The western whiptail has a long and slender body, small grainy scales on its back, and larger rectangular scales on its belly. The upper side often has light stripes, and the throat can be pinkish or somewhat orange in adults. The maximum snout-to-vent length (SVL) is 102 mm (about 4 inches), and maximum total length (including tail) is 305 mm (about 12 inches). Hatchlings are orange-yellow with dark brown-black spots or stripes.


The western whiptail's chromosomes show that it is polyploid. It is also a bisexual species, containing both males and females, unlike other species of Aspidoscelis which are all-female. Usually in the northern end of its range, mating occurs in the first half of June, and females begin to lay eggs in late June. The eggs usually begin hatching by mid-August. Females will only lay one clutch (number of eggs laid at a single time) per year. At the southern end of its range, however, females will begin to lay eggs as early as May, and the eggs will usually hatch as early as mid-June. In the southern end of its range, females may also lay two clutches per year instead of just one.


The ribbon snake (Thamnophis saurita) is a common species of garter snake native to Eastern North America. It is a non-venomous species of snake in the subfamily Natricinae of the family Colubridae. The ribbon snake averages 16 to 35 inches (41 to 89 cm) in total length (including tail). It is dark brown with bright yellow stripes. The ribbon snake is not sexually dimorphic; however, females are normally thicker than their male counterparts.
The ribbon snake can be found in wet climates such as lakes, streams, ponds and marshes. The ribbon snake is active from April to October and hibernates during the winter months. Maturity is reached around 3 years of age.


The olive ridley is predominantly carnivorous, especially in immature stages of its lifecycle. Animal prey consists of protochordates or invertebrates, which can be caught in shallow marine waters or estuarine habitats. Common prey items include jellyfish, tunicates, sea urchins, bryozoans, bivalves, snails, shrimp, crabs, rock lobsters, and sipunculid worms. Additionally, consumption of jellyfish and both adult fish (e.g. Sphoeroides) and fish eggs may be indicative of pelagic (open ocean) feeding. The olive ridley is also known to feed on filamentous algae in areas devoid of other food sources. Captive studies have indicated some level of cannibalistic behavior in this species.


The olive ridley turtle has a circumtropical distribution, living in tropical and warm waters of the Pacific and Indian Oceans from India, Arabia, Japan, and Micronesia south to southern Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. In the Atlantic Ocean, it has been observed off the western coast of Africa and the coasts of northern Brazil, Suriname, Guyana, French Guiana, and Venezuela. Additionally, the olive ridley has been recorded in the Caribbean Sea as far north as Puerto Rico. A female was found alive on an Irish Sea beach on the Isle of Anglesey, Wales, in November 2016, giving this species its northernmost appearance. It was taken in by the nearby Anglesey Sea Zoo, while its health was assessed. A juvenile female was found off the coast of Sussex in 2020.  The olive ridley is also found in the eastern Pacific Ocean from the Galápagos Islands and Chile north to the Gulf of California, and along the Pacific coast to at least Oregon. Migratory movements have been studied less intensely in olive ridleys than other species of marine turtles, but they are believed to use the coastal waters of over 80 countries. Historically, this species has been widely regarded as the most abundant sea turtle in the world. More than one million olive ridleys were commercially harvested off the coasts of Mexico in 1968 alone.
The population of Pacific Mexico was estimated to be at least 10 million prior to the era of mass exploitation. More recently, the global population of annual nesting females has been reduced to about two million by 2004, and was further reduced to 852,550 by 2008. This indicated a dramatic decrease of 28 to 32% in the global population within only one generation (i.e., 20 years).
Olive ridley sea turtles are considered the most abundant, yet globally they have declined by more than 30% from historic levels. These turtles are considered endangered because of their few remaining nesting sites in the world. The eastern Pacific turtles have been found to range from Baja California, Mexico, to Chile. Pacific olive ridleys nest around Costa Rica, Mexico, Nicaragua, and the northern Indian Ocean; the breeding colony in Mexico was listed as endangered in the US on July 28, 1978.


Growing to about 61 cm (2 ft) in carapace length (measured along the curve), the olive ridley sea turtle gets its common name from its olive-colored carapace, which is heart-shaped and rounded. Males and females grow to the same size, but females have a slightly more rounded carapace as compared to males. The heart-shaped carapace is characterized by four pairs of pore-bearing inframarginal scutes on the bridge, two pairs of prefrontals, and up to nine lateral scutes per side. L. olivacea is unique in that it can have variable and asymmetrical lateral scute counts, ranging from five to nine plates on each side, with six to eight being most commonly observed. Each side of the carapace has 12–14 marginal scutes.
The carapace is flattened dorsally and highest anterior to the bridge. it has a medium-sized, broad head that appears triangular from above. The head's concave sides are most obvious on the upper part of the short snout. It has paddle-like fore limbs, each having two anterior claws. The upper parts are grayish-green to olive in color, but sometimes appear reddish due to algae growing on the carapace. The bridge and hingeless plastron of an adult vary from greenish white in younger individuals to a creamy yellow in older specimens (maximum age is up to 50 years).
Hatchlings are dark gray with a pale yolk scar, but appear all black when wet. Carapace length of hatchlings ranges from 37 to 50 mm (1.5 to 2.0 in). A thin, white line borders the carapace, as well as the trailing edge of the fore and hind flippers. Both hatchlings and juveniles have serrated posterior marginal scutes, which become smooth with age. Juveniles also have three dorsal keels; the central longitudinal keel gives younger turtles a serrated profile, which remains until sexual maturity is reached.
The olive ridley sea turtle rarely weighs over 50 kg (110 lb). Adults studied in Oaxaca, Mexico, ranged from 25 to 46 kg (55 to 101 lb); adult females weighed an average of 35.45 kg (78.2 lb) (n=58), while adult males weighed significantly less, averaging 33.00 kg (72.75 lb) (n=17). Hatchlings usually weigh between 12.0 and 23.3 g (0.42 and 0.82 oz).
Adults are sexually dimorphic. The mature male has a longer and thicker tail, which is used for copulation, and the presence of enlarged and hooked claws on the male's front flippers allows him to grasp the female's carapace during copulation. The male also has a longer, more tapered carapace than the female, which has a rounded, dome-like carapace. The male also has a more concave plastron, believed to be another adaptation for mating. The plastron of the male may also be softer than that of the female.


Most observations are typically within 15 km of mainland shores in protected, relatively shallow marine waters (22–55 m deep). Olive ridleys are occasionally found in open waters. The multiple habitats and geographical localities used by this species vary throughout its lifecycle.


