards to the northern Labrador Sea then southeastward to the mid-Atlantic before returning to land.
In a long-living bird with a small clutch size, such as the Atlantic puffin, the survival rate of adults is an important factor influencing the success of the species. Only 5% of the ringed puffins that failed to reappear at the colony did so during the breeding season. The rest were lost some time between departing from land in the summer and reappearing the following spring. The birds spend the winter widely spread out in the open ocean, though a tendency exists for individuals from different colonies to overwinter in different areas. Little is known of their behaviour and diet at sea, but no correlation was found between environmental factors, such as temperature variations, and their mortality rate. A combination of the availability of food in winter and summer probably influences the survival of the birds, since individuals starting the winter in poor condition are less likely to survive than those in good condition.


Fraxinus velutina, the velvet ash, Arizona ash or Modesto ash, is a species of Fraxinus native to southwestern North America, in the United States from southern California east to Texas, and in Mexico from northern Baja California east to Coahuila and Nuevo León.


Fremontodendron californicum is found in numerous habitats across California at elevations of 1,300–6,500 feet (400–1,980 m), especially California chaparral and woodlands, Yellow Pine Forests, and Pinyon-juniper woodlands along the eastern San Joaquin Valley. It is found along the eastern San Joaquin Valley in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada in chalky, sandy, nutritionally poor soils; on the east slope Cascade Range foothills of the northwest Sacramento Valley and the Klamath Mountains to the west; the California Coast Ranges throughout the state; the Transverse Ranges, and the Peninsular Ranges.
It is also found in small, isolated populations in the mountains of central and western Arizona, in the Arizona transition zone-Mogollon Rim region, primarily in the Mazatzal Mountains and Superstition Mountains. It is also found from central to northern Baja California state, in isolated chaparral locales in the Peninsular Ranges.


Fremontodendron californicum is one of three species in the genus Fremontodendron, the others being Fremontodendron mexicanum and Fremontodendron decumbens.


As a traditional Native American medicinal plant, the inner bark's sap that was used as a topical remedy for mucous membrane irritation and for gastrointestinal upset, by some of the indigenous peoples of California. The wood was also used by the Californian Yokuts and Kawaiisu peoples as a building and furniture material, and the bark for cordage and for nets used in acorn cache holding and snare hunting.


A number of subspecies of the common chaffinch have been described, based principally on the differences in the pattern and colour of the adult male plumage. The subspecies can be divided into three groups: the "coelebs group" that occurs in Europe and Asia, the "spondiogenys group" in North Africa, and the "canariensis group" on the Canary Islands. The subspecies from Madeira and the Azores are placed either in the "canariensis group" or in the "spondiogenys group". Genetic studies indicate that members of the "coelebs group" and the "spondiogenys group" are more closely related to each other than they are to members of the "canariensis group".
Within the "spondiogenys group", the gradual clinal variation over the large geographic range and the extensive intergradation means that the geographical limits and acceptance of the various subspecies varies between authorities. The International Ornithologists' Union lists 11 subspecies from this group, whereas Peter Clement in the Birds of the World lists seven and considers the features of the subspecies balearica (Mallorca), caucasica (the southern Caucasus), schiebeli (southern Greece, Crete and western Turkey), and tyrrhenica (Corsica) to fall within the variation of the nominate subspecies. He also suggests that the subspecies alexandrovi, sarda, solomkoi, and  syriaca may represent variations of the nominate subspecies.
The authors of a 2009 molecular phylogenetic study on the three subspecies that were recognised on the Canary Islands concluded that they are sufficiently distinct in both genotype and phenotype to be considered as separate species within the genus Fringilla. They also proposed a revised distribution of the subspecies on the islands in which the birds on La Palma (palmae) and El Hierro (ombrioso) are grouped together as a single subspecies, while the current canariensis subspecies is split into two, with one subspecies occurring only on Gran Canaria and the other on La Gomera and Tenerife. The results of a study published in 2018 confirmed the earlier findings. The authors formerly described the Gran Canaria variety as a subspecies and coined the trinomial name Fringilla coelebs bakeri.
coelebs group
F. c. alexandrovi Zarudny, 1916 – northern Iran
F. c. caucasica Serebrovski, 1925 – Balkans and northern Greece to northern Turkey, central and eastern Caucasus and northwestern Iran
F. c. coelebs Linnaeus, 1758 (nominate subspecies) – Eurasia, from western Europe and Asia Minor to Siberia
F. c. balearica von Jordans, 1923 – Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands
F. c. gengleri O. Kleinschmidt, 1909 – British Isles
F. c. sarda Rapine, 1925 – Sardinia
F. c. schiebeli Erwin Stresemann, 1925 – southern Greece, Crete and western Turkey
F. c. solomkoi Menzbier & Sushkin, 1913 – Crimean Peninsula and southwestern Caucasus
F. c. syriaca J. M. Harrisson, 1945 – Cyprus, southeastern Turkey to northern Iran and Jordan
F. c. transcaspia Zarudny, 1916 – northeastern Iran and southwestern Turkmenistan
F. c. tyrrhenica Schiebel, 1910 – Corsica
spondiogenys group
F. c. africana J. Levaillant, 1850 – Morocco to northwestern Tunisia, northeastern Libya
F. c. spodiogenys Bonaparte, 1841 – Eastern Tunisia and northwestern Libya: Atlas chaffinch
canariensis group
F. c. canariensis Vieillot, 1817 – central Canary Islands (La Gomera and Tenerife and Gran Canaria)
F. c. bakeri Illera et al., 2018 – central Canary Islands (Gran Canaria)
F. c. maderensis Sharpe, 1888 – Madeira: Madeiran chaffinch
F. c. moreletti Pucheran, 1859 – Azores
F. c. ombriosa Hartert, 1913 – El Hierro, Canary Islands
F. c. palmae Tristram, 1889 – La Palma, Canary Islands: La Palma chaffinch


The common chaffinch breeds in wooded areas where the July isotherm is between 12 and 30 °C (54 and 86 °F). The breeding range includes northwestern Africa and most of Europe and extends eastwards across temperate Asia to the Angara River and the southern end of Lake Baikal in Siberia. There are also a number of distinctive subspecies on the Azores, the Canary Islands and the Madeira Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. The common chaffinch was introduced from Great Britain into several of its overseas territories in the second half of the 19th century. In New Zealand, the common chaffinch had colonised both the North and South Islands by 1900 and is now one of the most widespread and common passerine species. In South Africa, a very small breeding colony in the suburbs of Constantia, Hout Bay, Pinelands and Camps Bay in Cape Town is the only remnant of another such introduction.
This bird is not migratory in the milder parts of its range, but vacates the colder regions in winter. It forms loose flocks outside the breeding season, sometimes mixed with bramblings. It occasionally strays to eastern North America, although some sightings may be escapees.