Mating is often assumed to occur in the vicinity of nesting beaches, but copulating pairs have been reported over 1,000 km from the nearest beach. Research from Costa Rica revealed the number of copulating pairs observed near the beach could not be responsible for the fertilization of the tens of thousands of gravid females, so a significant amount of mating is believed to have occurred elsewhere at other times of the year.
The Gahirmatha Beach in Kendrapara district of Odisha (India), which is now a part of the Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary, is the largest breeding ground for these turtles. The Gahirmatha Marine Wildlife Sanctuary, which bounds the Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary to the east, was created in September 1997, and encompasses Gahirmatha Beach and an adjacent portion of the Bay of Bengal. Bhitarkanika mangroves were designated a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance in 2002. It is the world's largest known rookery of olive ridley sea turtles. Apart from Gahirmatha rookery, two other mass nesting beaches have been located, which are on the mouth of rivers Rushikulya and Devi. The spectacular site of mass congregation of olive ridley sea turtles for mating and nesting enthralls both the scientists and the nature lovers throughout the world.
Olive ridley sea turtles migrate in huge numbers from the beginning of November, every year, for mating and nesting along the coast of Orissa. Gahirmatha coast has the annual nesting figure between 100,000 and 500,000 each year. A decline in the population of these turtles has occurred in the recent past due to mass mortality. The olive ridley sea turtle has been listed on Schedule – I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 (amended 1991). The species is listed as vulnerable under IUCN. The sea turtles are protected under the 'Migratory Species Convention' and Convention of International Trade on Wildlife Flora and Fauna (CITES). India is a signatory nation to all these conventions. The homing characteristics of the ridley sea turtles make them more prone to mass casualty. The voyage to the natal nesting beaches is the dooming factor for them. Since Gahirmatha coast serves as the natal nesting beach for millions of turtles, it has immense importance on turtle conservation.
Olive ridleys generally begin to aggregate near nesting beaches about two months before nesting season, although this may vary throughout their range. In the eastern Pacific, nesting occurs throughout the year, with peak nesting events (arribadas) occurring between September and December. Nesting beaches can be characterized as relatively flat, midbeach zone, and free of debris. Beach fidelity is common, but not absolute. Nesting events are usually nocturnal, but diurnal nesting has been reported, especially during large arribadas. Exact age of sexual maturity is unknown, but this can be somewhat inferred from data on minimum breeding size. For example, the average carapace length of nesting females (n = 251) at Playa Nancite, Costa Rica, was determined to be 63.3 cm, with the smallest recorded at 54.0 cm. Females can lay up to three clutches per season, but most only lay one or two clutches. The female remains near shore for the internesting period, which is about one month. Mean clutch size varies throughout its range and decreases with each nesting attempt.
A mean clutch size of 116 (30–168 eggs) was observed in Suriname, while nesting females from the eastern Pacific were found to have an average of 105 (74–126 eggs). The incubation period is usually between 45 and 51 days under natural conditions, but may extend to 70 days in poor weather conditions. Eggs incubated at temperatures of 31 to 32 °C produce only females; eggs incubated at 28 °C or less produce solely males; and incubation temperatures of 29 to 30 °C produce a mixed-sex clutch. Hatching success can vary by beach and year, due to changing environmental conditions and rates of nest predation.


The brown basilisk (Basiliscus vittatus), also commonly referred to as the striped basilisk or in some areas as the common basilisk, is a species of basilisk lizard in the family Corytophanidae. The species is native to Mexico, Central America and adjacent northwestern Colombia, and has been introduced into the U.S. state of Florida as a feral species. The brown basilisk has large hind feet with narrow flaps of skin on the distal edge of each toe. The fact that they move quickly across the water gives them the appearance of "walking on water".


The male brown basilisk can reach 61 centimetres (24 in) in total length (including tail), but the female is somewhat smaller. It has a three-part dorsal crest on the head, along the back, and along the tail. Coloration is brown or olive brown with black crossbands. The crossbands are usually only on the flanks and on the dorsal crest. There is also a white stripe, which extends from the eyes to the rear legs. The male has a larger crest than the female.
The brown basilisk weighs 200–600 g (0.44–1.32 lb). It has long toes with sharp claws.


Female brown basilisks lay about 2–18 eggs, five to eight times a year. Eggs hatch after about three months and the babies weigh about 2 g (0.071 oz).


Basiliscus vittatus is in the same infraorder as the family Iguanidae. Like most reptiles, the brown basilisk is active during the day. Its outstanding camouflage allows it to remain motionless and very hard to detect. The maximum lifespan of the brown basilisk is probably around 7–8 years. In the wild, most die much sooner.


The African paradise flycatcher is found in most parts of Africa south of the Sahara Desert and also the Arabian Peninsula. Its typical habitat is savannah woodland, open grassland with isolated trees, plantations, open woodland and scrubland.


The African paradise flycatcher is a noisy bird with a harsh scolding call. It has short legs and sits very upright whilst perched prominently, like a shrike. It is insectivorous, often hunting by catching flies on the wing, and eating eggs, larvae and adults. It also feeds on spiders and sometimes consumes berries. The cup-shaped nest is built in a tree and a clutch of two or three eggs are laid.


The African paradise flycatcher (Terpsiphone viridis) is a medium-sized passerine bird. The two central tail feathers of the male are extended into streamers that commonly are more than twice as long as the body. The female tail feathers are of moderate length and without streamers. The upper parts of the male body, wings, and tail are boldly coloured in chestnut or rusty shades, but the underparts and the head are variably grey to blue-gray, with the head of the mature male being darker, commonly glossy black with greenish highlights. The beak and other bare areas, including a wattle ring round the eye, match the colour of the surrounding feathers. The female coloration is similar, though not so showy and glossy and with the head paler.
The African paradise flycatcher feeds mainly on insects. It builds a neat cup nest in which it lays a clutch, usually of two or three eggs. It generally inhabits open forest and savanna, and is a locally common resident breeder in Africa south of the Sahara. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed it as being of "least concern".


The pin-tailed whydah (Vidua macroura) is a small songbird with a conspicuous pennant-like tail in breeding males. It is a resident breeding bird in most of Africa south of the Sahara Desert.


The species is a brood parasite which lays its eggs in the nests of estrildid finches, especially waxbills. Unlike the common cuckoo, it does not destroy the host's eggs. Typically, 2–4 eggs are added to those already present. The eggs of both the host and the whydah are white, although the whydah's are slightly larger. The nestling whydahs mimic the gape pattern of the fledglings of the host species.
The male pin-tailed whydah is territorial, and one male often has several females in his small group. He has an elaborate courtship flight display, which includes hovering over the female to display his tail. The song is given from a high perch, and consists of rapid squeaking and churring. The diet of this species consists of seeds and grain.