The eggs and nestlings of the common chaffinch are predated by crows, Eurasian red and eastern grey squirrels, domestic cats and probably also by stoats and weasels. Clutches begun later in the spring suffer less predation, an effect that is believed to be due to the increased vegetation making nests more difficult to find. Unlike the case for the closely related brambling, the common chaffinch is not parasitised by the common cuckoo.
The protozoal parasite Trichomonas gallinae was known to infect pigeons and raptors, but beginning in Great Britain in 2005, carcasses of dead European greenfinches and common chaffinches were found to be infected with the parasite. The disease spread and in 2008, infected carcasses were found in Norway, Sweden and Finland and a year later in Germany. The spread of the disease is believed to have been mediated by common chaffinches, as large numbers of the birds breed in northern Europe and winter in Great Britain. In Great Britain, the number of infected carcasses recovered each year declined after a peak in 2006. There was a reduction in the number of European greenfinches but no significant decline in the overall number of common chaffinches. A similar pattern occurred in Finland where, after the arrival of the disease in 2008, there was a reduction in the number of European greenfinches, but only a small change in the number of common chaffinches.
Common chaffinches can develop tumors on their feet and legs caused by the Fringilla coelebs papillomavirus. The size of the papillomas range from a small nodule on a digit to a large growth involving both the foot and the leg. The disease is uncommon: in a 1973 study undertaken in the Netherlands, of around 25,000 common chaffinches screened, only 330 bore papillomas.


It can be found in California, Klamath Ranges, the north coast ranges, Cascade Ranges, north Sierra Nevada foothills, and the San Francisco Bay Area, north to British Columbia, Oregon, Washington, Montana and Idaho.
Its habitat includes oak or pine scrub or open woods and thickets near the coast. It prefers low to mid-elevation, shade or part shade, dry summer dormancy, and good drainage.


The roots or bulbs can be eaten raw or cooked. Historically, the bulbs of this plant were eaten steamed by Salish Native American peoples, including the Squamish, Sechelt, Halq'emeylem and Straits Salish.


Fritillaria atropurpurea is native to the Western United States, where it is often found beneath trees in moldy leaf litter at elevations of 1000–3200 m. This species has the widest distribution of fritillaries in North America, growing from California, Arizona and New Mexico north to Oregon and North Dakota.


Fritillaria recurva, the scarlet fritillary, is a North American bulb-forming herbaceous perennial plant in the lily family Liliaceae. It is native to the western United States, from southwest Oregon down to northern California where it grows in the Klamath Mountains, Northern Coast Ranges, Cascade Range, and Sierra Nevada. Most of the known Californian locations are in the northern half of the state, as far south as Solano and El Dorado Counties, but there are isolated populations in Tulare and Mariposa Counties. The species has also been reported from Douglas and Washoe Counties in Nevada. It grows in dry, open woodlands and chaparral at 300–2,200 metres (980–7,220 ft), and it blooms in spring from February to July.


American coots are found near water reed-ringed lakes and ponds, open marshes, and sluggish rivers. They prefer freshwater environments but may temporarily live in saltwater environments during the winter months.
The American coot's breeding habitat extends from marshes in southern Quebec to the Pacific coast of North America and as far south as northern South America. Birds from temperate North America east of the Rocky Mountains migrate to the southern United States and southern British Columbia. It is often a year-round resident where water remains open in winter. The number of birds that stay year-round near the northern limit of the species' range seems to be increasing.
Autumn migration occurs from August to December, with males and non-breeders moving south before the females and juveniles. Spring migration to breeding ranges occurs from late February to mid-May, with males and older birds moving North first. There has been evidence of birds travelling as far north as Greenland and Iceland.


The red-gartered coot (Fulica armillata) is a species of bird in the family Rallidae. On average, it grows to 45 cm (18 in) in length, which exceeds that of most coots. It is found in Argentina, southern Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay, and is a vagrant to Bolivia and the Falkland Islands. Its natural habitats are swamps and freshwater lakes. Fossils of this species are known from the Laguna de Tagua Tagua formation of Chile.


F. muralis is native to temperate and Mediterranean regions of western Europe and western North Africa.
In its native range, it is found in Macaronesia, Portugal, France, Belgium, Germany, United Kingdom, Ireland, and Norway.
Outside its native range it is present in Spain, Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and the United States.
F. muralis prefers to grow in open, bare patches and is considered a weed of pastures, roadsides, gardens, footpaths, coastal shrub lands and disturbed areas.


It can be found from Southern California to Utah, Oklahoma and Texas. It grows at the edge of desert dry washes in the eastern Mojave Desert and Sonoran Desert at altitudes below 610 meters (2,000 feet).
In urban areas the vine freely climbs on plants, trees, as well as having a preference for chain-link fencing in neglected areas.


The banded killifish is widely distributed throughout eastern North America, ranging from the Pee Dee River, South Carolina to Newfoundland; also found in southern Pennsylvania, northeastern Nebraska, and northern Illinois, and north to St. Lawrence-Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins from Manitoba to Quebec. The eastern subspecies is found on the Atlantic Slope, and the western subspecies in the rest of its range. Westward expansion by the eastern subspecies may be the result of introductions as bait or aquarium fish into novel waterbodies, climate change expanding favorable habitat, or a higher pollution tolerance compared to the western subspecies.
The banded killifish was assigned a status of special concern by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) due to biogeographical isolation and limitation of potential for range expansion. In the United States, states Ohio and Illinois list the western subspecies as endangered and threatened, respectively, due to range expansion of the eastern subspecies which has been documented to hybridize wherever the ranges of the subspecies overlap. As such, Ohio also classifies F. d. diaphanus as an injurious aquatic invasive species. Intergrades occur in the Saint Lawrence and Lake Erie drainages where the ranges of the two subspecies naturally come in contact.
The banded killifish has been introduced outside of its native range in the states of Idaho, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Washington, and West Virginia. In Oregon and Washington, the western banded killifish is reported to be the introduced subspecies.


This species ranges along the Atlantic coast of North America, from Gaspé Peninsula, Anticosti Island and Port au Port Bay in the north to northeastern Florida in the south. It is present on Sable Island, 175 km (109 mi) southeast of the closest point of mainland Nova Scotia in the Atlantic Ocean. The approximate geographical division between the two subspecies lies in New Jersey, Delaware and Virginia.
Introduced populations have become established on the Atlantic coast of Portugal and southwestern Spain, starting in the 1970s and some have now reached the western Mediterranean basin. There may also be introduced populations in Hawaii and the Philippines. As bait fish, mummichogs are sometimes released in freshwater habitats, where they can survive, and there have been reports of individuals in New Hampshire ponds, as well as the upper Ohio River and Beaver River.
The mummichog is a common fish in coastal habitats such as salt marshes, muddy creeks, tidal channels, brackish estuaries, eelgrass or cordgrass beds, and sheltered shorelines. It can be found within coastal rivers but seldom beyond the head of tide. A few landlocked populations may exist in freshwater lakes close to shore, for example on Digby Neck, Nova Scotia.


The blackstripe topminnow is found in Canada along a roughly 60 kilometre stretch of Ontario's Sydenham River. In the United States, it occupies other parts of the southern drainage of lakes Erie and Michigan and also the Mississippi drainage basin between Illinois and the Gulf of Mexico. The entire Canadian population of this small freshwater fish lives along a roughly 60 kilometre stretch of the Sydenham River in southwestern Ontario where its presence was discovered only in 1972, the blackstripe topminnow is a fairly hardy fish although its greatest threats come from changes to its habitat due to human activity.