The pin-tailed whydah occurs in much of sub-Saharan Africa, favouring grassland, scrubs and savannah, also coming into parks and gardens. In Portugal it is established in the region around Aveiro, with observations occurring north and south of it. It has also been introduced to southern California, Puerto Rico, and Singapore.


Their primary breeding habitats are open areas, mountainsides and forest edges in western North America from southern Alaska through British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest to California, nesting further north (Alaska) than any other hummingbird. The female builds a nest in a protected location in a shrub or conifer. Males are promiscuous, mating with several females.


Western rufous hummingbirds migrate through the Rocky Mountains and nearby lowlands during May to September to take advantage of the wildflower season. They may stay in one local region for the entire summer, in which case the migrants, like breeding birds, often aggressively take over and defend feeding locations. Most winter in wooded areas in the Mexican state of Guerrero, traveling over 2,000 mi (3,200 km) by an overland route from its nearest summer home – a prodigious journey for a bird weighing only 3 to 4 g.
Adult male rufous hummingbirds tend to migrate slightly earlier than females or young. Since juveniles or females are essentially indistinguishable from Allen's hummingbirds unless confirmed by close inspection, eastern rufous migrants may be classified as "rufous/Allen's hummingbirds".


They feed on nectar from flowers using a long extendable tongue or catch insects on the wing. These birds require frequent feeding while active during the day and become torpid at night to conserve energy. Because of their small size, they are vulnerable to insect-eating birds and animals.


The adult male has a white breast, rufous face, flanks and tail and an iridescent orange-red throat patch or gorget. Some males have some green on back and/or crown. The female has green, white, some iridescent orange feathers in the center of the throat, and a dark tail with white tips and rufous base.
The female is slightly larger than the male. Females and the rare green-backed males are extremely difficult to differentiate from Allen's hummingbird. The typical "notched" shape of the second rectrix (R2) is considered an important field mark to distinguish the adult male rufous hummingbird from the adult male Allen's hummingbird. This is a typical-sized hummingbird, being a very small bird. It weighs 2–5 g (0.071–0.176 oz), measures 7–9 cm (2.8–3.5 in) long and spans 11 cm (4.3 in) across the wings.


Salvadora hexalepis, the western patch-nosed snake, is a species of non-venomous colubrid snake, which is endemic to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico.


The western patch-nosed snake inhabits arid deserts in its area. It feeds upon lizards, snakes, reptile eggs, and small rodents.


Adults of Salvadora hexalepis are, on average, 20-46 inches (51–117 cm) in total length; the record total length is 58 in (150 cm).
They have a distinctive, thick scale curved back over the top of the snout, and free at the edges.
All subspecies are yellowish with blackish lateral stripes in various arrangements.
The dorsal scales are smooth, and the anal plate is divided.


4-10 eggs are laid during spring or early summer and hatch in August through September.


The Texas tortoise, unlike other species of gopher tortoise, is not an adept burrower. Its preferred habitat is dry scrub and grasslands. Succulent plants, a preferred food of the Texas tortoise, are common in these areas. It especially likes the fruit of cacti such as the prickly pear.


G. berlandieri is found from southern Texas southward into the Mexican states of Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas.


These geckos are frequently found in the pet trade, including corporate chain stores, usually identified only as "house gecko".  While there are other species of gecko available under the same common name, the Cosymbotus platyurus is easily identified by the flaps of skin along its sides, making them resemble a miniature flying gecko (genus Ptychozoon).  They are easily maintained in a terrarium with frequent misting and insect prey, but they are not easy to handle.  Also, herpetoculturists often use this species in addition to anoles as a feeder lizard for some species of snakes, especially Asian green vine snakes (Ahaetulla prasina).


The flat-tailed house gecko (Hemidactylus platyurus), also known as the frilled house gecko or Asian house gecko, is a species of Gekkonidae native to southeastern and southern Asia. The species is sometimes classified under the genus Cosymbotus.


Snout longer than the distance between the eye and the ear opening, one time and a half the diameter of the orbit; forehead concave; ear-opening small, oval, oblique. Rostral four-sided, not twice as broad as high, with median cleft above; nostril bordered by the rostral, the first labial and three nasals. Nine to eleven upper and seven or eight lower labials; mental large. triangular or pentagonal; two pair of chin-shields, the median pair large, in contact with each other, the posterior pair small, sometimes separated from the labials. Body depressed, covered above with uniform small granules, largest on the snout; a dermal expansion from axilla to groin and another along the posterior side of the hind limb. Ventral scales cycloid, imbricate. Male with an uninterrupted series of 34—36 femoral pores. Tail depressed, flat inferiorly, with sharp denticulated lateral edge, covered above with uniform small granules, below with a median series of transversely dilated plates. Limbs moderate, depressed; digits strongly dilated,  about  half-webbed, inner well developed; 3 to 6 lamellae under the inner, 7 to 9 under the median digits. Grey above, marbled with darker grey; generally a dark streak from eye to shoulder. Lower parts white. Length of head and body 61 mm.; tail 66 mm.


Volvariella bombycina, commonly known as the silky sheath, silky rosegill, silver-silk straw mushroom, or tree mushroom, is a species of edible mushroom in the family Pluteaceae. It is an uncommon but widespread species, having been reported from Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, Europe, and North America. The fruit body (mushroom) begins developing in a thin, egg-like sac. This ruptures and the stem expands quickly, leaving the sac at the base of the stem as a volva. The cap, which can attain a diameter of up to 20 cm (8 in), is white to slightly yellowish and covered with silky hairs. On the underside of the cap are closely spaced gills, free from attachment to the stem, and initially white before turning pink as the spores mature. The mushroom grows singly or in clusters, often appearing in old knotholes and wounds in elms and maples. V. bombycina contains compounds with antibacterial properties.


Volvariella bombycina is a saprobic species. Fruit bodies grow singly or in small groups on trunks and decayed stumps of dead hardwoods. Favored species include sugar maple, red maple, silver maple, magnolia, mango, beech, oak, and elm. It is often found in clefts and knotholes of dead or living tree trunks. It has been noted to fruit in the same location for several years. Despite its preference for hardwoods, it has been reported growing on rare instances on coniferous wood. An uncommon species with a wide distribution, it has been reported from Asia (Iran, China, India, Korea, and Pakistan), the Caribbean (Cuba), Australia, Europe, North America, and South America. It acquired protected status in Hungary in 2005, making it a legal offense to pick it. Variety microspora is known from Venezuela, while V. bombycina var. palmicola occurs in the DR Congo.


The fruit bodies of Volvariella bombycina are initially egg-shaped when still enclosed in the universal veil. As they expand, the caps later becoming bell-shaped or convex, and finally nearly flattened in age, attaining a diameter of 5–20 cm (2.0–7.9 in). The dry cap surface is covered with silky threads. Its color is white to yellowish, becoming more pale approaching the margin. The flesh is thin, soft, and white, and has an odor, resembling raw potatoes.  Gills are crowded close together, free from attachment to the stem, and initially white before turning pinkish as the spores mature. The stem measures 6–20 cm (2.4–7.9 in) long by 1–3 cm (0.4–1.2 in) thick, and is typically tapered upward or thickened below. It is white, with a smooth surface, and is often slightly curved. The universal veil is membranous, often areolate (cracked into irregularly shaped blocks) or scaly, and forms a long, saclike volva that wraps around the base of the stem. It is white to yellowish or dingy brown, and often divided into lobes.
The variety V. bombycina var. flaviceps is distinguished from the main form by its smaller, bright yellow caps, up to 3.5 cm (1.4 in) in diameter, and its dirty-white, scaly volva. Murrill also noted that it developed a "peculiar sickening odor during drying". V. bombycina var. microspora has smaller spores (6–7.5 by 4–5 μm), a yellow cap, and a blotched brown volva. V. bombycina var. palmicola also has a yellow cap and small spores (5.9–7.5 by 4.3–5.4 μm), but can be distinguished from the previous varieties by its distantly spaced gills.
Mushrooms produce a spore print with a color ranging from pinkish to salmon. Spores are elliptical, smooth, and measure 6.5–10 by 4.5–6.5 μm. The basidia (spore-bearing cells) are club-shaped, four-spored, and measure 19–43 by 6–11 μm. Pleurocystidia (cystidia that occur on the gill face) are usually spindle shaped, but have a widely variable morphology; they are abundant in the hymenium, and have dimensions of 26–122 by 8–57 μm. The cheilocystidia (on the gill edge) are similar in morphology and abundance, some may feature knobs held at the end of slender projections up to 20 μm long; dimensions are in the range of 26 and 144 μm long by 8–46 μm wide. Clamp connections are absent from the hyphae of V. bombycina.
The fruit bodies can be readily grown in laboratory culture.


The combination of a silky white cap, white stem, pink gills, pink spore print, and growth on wood is characteristic of this species and make identification of Volvariella bombycina in the field relatively easy. Some Pluteus species have a general similar appearance, and also produce pinkish to pinkish-brown spore prints, but they lack a volva. Amanita species grow on the ground and make white spore prints. V. pusilla has a small cap measuring 0.5–3 cm (0.2–1.2 in) in diameter with silky fibers and short lines visible at the cap edge when moist; it grows in soil in gardens and greenhouses and on lawns. V. hypopithys has a medium-size white cap that is 2–5 cm (0.8–2.0 in) in diameter with silky to scaly fibers and lacks the short lines at the cap edge when moist; it grows on the ground in woods. V. caesiotincta has a bluish-gray cap, while V. gloiocephala can be distinguished from V. bombycina by its smooth cap that is sticky when damp, and a white volva.


The comb duck or American comb duck (Sarkidiornis sylvicola), is an unusual duck, found in tropical wetlands in  continental South America south to the Paraguay River region in eastern Paraguay, southeastern Brazil and extreme northeastern Argentina, and as a vagrant on Trinidad.
Most taxonomic authorities split this species and the knob-billed duck from each other. The comb duck is generally smaller in size when compared to the knob-billed duck, and flanks are darker (black in males, medium grey in females).


It breeds in still freshwater swamps and lakes in the tropics. It is largely resident, apart from dispersion in the wet season.
This duck feeds on vegetation by grazing or dabbling and to a lesser extent on small fish, invertebrates, and seeds. It can become a problem to rice farmers. Knob-billed ducks often perch in trees. They are typically seen in flocks, small in the wet season, up to 100 in the dry season. Sometimes they separate according to sex.


Comb ducks nest mainly in tree holes, also in tall grass. They line their nests with reeds, grass, or feathers, but not down.
Males may have two mates at once or up to five in succession. They defend the females and young, but not the nest sites. Unmated males perch in trees and wait for opportunities to mate.
Females lay seven to 15 yellowish-white eggs. Several females may lay in a single "dump nest" containing up to 50 eggs.


This common species is unmistakable. It is one of the largest species of duck. Length can range from 56 to 76 cm (22 to 30 in), wingspan ranges from 116 to 145 cm (46 to 57 in) and weight from 1.03 to 2.9 kg (2.3 to 6.4 lb). Adults have a white head freckled with dark spots, and a pure white neck and underparts. The upperparts are glossy blue-black upperparts, with bluish and greenish iridescence especially prominent on the secondaries (lower arm feathers). The male is much larger than the female, and has a large black knob on the bill.
If seen at a distance, immature comb ducks can also be mistaken for a fulvous whistling duck (Dendrocygna bicolor). However, knob-billed ducks in immature plumage are rarely seen without adults nearby and thus they are usually easily identified, too.
Uncertainty surrounds the correct systematic placement of this species. Initially, it was placed in the dabbling duck subfamily Anatinae. Later, it was assigned to the "perching ducks", a paraphyletic assemblage of waterfowl most of which are intermediate between dabbling ducks and shelducks. As the "perching ducks" were split up, the comb duck was moved to the Tadorninae or shelduck subfamily.
Analysis of mtDNA sequences of the cytochrome b and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 genes, however, suggests that it is a quite basal member of the Anatidae, vindicating the earliest placement, but its closest living relatives cannot be resolved to satisfaction without further study.