Blackstripe topminnows have a lifespan of around two to three years. They are normally found in water with a slow current where there is vegetation along the river bank which provides a good amount of cover along the waters edge. They tend to stay near the surface in summer and feed on insects. They also eat insect larvae in the water, as well as tiny molluscs, spiders and crustaceans. In the winter, they retreat to deeper water. Spawning occurs between May and August. Females lay 20 to 30 eggs; these are fertilized and tucked away in underwater vegetation one at a time by the males.


The pale-legged hornero (Furnarius leucopus) is a species of bird in the family Furnariidae. It includes the Pacific hornero (F. leucopus cinnamomeus) and the Caribbean hornero (F. leucopus longirostris), which often are considered separate species.
It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela. It occurs in a wide range of wooded habitats, especially near water.


The rufous hornero (Furnarius rufus) is a medium-sized ovenbird in the family Furnariidae. It occurs in eastern South America, and is the national bird of Argentina and Uruguay. Also known as the red ovenbird, it is common in savannas, second-growth scrub, pastures and agricultural land and is synanthropic. Its range includes midwestern, southeastern and southern Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and northern and central Argentina, extending as far south as northern Patagonia. The species is most closely related to the crested hornero of Paraguay and Argentina. There are four accepted subspecies.
The rufous hornero is medium-sized with a square tail and very slightly decurved bill. The plumage is overall reddish brown with a dull brown crown and a whitish throat. Sexes are alike and juvenile birds are slightly paler below (probably because they are cleaner). Rufous horneros feed on insects and other arthropods obtained by foraging on the ground while walking. They sometimes feed on scraps such as bread crumbs. Songs in the rufous hornero are sexually distinct. The rapid trill that is usually heard as part of the duet is faster in the male, slower in the female, and both beat their wings at their sides while singing and the wings beat at the same rate as their trill. Thus, while watching an observer may identify the sex by how fast their wings beat while singing.


The rufous hornero has benefited from human changes to the environment and many live in highly modified habitat, such as city suburbs. In turn abandoned hornero nests may be of benefit to various other species of birds that nest in its unused "ovens". The saffron finch is one species that commonly nests in old ovenbird nests. The rufous hornero is a familiar sight over much of its range and has been adopted as the national bird of Argentina and Uruguay. It is not threatened by human activities and is listed as least concern by the IUCN.


Gagea minima, known as the least gagea, is a Eurasian species of plants in the lily family.
Its native range is quite large, as it is found in much of south-central, southeastern, central and northern Europe (Italy, Germany, Scandinavia, and from there eastwards into European Russia), with additional populations in the Caucasus region.
Gagea minima  is a bulb-forming perennial up to 20 cm tall. Flowers are bright lemon yellow, sometimes green on the underside of the tepals.


It is native to northern Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Sonora, Tamaulipas) and the southern and central United States from Arizona east to Florida and the Carolinas and north as far as Nebraska. It is also naturalized in scattered locations in other parts of the U.S. as well as in Québec, Ontario, China, South Africa, and parts of Central and South America. The plant generally lives in the sandy plains and deserts of the south of the North American continent. It is common along the roads and prefers sandy soils. It can also grow on vacant lots in urban areas, but generally below 1,000 metres (3,300 feet) above sea level.
The flower has also been introduced to the Penghu Islands in Taiwan, where it is the County Flower of Penghu County. It is called "天人菊" ("Tianren Daisy") in Chinese.


Gaillardia pulchella (with the perennial Gaillardia aristata) is the parent of Gaillardia × grandiflora, a hybrid, from which several cultivars have been created. One of these is 'Sundance Bicolor', a perennial double-form with the flower heads having florets of alternating red and yellow. Because of its bright colors, it is well adapted in the sun. Others are 'Goblin' and 'Tangerine'.


Galanthus nivalis is widely grown in gardens, particularly in northern Europe, and is widely naturalised in woodlands in the regions where it is grown. It is, however, native to a large area of Europe, from Spain in the west, eastwards to Ukraine. It is native to Albania, Armenia, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, and Ukraine. It is considered naturalised in Great Britain, Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and parts of North America (Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Ontario, Massachusetts, Alabama, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Washington state, New York state, Michigan, Utah, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina).
Although often thought of as a British native wild flower, or to have been brought to the British Isles by the Romans, it is now thought that it was probably introduced much later, perhaps around the early sixteenth century.


The rufous-tailed jacamar (Galbula ruficauda) is a near-passerine bird which breeds in the tropical New World in southern Mexico, Central America and South America as far south as southern Brazil and Ecuador.


Galega officinalis, commonly known as galega or goat's-rue, is an herbaceous plant in the subfamily Faboideae of the legume family Fabaceae. It is native to parts of northern Africa, western Asia and Europe, but is widely cultivated and naturalised elsewhere. The plant has been extensively cultivated as a forage crop, an ornamental, a bee plant, and as green manure.
G. officinalis is rich in galegine, a substance with blood glucose-lowering activity and the foundation for the discovery of metformin, Italian fitch, a treatment for managing symptoms of diabetes mellitus. In ancient herbalism, goat's-rue was used as a diuretic. It can be poisonous to mammals, but is a food for various insects.


Widely distributed throughout temperate regions of the world, predominantly in Europe, the plant is a hardy perennial that blooms in the summer months on grasslands, wetlands, and riverbanks, and is classified as an invasive weed in many parts of North America. It has also been found in South America, North Africa, Pakistan, Turkey, and New Zealand.
In 1891 in the United States, Galega officinalis was introduced experimentally at Utah State University for potential use as a forage crop, but escaped cultivation and is now an agricultural pest. As a result, it has been placed on the Federal Noxious Weed List in the United States. It was collected in Colorado, Connecticut and New York prior to the 1930s, and in Maine and Pennsylvania in the 1960s, but the populations appear to have died out.


Galeopsis bifida is native to Europe and Asia. In the British Isles it is mainly found in Wales and Scotland. It occurs throughout Canada, the northeastern and midwestern parts of the United States, and has been introduced to Alaska.
It was also introduced in some parts of New Zealand and the Canary Islands.


The crested lark (Galerida cristata) is a species of lark widespread across Eurasia and northern Africa. It is a non-migratory bird, but can occasionally be found as a vagrant in Great Britain.