The ruff is a migratory species, breeding in wetlands in colder regions of northern Eurasia, and spends the northern winter in the tropics, mainly in Africa. Some Siberian breeders undertake an annual round trip of up to 30,000 km (19,000 mi) to the West African wintering grounds. There is a limited overlap of the summer and winter ranges in western Europe. The ruff breeds in extensive lowland freshwater marshes and damp grasslands. It avoids barren tundra and areas badly affected by severe weather, preferring hummocky marshes and deltas with shallow water. The wetter areas provide a source of food, the mounds and slopes may be used for leks, and dry areas with sedge or low scrub offer nesting sites. A Hungarian study showed that moderately intensive grazing of grassland, with more than one cow per hectare (2.5 acres), was found to attract more nesting pairs. When not breeding, the birds use a wider range of shallow wetlands, such as irrigated fields, lake margins, and mining subsidence and other floodlands. Dry grassland, tidal mudflats and the seashore are less frequently used. The density can reach 129 individuals per square kilometre (334 per square mile), but is usually much lower.
The ruff breeds in Europe and Asia from Scandinavia and Great Britain almost to the Pacific. In Europe it is found in cool temperate areas, but over its Russian range it is an Arctic species, occurring mainly north of about 65°N. The largest numbers breed in Russia (more than 1 million pairs), Sweden (61,000 pairs), Finland (39,000 pairs) and Norway (14,000 pairs). Although it also breeds from Britain east through the Low Countries to Poland, Germany and Denmark, there are fewer than 2,000 pairs in these more southerly areas.
It is highly gregarious on migration, travelling in large flocks that can contain hundreds or thousands of individuals. Huge dense groups form on the wintering grounds; one flock in Senegal contained a million birds. A minority winter further east to Burma, south China, New Guinea and scattered parts of southern Australia, or on the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of Europe. In Great Britain and parts of coastal western Europe, where the breeding and wintering ranges overlap, birds may be present throughout the year. Non-breeding birds may also remain year round in the tropical wintering quarters. The Ruff is an uncommon visitor to Alaska (where it has occasionally bred), Canada and the contiguous states of the US, and has wandered to Iceland, Middle America, northern South America, Madagascar and New Zealand. It has been recorded as breeding well south of its main range in northern Kazakhstan, a major migration stopover area.
The male, which plays no part in nesting or chick care, leaves the breeding grounds in late June or early July, followed later in July by the female and juveniles. Males typically make shorter flights and winter further north than females; for example, virtually all wintering ruffs in Britain are males, whereas in Kenya most are females. Many migratory species use this differential wintering strategy, since it reduces feeding competition between the sexes and enables territorial males to reach the breeding grounds as early as possible, improving their chances of successful mating. Male ruffs may also be able to tolerate colder winter conditions because they are larger than females.
Birds returning north in spring across the central Mediterranean appear to follow a well-defined route. Large concentrations of ruffs form every year at particular stopover sites to feed, and individuals marked with rings or dye reappear in subsequent years. The refuelling sites are closer together than the theoretical maximum travel distance calculated from the mean body mass, and provide evidence of a migration strategy using favoured intermediate sites. The ruff stores fat as a fuel, but unlike mammals, uses lipids as the main energy source for exercise (including migration) and, when necessary, keeps warm by shivering; however, little research has been conducted on the mechanisms by which they oxidise lipids.


The ruff (Calidris pugnax) is a medium-sized wading bird that breeds in marshes and wet meadows across northern Eurasia. This highly gregarious sandpiper is migratory and sometimes forms huge flocks in its winter grounds, which include southern and western Europe, Africa, southern Asia and Australia.
The ruff is a long-necked, pot-bellied bird. This species shows marked sexual dimorphism; the male is much larger than the female (the reeve), and has a breeding plumage that includes brightly coloured head tufts, bare orange facial skin, extensive black on the breast, and the large collar of ornamental feathers that inspired this bird's English name. The female and the non-breeding male have grey-brown upperparts and mainly white underparts. Three differently plumaged types of male, including a rare form that mimics the female, use a variety of strategies to obtain mating opportunities at a lek, and the colourful head and neck feathers are erected as part of the elaborate main courting display. The female has one brood per year and lays four eggs in a well-hidden ground nest, incubating the eggs and rearing the chicks, which are mobile soon after hatching, on her own. Predators of wader chicks and eggs include mammals such as foxes, feral cats and stoats, and birds such as large gulls, corvids and skuas.
The ruff forages in wet grassland and soft mud, probing or searching by sight for edible items. It primarily feeds on insects, especially in the breeding season, but it will consume plant material, including rice and maize, on migration and in winter. Classified as "least concern" on the IUCN Red List criteria, the global conservation concerns are relatively low because of the large numbers that breed in Scandinavia and the Arctic. However, the range in much of Europe is contracting because of land drainage, increased fertiliser use, the loss of mown or grazed breeding sites, and over-hunting. This decline has seen it listed in the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA).


The ruff normally feeds using a steady walk and pecking action, selecting food items by sight, but it will also wade deeply and submerge its head. On saline lakes in East Africa it often swims like a phalarope, picking items off the surface. It will feed at night as well as during the day. It is thought that Ruff use both visual and auditory cues to find prey. When feeding, the ruff frequently raises its back feathers, producing a loose pointed peak on the back; this habit is shared only by the black-tailed godwit.
During the breeding season, the ruff’s diet consists almost exclusively of the adults and larva of terrestrial and aquatic insects such as beetles and flies. On migration and during the winter, the ruff eats insects (including caddis flies, water-beetles, mayflies and grasshoppers), crustaceans, spiders, molluscs, worms, frogs, small fish, and also the seeds of rice and other cereals, sedges, grasses and aquatic plants. Migrating birds in Italy varied their diet according to what was available at each stopover site. Green aquatic plant material, spilt rice and maize, flies and beetles were found, along with varying amounts of grit. On the main wintering grounds in West Africa, rice is a favoured food during the later part of the season as the ricefields dry out.
Just before migration, the ruff increases its body mass at a rate of about 1% a day, much slower than the bar-tailed godwits breeding in Alaska, which fatten at four times that rate. This is thought to be because the godwit cannot use refuelling areas to feed on its trans-Pacific flight, whereas the ruff is able to make regular stops and take in food during overland migration. For the same reason, the ruff does not physiologically shrink its digestive organs to reduce bodyweight before migrating, unlike the godwit.


The nest is a shallow ground scrape lined with grass leaves and stems, and concealed in marsh plants or tall grass up to 400 m (440 yd) from the lek. Nesting is solitary, although several females may lay in the general vicinity of a lek. The eggs are slightly glossy, green or olive, and marked with dark blotches; they are laid from mid-March to early June depending on latitude.
The typical clutch is four eggs, each egg measuring 44 mm × 31 mm (1.7 in × 1.2 in) in size and weighing 21.0 g (0.74 oz) of which 5% is shell. Incubation is by the female alone, and the time to hatching is 20–23 days, with a further 25–28 days to fledging. The precocial chicks have buff and chestnut down, streaked and barred with black, and frosted with white; they feed themselves on a variety of small invertebrates, but are brooded by the female. One brood is raised each year.
Ruffs often show a pronounced inequality in the numbers of each sex. A study of juveniles in Finland found that only 34% were males and 1% were faeders. It appears that females produce a larger proportion of males at the egg stage when they are in poor physical condition. When females are in better condition, any bias in the sex ratio is smaller or absent.
Predators of waders breeding in wet grasslands include birds such as large gulls, common raven, carrion and hooded crows, and great and Arctic skuas; foxes occasionally take waders, and the impact of feral cats and stoats is unknown. Overgrazing can increase predation by making nests easier to find. In captivity, the main causes of chick mortality were stress-related sudden death and twisted neck syndrome. Adults seem to show little evidence of external parasites, but may have significant levels of disease on their tropical wintering grounds, including avian malaria in their inland freshwater habitats, and so they might be expected to invest strongly in their immune systems; however, a 2006 study that analysed the blood of migrating ruffs intercepted in Friesland showed that this bird actually has unexplained low levels of immune responses on at least one measure of resistance. The ruff can breed from its second year, and the average lifespan for birds that have passed the chick stage is about 4.4 years, although a Finnish bird lived to a record 13 years and 11 months.


The ruff has a distinctive gravy boat appearance, with a small head, medium-length bill, longish neck and pot-bellied body. It has long legs that are variable in colour, being dark greenish in juveniles, pink to orange in adults with some males having reddish orange legs only during the breeding season. In flight, it has a deeper, slower wing stroke than other waders of a similar size, and displays a thin, indistinct white bar on the wing, and white ovals on the sides of the tail. The species shows sexual dimorphism. Although a small percentage of males resemble females, the typical male is much larger than the female and has an elaborate breeding plumage. The males are 29–32 cm (11–13 in) long with a 54–60 cm (21–24 in) wingspan, and weighs about 180 g (6.3 oz). In the May-to-June breeding season, the male's legs, bill and warty bare facial skin are orange, and they have distinctive head tufts and a neck ruff. These ornaments vary on individual birds, being black, chestnut or white, with the colouring solid, barred or irregular. The grey-brown back has a scale-like pattern, often with black or chestnut feathers, and the underparts are white with extensive black on the breast. The extreme variability of the main breeding plumage is thought to have developed to aid individual recognition in a species that has communal breeding displays, but is usually mute.
Outside the breeding season, the male's head and neck decorations and the bare facial skin are lost and the legs and bill become duller. The upperparts are grey-brown, and the underparts are white with grey mottling on the breast and flanks.
The females, or "reeve", is 22–26 cm (8.7–10.2 in) long with a 46–49 cm (18–19 in) wingspan, and weighs about 110 g (3.9 oz). In breeding plumage, they have grey-brown upperparts with white-fringed, dark-centred feathers. The breast and flanks are variably blotched with black. In winter, the females' plumage is similar to that of the male, but the sexes are distinguishable by their size. The plumage of the juvenile ruff resembles the non-breeding adult, but has upperparts with a neat, scale-like pattern with dark feather centres, and a strong buff tinge to the underparts.
Adult male ruffs start to moult into the main display plumage before their return to the breeding areas, and the proportion of birds with head and neck decorations gradually increases through the spring. Second-year birds lag behind full adults in developing breeding plumage. They have a lower body mass and a slower weight increase than full adults, and perhaps the demands made on their energy reserves during the migration flight are the main reason of the delayed moult.
Ruffs of both sexes have an additional moult stage between the winter and final summer plumages, a phenomenon also seen in the bar-tailed godwit. Before developing the full display finery with coloured ruff and tufts, the males replace part of their winter plumage with striped feathers. Females also develop a mix of winter and striped feathers before reaching their summer appearance. The final male breeding plumage results from the replacement of both winter and striped feathers, but the female retains the striped feathers and replaces only the winter feathers to reach her summer plumage. The striped prenuptial plumages may represent the original breeding appearance of this species, the male's showy nuptial feathers evolving later under strong sexual selection pressures.
Adult males and most adult females start their pre-winter moult before returning south, but complete most feather replacement on the wintering grounds. In Kenya, males moult 3–4 weeks ahead of the females, finishing before December, whereas females typically complete feather replacement during December and early January. Juveniles moult from their first summer body plumage into winter plumage during late September to November, and later undergo a pre-breeding moult similar in timing and duration to that of the adults, and often producing as brightly coloured an appearance.
Two other waders can be confused with the ruff. The juvenile sharp-tailed sandpiper is a little smaller than a juvenile female ruff and has a similar rich orange-buff breast, but the ruff is slimmer with a longer neck and legs, a rounder head, and a much plainer face. The buff-breasted sandpiper also resembles a small juvenile ruff, but even the female ruff is noticeably larger than the sandpiper, with a longer bill, more rotund body and scaly-patterned upperparts.


The African darter is found throughout sub-Saharan Africa wherever large bodies of water occur; overall the species remains widespread and common.
The only non-African subspecies, the Levant darter (Anhinga rufa chantrei), occurred at Lake Amik (Amik Gölü) in south-central Turkey, in Hula valley lake and marshes in northern Israel and in the Mesopotamian Marshes of the lower Euphrat and Tigris rivers in southern Iraq. The Turkish population disappeared during the 1930s and the Israeli population during Hula drainage in the 1950s. In spite of 110 birds being counted in Khuzestan in 1990 alone, the subspecies was feared extinct as a result of oil spillages in southern Iraq during the Gulf War and the drainage of the Mesopotamian Marshes that followed it. However, a small but threatened population was documented in the Hawizeh Marshes in 2007, along with other waters birds like little grebe, pygmy cormorant, marbled teal and sacred ibis. The drainage of the marshes was interrupted and reversed after the Iraq War.


This species builds a stick nest in a tree and lays 3–6 eggs. It often nests with herons, egrets and cormorants.
It often swims with only the neck above water, hence the common name snakebird. This, too, is a habit shared with the other anhingas.
Unlike many other waterbirds the feathers of the African darter do not contain any oil and are therefore not waterproof. Because of this, the bird is less positively buoyant and its diving capabilities are enhanced. After diving for fish, the feathers can become waterlogged. In order to be able to fly and maintain heat insulation, it needs to dry its feathers. Thus the African darter is often seen sitting along the waterside spreading its wings and drying its feathers in the wind and the sun along with cormorants which may share its habitat.