Thirty-three subspecies are recognized:
Iberian crested lark (G. c. pallida) - Brehm, CL, 1858: Found in Portugal and Spain
Central European crested lark (G. c. cristata) - Linnaeus, 1758: Found from southern Scandinavia and France east to Ukraine and Hungary
West Italian crested lark (G. c. neumanni) - Hilgert, 1907: Found in west-central Italy
Greecian crested lark (G. c. meridionalis) - Brehm, CL, 1841: Originally described as a separate species. Found from eastern Croatia to central Greece and western Turkey
Cyprus crested lark (G. c. cypriaca) - Bianchi, 1907: Found on Rhodes, Karpathos and Cyprus
South-east European crested lark (G. c. tenuirostris) - Brehm, CL, 1858: Found from eastern Hungary and Romania to southern Russia and Kazakhstan
Caucasian crested lark (G. c. caucasica) - Taczanowski, 1888: Found on eastern Aegean islands, northern Turkey and southern Caucasus
North-west Moroccan crested lark (G. c. kleinschmidti) - Erlanger, 1899: Found in north-western Morocco
West Moroccan crested lark (G. c. riggenbachi) - Hartert, 1902: Found in western Morocco
North Algerian crested lark (G. c. carthaginis) - Kleinschmidt, O & Hilgert, 1905: Found from north-eastern Morocco to northern Tunisia
North-east Algerian crested lark (G. c. arenicola) - Tristram, 1859: Originally described as a separate species. Found in north-eastern Algeria, southern Tunisia and north-western Libya
Cyrenaica crested lark (G. c. festae) - Hartert, 1922: Found in coastal north-eastern Libya
North-east Libyan crested lark (G. c. brachyura) - Tristram, 1865: Found from inland north-eastern Libya to southern Iraq and northern Arabia
South-east Algerian crested lark (G. c. helenae) - Lavauden, 1926: Found in south-eastern Algeria and south-western Libya
G. c. jordansi - Niethammer, 1955: Found in the Aïr Mountains (northern Niger)
Nile Delta crested lark (G. c. nigricans) - Brehm, CL, 1855: Originally described as a separate species. Found in the Nile Delta (northern Egypt)
Northern Nile Valley crested lark (G. c. maculata) - Brehm, CL, 1858: Found in central Egypt
Southern Nile Valley crested lark (G. c. halfae) - Nicoll, 1921: Found in southern Egypt and northern Sudan
Dongola crested lark (G. c. altirostris) - Brehm, CL, 1855: Originally described as a separate species. Found in eastern Sudan and Eritrea
Somali crested lark (G. c. somaliensis) - Reichenow, 1907: Found in southern Ethiopia, northern Somalia and northern Kenya
G. c. balsaci - Dekeyser & Villiers, 1950: Found in coastal Mauritania
Senegal crested lark (G. c. senegallensis) - (Statius Müller, PL, 1776): Originally described as a separate species in the genus Alauda. Found from Mauritania and Senegal to Niger
Nigerian crested lark (G. c. alexanderi) - Neumann, 1908: Found from northern Nigeria to western Sudan and north-eastern Central African Republic
Sudan crested lark (G. c. isabellina) - Bonaparte, 1850: Originally described as a separate species. Found in central Sudan
Coastal Levant crested lark (G. c. cinnamomina) - Hartert, 1904: Found in western Lebanon and north-western Israel
East Levant crested lark (G. c. zion) - Meinertzhagen, R, 1920: Found from southern Turkey to north-eastern Israel
Central Turkey crested lark (G. c. subtaurica) - (Kollibay, 1912): Found from central Turkey to south-western Turkmenistan and northern Iran
Kazakhstan crested lark or Baluchistan crested lark (G. c. magna) - Hume, 1871: Originally described as a separate species. Found from central Iran and central Turkmenistan to north-western Pakistan, Kazakhstan, southern Mongolia and north-western China
G. c. leautungensis - (R. Swinhoe, 1861): Originally described as a separate species in the genus Alauda. Found in north-eastern and eastern China
G. c. coreensis - Taczanowski, 1888: Found in Korea
Gilgit crested lark (G. c. lynesi) - Whistler, 1928: Found in northern Pakistan
Indian crested lark (G. c. chendoola) - (Franklin, 1831): Originally described as a separate species in the genus Alauda. Found from central and eastern Pakistan through western and northern India to southern Nepal


Adults can be found between June and August persisting until October. Eggs are laid during September or October. They are attached to a leaf, a stem or flowers of dry grasses and other herbaceous plants and are protected by the secretion of these beetle. The larvae emerge only after the winter, at the end of April and during May. Pupation occurs  in the ground during late May or June.
Beetles and larvae are polyphagous, feeding on Asteraceae (Tanacetum vulgare, Achillea millefolium, Centaurea nigra, Tussilago, Cirsium arvense), Brassicaceae (Cardamine pratensis, Sinapis arvensis) and other plants (especially Potentilla auserina, Succisa pratensis, Scabiosa columbaria, Thymus serpyllum, Veronica and Hypericum perforatum).
These beetles have been reported as a pest on oregano in Crete.
Eggs have been observed being parasitized by Oomyzus galerucivorus (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae).


Galium odoratum, the sweet woodruff or sweetscented bedstraw, is a flowering perennial plant in the family Rubiaceae, native to much of Europe from Spain and Ireland to Russia, as well as Western Siberia, Turkey, Iran, the Caucasus, China and Japan. It is also sparingly naturalized in scattered locations in the United States and Canada. It is widely cultivated for its flowers and its sweet-smelling foliage.
A herbaceous plant, it grows to 30–50 cm (12–20 in) long, often lying flat on the ground or supported by other plants.
It owes its sweet smell to the odoriferous agent coumarin, and is sometimes used as a flavouring agent due to its chemical content.


Galium palustre, the common marsh bedstraw or simply marsh-bedstraw, is a herbaceous annual plant of the family Rubiaceae. This plant is widely distributed, native to virtually every country in Europe, plus Morocco, the Azores, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Western Siberia, Greenland, eastern Canada, St. Pierre & Miquelon, and parts of the United States (primarily the Michigan and the Northeast, but with isolated populations in Tennessee, Montana, Washington and Oregon). The species is classified as a noxious weed in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire. It is considered naturalized in Kamchatka, Australia, New Zealand and Argentina.


Many varietal and subspecific names have been proposed, but only four are currently (May 2014) recognized:
Galium verum subsp. asiaticum (Nakai) T.Yamaz - China, Korea, Japan, Russian Far East (Primorye)
Galium verum subsp. glabrescens Ehrend. - Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Syria
Galium verum subsp. verum - most of species range
Galium verum subsp. wirtgenii (F.W.Schultz) Oborny - Central and eastern Europe plus Western Siberia


The common snipe (Gallinago gallinago) is a small, stocky wader native to the Old World.
The breeding habitats are marshes, bogs, tundra and wet meadows throughout the Palearctic. In the north, the distribution limit extends from Iceland over the north of the British Isles and northern Fennoscandia, where it occurs at around 70°N, as well as through European Russia and Siberia. Here it is mostly on the northern edge of the Taiga zone at 71°N, but reaches 74°N on the east coast of the Taymyr Peninsula. In the east it extends to Anadyr, Kamchatka, Bering Island and the Kuril Islands, The southern boundary of the distribution area in Europe runs through northern Portugal, central France, northern Italy, Bulgaria, and Ukraine, with populations in the west being only very scattered. In Asia, the distribution extends south to northern Turkestan, locally to Afghanistan and the Middle East, through the Altai and further to Manchuria and Ussuri. It is migratory, with European birds wintering in southern and western Europe and Africa (south to the Equator), and Asian migrants moving to tropical southern Asia. The North American Wilson's snipe was previously considered the same species, and is listed as such in older field guides.