The Cape bulbul (Pycnonotus capensis) is a member of the bulbul family of passerine birds. It is an endemic resident breeder in coastal bush, open forest, gardens and fynbos in western and southern South Africa. This species nests mainly in the southern spring from September to November. The nest is a thick-walled cup concealed by foliage in a small tree or shrub.


The Cape bulbul is a common and conspicuous bird, which tends to perch at the top of a bush. It is active and noisy, usually seen in pairs or small groups foraging for fruit, nectar and insects.
In part of its range, it gets parasitized by the Jacobin cuckoo.


The American wigeon (Mareca americana), also known as the baldpate, is a species of dabbling duck found in North America. Formerly assigned to Anas, this species is classified with the other wigeons in the dabbling duck genus Mareca. It is the New World counterpart of the Eurasian wigeon.


It is common and widespread, breeding in all but the extreme north of Canada and Alaska and also in the Interior West through Idaho, Colorado, the Dakotas, and Minnesota, as well as eastern Washington and Oregon. The conservation status of this bird is Least Concern. The majority of the population breeds on wetlands in the Boreal Forest and subarctic river deltas of Canada and Alaska. Although wigeon are found in each flyway, they are most numerous in the Pacific Flyway. Key wintering areas here include the Central Valley of California and Washington's Puget Sound. Farther east, the Texas Panhandle, the Gulf Coast of Louisiana and Texas, and the Caribbean also support large numbers of wintering wigeon.
This dabbling duck is migratory and winters farther south than its breeding range, in the southern half of the United States, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and the Mid-Atlantic coastal region, and further south into Central America, the Caribbean, and northwestern South America. It is a rare but regular vagrant to western Europe, and has been observed in significant numbers in Great Britain and Ireland since at least 1958.
In 2009, an estimated 2.5 million breeding wigeon were tallied in the traditional survey area—a level just below the 1955–2009 average. In recent decades, wigeon numbers have declined in the Prairie Pothole Region of Canada and increased in the interior and west coast of Alaska. The American wigeon is often the fifth most commonly harvested duck in the United States, behind the mallard, green-winged teal, gadwall, and wood duck.


The American wigeon is a bird of open wetlands, such as wet grassland or marshes with some taller vegetation, and usually feeds by dabbling for plant food or grazing, which it does very readily. While on the water, wigeon often gather with feeding coots and divers, and are known to grab pieces of vegetation brought to the surface by diving water birds. For this reason, they are sometimes called "poacher" or "robber" ducks. Wigeon also commonly feed on dry land, eating waste grain in harvested fields and grazing on pasture grasses, winter wheat, clover, and lettuce. Having a largely vegetarian diet, most wigeon migrate in the fall well before northern marshes begin to freeze. The American wigeon is highly gregarious outside of the breeding season and will form large flocks.


The American wigeon is a medium-sized bird; it is larger than a teal, but smaller than a pintail. In silhouette, the wigeon can be distinguished from other dabblers by its round head, short neck, and small bill. It is 42–59 cm (17–23 in) long, with a 76–91 cm (30–36 in) wingspan and a weight of 512–1,330 g (1.129–2.932 lb). This wigeon has two adult molts per year and a juvenile molt in the first year, as well.
The breeding male (drake) is a striking bird with a mask of green feathers around its eyes and a cream colored cap running from the crown of its head to its bill. This white patch gives the wigeon its other common name, baldpate (pate is another word for head). Their belly is also white. In flight, drakes can be identified by the large white shoulder patch on each wing. These white patches flash as the birds bank and turn. In non-breeding (eclipse) plumage, the drake looks more like the female.
The hens are much less conspicuous, having primarily gray and brown plumage. Both sexes have a pale blue bill with a black tip, a white belly, and gray legs and feet. The wing patch behind the speculum is gray. They can be distinguished from most ducks, apart from Eurasian wigeon, by shape. However, that species has a darker head and all grey underwing. The head and neck coloring of the female is different as opposed to the Eurasian wigeon. It nests on the ground, near water and under cover. It lays 6–12 creamy white eggs. Flocks will often contain American coots.
The American wigeon is a noisy species, and in the field can often be identified by their distinctive calls. Drakes produce a three note whistle, while hens emit hoarse grunts and quacks. The male whistle makes a wheezy whoee-whoe-whoe, whereas the female has a low growl qua-ack.


Egyptian vultures are widely distributed across the Old World with their breeding range from southern Europe to northern Africa east to western and southern Asia. They are rare vagrants in Sri Lanka. They occur mainly on the dry plains and lower hills. In the Himalayas, they go up to about 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) in summer. In Armenia, breeding pairs have been found up to 2,300 meters a.s.l.
Most Egyptian vultures in the subtropical zone of Europe migrate south to Africa in winter. Vagrants may occur as far south as in South Africa although they bred in the Transkei region prior to 1923. They nest mainly on rocky cliffs, sometimes adopting ledges on tall buildings in cities and on large trees. Like many other large soaring migrants, they avoid making long crossings over water. Italian birds cross over through Sicily and into Tunisia making short sea crossings by passing through the islands of Marettimo and Pantelleria with rare stops on the island country of Malta. Those that migrate through the Iberian Peninsula cross into Africa over the Strait of Gibraltar while others cross further east through the Levant. In summer, some African birds fly further north into Europe and vagrants have been recorded in England, Ireland, and southern Sweden.
Migrating birds can sometimes cover 500 kilometres (310 mi) in a single day until they reach the southern edge of the Sahara, 3,500 to 5,500 kilometres (2,200 to 3,400 mi) from their summer home. Young birds that have not reached breeding age may overwinter in the grassland and semi-desert regions of the Sahel.


The Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus), also called the white scavenger vulture or pharaoh's chicken, is a small Old World vulture and the only member of the genus Neophron. It is widely distributed from the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa to India. The contrasting underwing pattern and wedge-shaped tail make it distinctive in flight as it soars in thermals during the warmer parts of the day. Egyptian vultures feed mainly on carrion but are opportunistic and will prey on small mammals, birds, and reptiles. They also feed on the eggs of other birds, breaking larger ones by tossing a large pebble onto them.
The use of tools is rare in birds and apart from the use of a pebble as a hammer, Egyptian vultures also use twigs to roll up wool for use in their nest. Egyptian vultures that breed in the temperate regions migrate south in winter while tropical populations are relatively sedentary. Populations of this species declined in the 20th century and some island populations are endangered by hunting, accidental poisoning, and collision with power lines.