On a global scale – all subspecies taken together – the common moorhen is as abundant as its vernacular name implies. It is therefore considered a species of Least Concern by the IUCN. However, small populations may be prone to extinction. The population of Palau, belonging to the widespread subspecies G. c. orientalis and locally known as debar (a generic term also used for ducks and meaning roughly "waterfowl"), is very rare, and apparently the birds are hunted by locals. Most of the population on the archipelago occurs on Angaur and Peleliu, while the species is probably already gone from Koror. In the Lake Ngardok wetlands of Babeldaob, a few dozen still occur, but the total number of common moorhens on Palau is about in the same region as the Guam population: fewer than 100 adult birds (usually fewer than 50) have been encountered in any survey.
Other localised groups of common moorhen are starting to come under threat. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in the United Kingdom has the common moorhen classified as one of its 103 species whose conservation status is of moderate concern due to its recent population decine. The number of breeding pairs has fallen to its lowest level in the UK since 1966 and has been protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981).
The common moorhen is one of the birds (the other is the Eurasian coot, Fulica atra) from which the cyclocoelid flatworm parasite Cyclocoelum mutabile was first described. The bird is also parasitised by the moorhen flea, Dasypsyllus gallinulae.


The dusky moorhen (Gallinula tenebrosa) is a bird species in the rail family and is one of the eight extant species in the moorhen genus. It occurs in India, Australia, New Guinea, Borneo and Indonesia. It is often confused with the purple swamphen and the Eurasian coot due to similar appearance and overlapping distributions. They often live alongside birds in the same genus, such as the Tasmanian nativehen and the common moorhen.


It occurs in India, Australia, New Guinea, Borneo and Indonesia. Some vagrant, non-breeding birds may be found in New Zealand as well. In Australia, they are found all across the eastern states of  Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland as far north as Cooktown, as well as the eastern part South Australia and the south-western tip of Western Australia. It is also found in parts of Tasmania and South Australia, but are uncommon. Included in their natural distribution range are wildlife parks such as Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary and the Brisbane Botanic Gardens.
The dusky moorhen is found in wetland habitats, with a preference for freshwater marshes and swamps, and are rarely found far from these areas except when foraging in nearby vegetation. They are also found in urban parks such as Gold Coast Regional Botanic Gardens and often in dams and river banks. They require open water, usually with some cover such as grass, reeds, and other vegetation. In south-east Queensland, they are more likely to be found in areas with taller vegetation, more attached aquatic vegetation, and a larger number of purple swamphens, indicating that the availability of food and other resources affects their numbers and distribution in wetlands. They usually live in low-lying areas, although a pair have been found as high up as 1,580 metres in New Guinea, likely having been separated from their flock.
The birds do not often migrate long distances, and may remain in the same location for eight years or more. They may move to different locations within their range when resources become scarce. Young birds leave their place of birth in autumn and spring, and may be found in locations not normally frequented by adult birds.


The red junglefowl (Gallus gallus) is a tropical bird in the family Phasianidae. It ranges across much of Southeast Asia and parts of South Asia. It was formerly known as the Bankiva or Bankiva Fowl. It is the species that gave rise to the chicken (Gallus domesticus); the grey junglefowl, Sri Lankan junglefowl and green junglefowl have also contributed genetic material to the gene pool of the  chicken.
Evidence from the molecular level derived from whole-genome sequencing revealed that the chicken was domesticated from red junglefowl about 8,000 years ago, with this domestication event involving multiple maternal origins. Since then, their domestic form has spread around the world where they are kept by humans for their meat, eggs, and companionship.


The range of the wild form stretches from India eastwards across Indochina and southern China, into Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and Indonesia and Bangladesh. Junglefowl/Chickens were one of three main animals (along with the domesticated pigs and dogs) carried by early Austronesian peoples from Island Southeast Asia in their voyages to the islands of Oceania in prehistory, starting at around 5,000 BP. Today their ancient descendants are found throughout Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia.
Red junglefowl prefer disturbed habitats and edges, both natural and human-created. Apparently the forage and thick cover in these sorts of areas are attractive to junglefowl, especially nesting females. Junglefowl use logged and regenerating forests and often are found near human settlement and areas regenerating from slash-and-burn cultivation. Areas burned to promote bamboo growth also attract junglefowl because bamboo seeds are more available. In some areas, red junglefowl are absent from silvicultural and rubber plantations, but elsewhere they occur in both tea and palm oil plantations. In Selangor Province, Malaysia, palm foliage provides suitable cover, and palm oil fruit provides adequate food.  The palms also offer an array of roost sites, from the low perches (~4 m) favored by females with chicks to the higher perches (up to 12 m) used by other adults.
Red junglefowl drink surface water when it is available, but they apparently do not require it.  Birds in North Central India visit water holes frequently during the dry season, although not all junglefowl in the region live close enough to water to do so. Population densities may be lower, however, where surface water is limited.


Males make a food-related display called "tidbitting", performed upon finding food in the presence of a female. The display is composed of coaxing, cluck-like calls, and eye-catching bobbing and twitching motions of the head and neck. During the performance, the male repeatedly picks up and drops the food item with his beak. The display usually ends when the hen takes the food item either from the ground or directly from the male's beak. Eventually, they sometimes mate.
In many areas, red junglefowl breed during the dry portion of the year, typically winter or spring. This is true in parts of India, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos. However, year-round breeding by red junglefowl has been documented in palm-oil plantations in Malaysia and also may occur elsewhere. During the laying period, red junglefowl females lay an egg every day. Eggs take 21 days to develop. Chicks fledge in about 4 to 5 weeks, and at 12 weeks old they are chased out of the group by their mother — at which point they start a new group or join an existing one. Sexual maturity is reached at 5 months, with females taking slightly longer than males to reach maturity.
Dominant males attempt to maintain exclusive reproductive access to females, though females chose to mate with subordinate males about 40% of the time in a free-ranging feral flock in San Diego, California.


The long-nosed leopard lizard prefers to inhabit arid and semiarid plains growth, like bunch grass, alkali bush, sagebrush, creosote bush, and other scattered low plants.  The ground can be hardpan, sand, or even gravel with rocks that may often be used as basking sites.  G. wislizenii prefers flat areas with open space for running, avoiding densely vegetated areas. It is found from near sea level to around 6,000 feet (1,800 m). Its range includes the western part of the United States from Oregon to Idaho in the north, south to northern Mexico in Baja California, Sonora, Coahuila, and Zacatecas and Casa Grande, Arizona. In San Diego County, it occurs east of the Peninsula Ranges within the Lower Colorado Desert. It is found in desert flats and lower foothills with little vegetation.


The breeding season of G. wislizenii extends from May to June with a single clutch of 5–6 eggs being laid usually in June or July, which hatch in the late summer months of July or August. During mating no pair bond is formed between adults.  A single clutch is usually laid per year but in the warmer climates towards the south, it is possible for a female to lay up to two clutches per year. Birthing and egg-laying occur in a burrow, although no nest structure is formed.  Egg incubation is estimated to be between five and seven weeks. Young emerge in August, when adult activity is coming to an end.  The timing of the juvenile emergence coinciding with the cessation of adult activity may aid in the prevention of cannibalism.


The eastern mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) is a species of freshwater fish, closely related to the western mosquitofish, Gambusia affinis. It is a member of the family Poeciliidae of order Cyprinodontiformes. The eastern mosquitofish is native to the eastern and southern United States from Florida to Pennsylvania and inland to Alabama and Tennessee, while the western mosquitofish has a larger distribution throughout the United States.


Eastern mosquitofish are native to the southeastern United States. They have been introduced worldwide and have become an invasive species in many places including Australia and Europe.
Eastern mosquitofish are found in shallow, standing to slow-flowing water, mostly in vegetated ponds, lakes, and sloughs. This species thrives in water between 31 °C (88 °F) and 35 °C (95 °F), and seems to be able to acclimate to temperatures above and below this. G. holbrooki has been shown to survive in water with pH and chemical levels known to kill other fish species, and prefers to live in areas where the water flows at a slow pace, is clear and without free-floating plant life, and seeks shelter in rooted plants. No decrease in this species due to human activities has been noted. The Eastern mosquitofish is easily maintained and has never been considered an endangered or threatened species due to its ability to thrive in its native habitat. Due to releases in new areas, G. holbrooki has actually increased its range. It tolerates chemical and thermal changes quite easily.


Ganyra josephina, the giant white, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is found from southern Texas through Mexico and Central America to northern South America. The habitat consists of open, dry, subtropical forests.
The wingspan is 73–96 mm (2.9–3.8 in). The cell of the upper forewing of the male contains a prominent round black spot. The wet-season form of the female has a black cell spot and also some diffuse black postmedian spots. The veins are outlined with black near the wing margins. The dry-season form of the female is not so prominently marked. Adults are on wing from September to December in southern Texas. They feed on flower nectar from a variety of weeds and garden plants including Lantana, Eupatorium and Bougainvillea.
The larvae feed on older leaves of Capparidaceae species.


The Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius) is a species of passerine bird in the crow family Corvidae. It has pinkish brown plumage with a black stripe on each side of a whitish throat, a bright blue panel on the upper wing and a black tail. The Eurasian jay is a woodland bird that occurs over a vast region from western Europe and north-west Africa to the Indian subcontinent and further to the eastern seaboard of Asia and down into south-east Asia. Across this vast range, several distinct racial forms have evolved which look different from each other, especially when comparing forms at the extremes of its range.
The bird is called jay, without any epithets, by English speakers in Great Britain and Ireland.


The three-spined stickleback is found only in the Northern Hemisphere, where it usually inhabits coastal waters or freshwater bodies. It can live in either fresh, brackish, or salt water. It prefers slow-flowing water with areas of emerging vegetation. It can be found in ditches, ponds, lakes, backwaters, quiet rivers, sheltered bays, marshes, and harbours.
In North America, it ranges along the East Coast from Chesapeake Bay to the southern half of Baffin Island and the western shore of Hudson Bay, and along the West Coast from southern California to the western shore of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. It can be found throughout Europe between 35 and 70°N. In Asia, the distribution stretches from Japan and the Korean peninsula to the Bering Straits.
Its distribution could be said to be circumpolar were it not for the fact that it is absent from the north coast of Siberia, the north coast of Alaska, and the Arctic islands of Canada.


The common loon is also known as the great northern diver in Eurasia. (Another former name, great northern loon, was a compromise proposed by the International Ornithological Committee.) It is one of five loon species that make up the genus Gavia, the only genus of the family Gaviidae and order Gaviiformes. Its closest relative is another large black-headed species, the yellow-billed loon or white-billed diver (Gavia adamsii). There are no recognized subspecies of the common loon.
Danish zoologist and mineralogist Morten Thrane Brünnich first described the common loon in 1764, as Colymbus immer in his Ornithologia Borealis. The now-defunct genus Colymbus contained grebes as well as loons, and remained in use until the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature attempted to clarify the nomenclature in 1956 by declaring Colymbus a suppressed name unfit for further use and establishing Gavia, created by Johann Reinhold Forster in 1788, as the valid genus name for the loons.
The current genus name Gavia was the Latin term for an unidentified seabird and the specific immer is derived from a Norwegian name for the bird, similar to the modern Icelandic word "himbrimi". The word may be related to Swedish immer and emmer: the grey or blackened ashes of a fire (referring to the loon's dark plumage); or to Latin immergo, to immerse, and immersus, submerged.
The European name "diver" comes from the bird's practice of catching fish by diving. The North American name "loon" was first recorded in this sense in New Englands Prospect (1634) by William Wood (1580-1639); "The Loone is an ill shap'd thing like a Cormorant". It may be derived from Old Norse lómr, as are modern Swedish and Danish lom, in each case referring to the distinctive call.
A number of fossil loon species are known from the Pliocene, and specimens from the Pleistocene of California and Florida appear to represent a paleosubspecies of the common loon.


The scaly juvenile plumage is retained until January or February of the year following hatching, when a lengthy moult of head and body feathers gives them a more adult-like appearance. Adults shed all their flight feathers simultaneously around this time, leaving them temporarily flightless, prior to gaining breeding plumage, but second-year birds delay this substantial moult until the summer. The adult winter plumage is attained between October and January by partial moult mainly of head, body and tail feathers.


Common loons are mainly Nearctic, and breed from 48° N to the Arctic Circle, locally south to 40° N and north to 78° N. During their breeding season in spring and summer, most common loons live on lakes and other waterways in the northern United States and Canada, as well as in southern parts of Greenland, in Iceland, in Svalbard, in Jan Mayen, and in Bear Island in Norway; and in Alaska, to the west, and very rarely in Scotland, to the east. Their summer habitat ranges from wooded lakes to tundra ponds. The lakes must be large enough for flight take-off, and provide a large population of small fish. Deep lakes with warm surface waters, relatively low biological productivity and low turbidity where their fish prey are easy to see are habitats where breeding loons are more successful in raising young. For protection from predators, common loons favour lakes with islands and coves. They are rare visitors to the Arctic coast. They are known to exhibit high breeding site fidelity.
Some common loons remain in Iceland year-round, although most migrate. In North America, they winter mainly along north Atlantic and north-east Pacific coasts, many stopping off on the Great Lakes during their migration. They migrate in the day, starting about two hours after sunrise and flying at altitudes of 1500 to 2700 m above sea level, above the convective and turbulent layer of air. In winter they can be seen on North America coasts as far south as Baja California, Sonora, northern Sinaloa, southern Texas, and rarely northern Tamaulipas. In the east, several thousand winter along western European coasts, probably originating from Iceland, Greenland, and Canada. Their range extends into northwestern Europe from Finland to Portugal and southern and northwestern Spain (Galicia and Asturias), as well as the western Mediterranean off Catalonia, and off Morocco in Africa, although only a few hundred travel as far south as Iberia. Although wintering site fidelity is not well known, annually, adults are observed to return to the same wintering locations in the Pacific Ocean (Morro Bay), the Gulf of Mexico (Barataria Bay), the Atlantic Ocean (Maryland and Massachusetts), and the reservoir Lake Pateros.
They usually winter along coasts and on inland lakes, bays, inlets, and streams, with birds migrating to the nearest body of water that will not freeze over in the winter: western Canadian loons go to the Pacific, Great Lakes loons to the Gulf of Mexico region, eastern Canadian loons to the Atlantic, and some loons to large inland lakes and reservoirs. They appear in most of the inland waters of the United States. The South Carolina coast, the Gulf coast adjacent to the Florida panhandle, and the Atlantic seaboard from Massachusetts to Maine have some of the highest concentrations of common loons. Occasional vagrants are recorded inland in Mexico, in San Luis Potosí and Coahuila, as well as in Chiapas and Oaxaca in the south. They are accidental in northern Japan and the Commander Islands in northwestern Pacific, and Cuba in the West Indies.


Since 1998, the common loon has been rated as a species of least concern on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species. This is because it has a large range – more than 20,000 km² (7,700 sq mi) – and because it has a stable population trend that does not warrant a vulnerable rating. It also has a large population size of 612,000 to 640,000 individuals. The estimated breeding population ranges from 1,400 to 2,600 mature individuals in Europe. Over half of the breeding population in North America is found in Ontario with 97,000 territorial pairs, and in Quebec with 50,000 territorial pairs. About 2,400 individuals occur in each of the maritime provinces of Canada—Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. British Columbia accounts for 25,000 territorial pairs. In far northern Canada, about 50,000 territorial pairs are known to occur, and 12,500 to 15,000 territorial pairs occur in the Prairie Provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. In the United States, the largest breeding population is present in Alaska with 3,600 to 6,000 territorial pairs. The U.S. Great Lakes region has 5,900 to 7,200 territorial pairs which accounts for over half of the breeding population in the United States. There are about 100 territorial pairs in the northwestern U.S. states of Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. About 2,250 territorial pairs are found in New England and New York. In winter, 3,500 to 4,500 individuals are found in the United Kingdom, and even fewer individuals are found in the western European coastline and in Iceland. Along the Pacific Coast, about 184,000 to 189,000 adults and 31,000 to 32,000 juveniles are found, and along the Atlantic Coast, 423,000 to 446,000 adults and 72,000 to 76,000 juveniles are found.
The common loon is listed under Appendix II of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species, and in Article I under the European Union (EU) Birds Directive. It is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) is applied. In Europe it appears in 20 Important Bird Areas (IBAs), including Ireland, Svalbard, mainland Norway, Iceland, Spain, and the United Kingdom. It is also a listed species in 83 Special Protection Areas in the EU Natura 2000 network. The USDA National Forest Service has designated the common loon a species of special status, and in the upper Great Lake regions of the Huron-Manistee, Ottawa, and Hiawatha national forests as a regional forester sensitive species.


The common loon is a key indicator of mercury deposition in aquatic environments due to its position at the top of the food chain. The main contributors to elevated mercury concentrations in aquatic environments are coal burning power plants, waste incineration, and metal production. Although environmental mercury (Hg) is naturally occurring, methylmercury (MeHg) is a biologically toxic form that accumulates throughout aquatic environments in the northeastern United States. Methylmercury, a neurotoxin, has been shown to have a wide range of behavioral, reproductive, and survival effects on the common loon. Previous research has found a correlation between mercury levels and pH, with more acidic aquatic environments being at the highest risk for elevated methylmercury concentrations. Once mercury enters the water, it is taken up by fish and spread throughout the food chain. Resulting from this transmission of mercury, there is a significant positive correlation between mercury levels in fish and mercury levels in male, female, and chick blood of common loons; consequently, an increase in mercury concentration in the blood of common loons and fish was seen with a decrease in local aquatic pH. Although there have been reductions in recent years in acidifying emissions, there has been limited biological recovery in these lakes most likely due to climate change. Research has shown that warmer summer temperatures can inhibit reestablishment of cold-water fish species in acidified lakes and droughts brought on by increased summer temperatures can further acidify lakes.
Although the common loon are able to decrease their methylmercury levels by molting and laying eggs, continued consumption of fish with raised methylmercury levels prevents these mechanisms from effectively lowering methylmercury levels. Mercury concentrations have been shown to vary by the sex and age of common loons. Male common loons were found to contain the highest blood mercury concentration likely due to the fact that they tend to consume bigger fish with higher mercury concentrations. Females contained the second highest blood mercury concentration with differences between the males likely being due to the fact that females can expel mercury into the eggs they lay. Juveniles had the lowest blood mercury concentration. Scientists found that the data from juveniles helped to best indicate the local mercury availability as they are fed exclusively from their natal territory.
Elevated levels of mercury have been associated with changes in foraging and brooding behavior among adult common loons, especially in higher concentrations. Studies have found that elevated levels of methylmercury are associated with lethargy and decreased time spent foraging in adult common loons. A different study carried out in the Adirondack Mountains found that elevated levels of methylmercury are associated with reduced diving frequency in adult common loons. One study found that brood productivity was reduced by half when female blood mercury levels exceeded 4.3 μg/g and productivity completely failed when female blood mercury levels exceeded 8.6 μg/g. These results are related to fish mercury levels of 0.21 μg/g and 0.41 μg/g, respectively. As mercury levels and pH are correlated, scientists have found that brood success decreases with decreasing pH such that environments with a pH at around 4.5 exhibited reproductive success below a calculated positive growth rate threshold. An association has also been observed between elevated blood methylmercury levels and aberrant incubation patterns. Adult common loons with high levels of methylmercury were found to spend less time incubating and in the nest, increasing the risks of predation and the eggs overheating/overcooling. Together, the effects of heightened methylmercury levels on parenting behaviors may contribute to lower chick survival rates. One study in Maine and New Hampshire found that high levels of methylmercury in parents are associated with a significant decrease in the number of fledged young, with common loons in the highest risk group producing 41% fewer fledged young than common loons with low levels of methylmercury.


Unlike other loons/divers, this bird may migrate in flocks. It winters at sea, mainly on the Pacific coast, or on large lakes over a much wider range, including China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, United States and Mexico. It has occurred as a vagrant to Greenland, Hong Kong, Great Britain, Spain, Finland and Switzerland (Dec 2015).


The red-throated loon breeds primarily in the Arctic regions of northern Eurasia and North America (generally north of 50°N latitude), and winters in northern coastal waters, sometimes in groups of considerable size. More than 4,400 spend the winter in a loose concentration on the eastern part of the German Bight, for example. Unlike other loons, it regularly uses very small freshwater lakes as breeding sites. Its small size renders it more versatile, but it is less able to feed on deeper prey. The increase in size and diversity of the remaining species of loons suggests that the benefits of larger size outweigh the limitations.
In North America, it winters regularly along both coasts, ranging as far south as the Baja California Peninsula and the Gulf of California in north-western Mexico; it has been recorded as a vagrant in the interior Mexican state of Hidalgo. Some of its folk names in north-eastern North America—including cape race, cape brace, cape drake and cape racer, as well as corruptions such as scapegrace—originated from its abundance around Cape Race, Newfoundland. In Europe, it breeds in Iceland, northern Scotland, north-western Ireland (only a few pairs), Scandinavia and northern Russia, and winters along the coast as far south as parts of Spain; it also regularly occurs along major inland waterways, including the Mediterranean, Aegean and Black Seas, as well as large rivers, lakes and reservoirs. It has occurred as a vagrant as far south as Morocco, Tunisia and the Gambia. In Asia, it breeds in the northern stretches of Siberia, and winters along the Pacific coast as far south as China, Japan and Taiwan. It has occurred as a vagrant in Mongolia.


Used as a food source since prehistoric times, the red-throated loon is still hunted by indigenous peoples in some parts of the world today. Eggs as well as birds are taken, sometimes in significant numbers; during one study on northern Canada's Igloolik Island, 73% of all red-throated loon eggs laid within the 10 km² (3.9 mi²) study site over two breeding seasons were collected by indigenous inhabitants of the island. In some parts of Russia, red-throated loon skins were traditionally used to make caps and various clothing decorations, including collars. The species was also central to the creation mythologies of indigenous groups throughout the Holarctic. According to the myth—which varies only slightly between versions, despite the sometimes-vast distances that separated the groups who believed it—the loon was asked by a great shaman to bring up earth from the bottom of the sea. That earth was then used to build the world's dry land.
As recently as the 1800s, the behaviour of the red-throated loon was used to forecast the weather; according to the conventional wisdom of the time, birds flying inland or giving short cries predicted good weather, while those flying out to sea or giving long, wailing cries predicted rain. In the Orkney and Shetland islands of Scotland, the species is still known as the "rain goose" in deference to its supposed weather-predicting capabilities. The people of the Faroe Islands believed that if the red-throated loon miaowed like a cat, then rain was imminent, while a call of gaa-gaa-gaa or turkatrae-turkatrae predicted fine weather.
Bhutan, Japan, Åland (an autonomous region of Finland), and the Union of the Comoros have issued stamps featuring the red-throated loon.


The plant is native to Eastern Canada and the Great Lakes region, the Midwestern and Northeastern United States, and the Appalachian Mountains, the Ohio/Mississippi/Tennessee Valley, and Southeastern United States. The range extends from Newfoundland west to Manitoba and Minnesota, south as far as Arkansas, Alabama, and Georgia.


Well adapted to the Mediterranean climate, it is native to South Africa and Mozambique. It has become naturalised on the Mediterranean shores, and in places like the Azores, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, France, Portugal, California, and Argentina. The generic name of the plant is dedicated to Theodore of Gaza (1398-1478), who translated the botanical works of Theophrastus, from Greek to Latin. It is a weed in the islands of Madeira, Sicily and Sardinia.
In Australia, where it is known as coastal gazania, the species has become naturalised on coastal dunes and roadsides in the Central Coast and Sydney regions of New South Wales as well as the coast of South East Queensland. In South Australia it is found in the southern Mount Lofty area as well as on the Eyre peninsula.


Gehyra mutilata, also known commonly as the common four-clawed gecko, Pacific gecko, stump-toed gecko, sugar gecko in Indonesia, tender-skinned house gecko, and butiki in Filipino, is a species of lizard in the family Gekkonidae. The species is native to Southeast Asia. It has made its way to several areas of the world including Sri Lanka, Indochina, and many of the Pacific Islands. Compared to the common house gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus), the appearance of G. mutilata is somewhat plump, with delicate skin. The skin is usually colored a soft purplish/pinkish gray, with golden spots on younger specimens; these spots eventually fade with age.


The tokay gecko is culturally significant in many East Asian countries. Regional folklore has attributed supernatural powers to the gecko. In Southeast Asia it is a symbol of good luck and fertility. It is believed to be descended from dragons.
This species is poached for the medicinal trades in parts of Asia. The tokay gecko is an ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine, known as Ge Jie (蛤蚧). It is believed to nourish the kidneys and lungs, beliefs that are not substantiated by medical science. The animal remains highly sought after in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and other parts of Asia with Chinese communities, to the point where unscrupulous merchants have taken to disfiguring monitor lizards with prosthetics to pass them off as colossal tokay gecko specimens.
From 2009 to 2011, the poaching of tokay geckos intensified because of a short-lived belief that they were an effective HIV cure.
The tokay gecko is quickly becoming a threatened species in the Philippines because of indiscriminate hunting. Collecting, transporting and trading in geckos without a license can be punishable by up to 12 years in jail and a fine of up to ₱1 million under Republic Act 9147, in addition to other applicable international laws. However, the trade runs unchecked because of the sheer number of illegal traders and reports of lucrative deals. Chinese buyers and other foreign nationals are rumored to pay thousands of dollars for large specimens, because of their alleged medicinal value or as commodities in the illegal wildlife trade.
The 18th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which took place in Geneva, included the gecko for the first time under Appendix II. Appendix II species are not necessarily threatened with extinction, but trade must be controlled in order to avoid utilization incompatible with their survival.


Gelsemium sempervirens is a twining vine in the family Gelsemiaceae, native to subtropical and tropical America: Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, Mexico (Chiapas, Oaxaca, Veracruz, Puebla, Hidalgo), and southeastern and south-central United States (from Texas to Virginia). It has a number of common names including yellow jessamine or jasmine, Carolina jasmine or jessamine, evening trumpetflower, gelsemium and woodbine.
Yellow jessamine is the state flower of South Carolina.
Despite its common name, the species is not a "true jasmine" and not of the genus Jasminum.


Gentiana linearis, the narrowleaf gentian, is a 1–2 ft (30–61 cm) tall flowering plant in the Gentianaceae family. It is native to northeastern North America from Manitoba to Maine, and to the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia, Virginia, and Tennessee. Similar to the "bottle gentians" like Gentiana clausa and Gentiana andrewsii, it has paired, lanceolate leaves, usually on unbranched stalks, and blue or purple blooms which remain closed or nearly closed; the leaves are narrower however, as the specific name indicates.


Geocaulon is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Santalaceae containing the single species Geocaulon lividum, which is known by the common names northern comandra and false toadflax. It is native to northern North America, where it is common and widespread from Alaska to Newfoundland and into the northernmost contiguous United States.
This plant is a perennial herb which grows from rhizomes located in the humus. It produces stems up to 30 centimetres (12 inches) tall and inflorescences with two or three greenish or purplish flowers, one of which is generally perfect while the others are male. The fruit is an orange drupe containing one seed. This plant grows as a hemiparasite on other species. It produces haustoria which tap the roots of host plants such as spruce, pine, birch, willow, alder, and twinflower.
This plant grows in many types of moist boreal habitat. It occurs in many types of coniferous and deciduous forests, bogs, and other wetlands. It is found in spruce forests on the taiga of Alaska and it is an indicator of continental boreal and cool temperate climate in British Columbia. It is found alongside plant species such as American green alder (Alnus viridis ssp. crispa), bog Labrador tea (Ledum groenlandicum), bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi), crowberry (Empetrum nigrum), twinflower (Linnaea borealis), prickly rose (Rosa acicularis), mountain cranberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea), bog blueberry (Vaccinium uliginosum), highbush cranberry (Viburnum edule), bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), one-sided wintergreen (Orthilia secunda), bluejoint reedgrass (Calamagrostis canadensis), horsetails (Equisetum spp.), feathermosses (Hylocomium splendens and Pleurozium schreberi), and lichens (Cladonia spp. and Peltigera aphthosa).