The breeding season is in spring. During the beginning of the breeding season, courting pairs soar high together and one or both may make steep spiralling or swooping dives. The birds are monogamous and pair bonds may be maintained for more than one breeding season and the same nest sites may be reused each year. The nest is an untidy platform of twigs lined with rags and placed on a cliff ledge, building, or the fork of a large tree. Old nest platforms of eagles may also be taken over. Nests placed on the ground are rare but have been recorded in subspecies N. p. ginginianus and N. p. majorensis.Extra-pair copulation with neighbouring birds has been recorded and may be a reason for adult males to stay close to the female before and during the egg laying period. Females may sometimes associate with two males and all three help in raising the brood. The typical clutch consists of two eggs which are incubated in turns by both parents. The eggs are brick red with the broad end covered more densely with blotches of red, brown, and black. The parents begin incubating soon after the first egg is laid leading to asynchronous hatching. The first egg hatches after about 42 days. The second chick may hatch three to five days later and a longer delay increases the likelihood that it will die of starvation. In cliffs where the nests are located close to each other, young birds have been known to clamber over to neighbouring nests to obtain food. In the Spanish population, young fledge and leave the nest after 90 to 110 days. Fledged birds continue to remain dependent on their parents for at least a month. Once the birds begin to forage on their own, they move away from their parents' territory; young birds have been found nearly 500 km away from their nest site. One-year-old European birds migrate to Africa and stay there for at least one year. A vulture that fledged in France stayed in Africa for three years before migrating north in spring. After migrating back to their breeding areas, young birds move widely in search of good feeding territories and mates. The full adult plumage is attained in the fourth or fifth year. Egyptian vultures have been known to live for up to 37 years in captivity and at least 21 years in the wild. The probability of survival in the wild varies with age, increasing till the age of 2 and then falling at the age of 5. Older birds have an annual survival probability varying from 0.75 for non-breeders to 0.83 for breeding birds.


The adult's plumage is white, with black flight feathers in the wings. Wild birds usually appear soiled with a rusty or brown shade to the white plumage, derived from mud or iron-rich soil. Captive specimens without access to soil have clean white plumage. It has been suggested as a case of cosmetic colouration. The bill is slender and long, and the tip of the upper mandible is hooked. The nostril is an elongated horizontal slit. The neck feathers are long and form a hackle. The wings are pointed, with the third primary being the longest; the tail is wedge shaped. The legs are pink in adults and grey in juveniles. The claws are long and straight, and the third and fourth toes are slightly webbed at the base.
The bill is black in the nominate subspecies but pale or yellowish in adults of the smaller Indian ginginianus. Rasmussen and Anderton (2005) suggest that this variation may need further study, particularly due to the intermediate black-tipped bill described in rubripersonatus. The facial skin is yellow and unfeathered down to the throat. The sexes are indistinguishable in plumage but breeding males have a deeper orange facial skin colour than females. Females average slightly larger and are about 10–15% heavier than males. Young birds are blackish or chocolate brown with black and white patches. The adult plumage is attained only after about five years.

The adult Egyptian vulture measures 47–65 centimetres (19–26 in) from the point of the beak to the extremity of the tail feathers. In the smaller N. p. ginginianus males are about 47–52 centimetres (19–20 in) long while females are 52–55.5 centimetres (20.5–21.9 in) long. The wingspan is about 2.7 times the body length. Birds from Spain weigh about 1.9 kilograms (4.2 lb) while birds of the Canary Island subspecies majorensis, representing a case of island gigantism, are heavier with an average weight of 2.4 kilograms (5.3 lb). The Egyptian vulture is one of the smallest true Old World vulture, the only smaller species appears to be the marginally lighter palm-nut vulture (which may be an outlier from other vultures). Additionally, the hooded vulture is only scarcely larger than the Egyptian species.


Social flycatchers breed in plantations, pasture with some trees, and open woodland from northwestern Mexico south to northeastern Peru, southern Brazil and northwestern Argentina. It is a common and wide-ranging species and thus not considered threatened by the IUCN.
They like to perch openly in trees, several meters above ground. From such perches they will sally out for considerable distances to catch insects in flight, to which purpose they utilize a range of aerobatic maneuvers. They also regularly hover and glean for prey and small berries—e.g. from gumbo-limbo (Bursera simaruba), which they seek out and also utilize in human-modified habitat such as secondary forest or urban parks and gardens—and will pick off prey from the ground and even enter shallow waters to feed on aquatic invertebrates, tadpoles and occasionally small fish. They have been observed to forage peacefully alongside common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) in the undergrowth, maybe even cooperating with the monkeys in flushing prey from hiding. Perhaps this behavior only occurs during the dry season, when fruits are scarcer; it has been noted that they do not join mixed-species feeding flocks very often.
The nest, built by the female in a bush, tree or on a building, is a large roofed structure of stems and straw, which for protection is often built near a wasp, bee or ant nest, or the nest of another tyrant flycatcher. The nest site is often near or over water. The typical clutch is two to four brown- or lilac-blotched cream or white eggs, laid between February and June.


In appearance, the social flycatcher resembles a smaller boat-billed flycatcher or great kiskadee. The adult is 16–18 cm (6.3–7.1 in) long and weighs 24–27 g (0.85–0.95 oz). The head is dark grey with a strong white eyestripe and a usually concealed orange to vermilion crown stripe. The upperparts are olive-brown, and the wings and tail are brown with only faint rufous fringes. The underparts are yellow and the throat is white. Young birds have a paler eye mask, reduced crown stripe, and have chestnut fringes to the wing and tail feathers. The call is a sharp peeurrr and the dawn song is a chips-k’-cheery.
As the specific epithet similis (Latin for "the similar one") indicates, this species looks much like its closest living relative the rusty-margined flycatcher (Myiozetetes cayanensis), and also like the white-bearded flycatcher (Phelpsia inornatus), white-ringed flycatcher (Conopias albovittatus) and lesser kiskadee (Pitangus/Philohydor lictor). In fact, except at close range, these are all but indistinguishable from appearance alone. They and the two larger similar species mentioned above share much of their range. Though they all are apparently fairly close relatives, the group to which they seem to belong also includes species with rather different head-pattern, like the grey-capped flycatcher which also belongs to Myiozetetes.


This species is found on boulders and steep rock walls in forests and around lakes.  It grows on several types of rock substrate, such as acidic rock, sandstone, quartz, and granitic rock. Like most lichens, U. mammulata is sensitive to air and water quality. If conditions are optimal, seeing rocks or cliffs covered in dinner plate-sized thalli is not unusual. However, it has been suggested that U. mammulata is not as sensitive to pH and water quality as it is to the frequency and duration of precipitation.


Umbilicaria mammulata is among the largest lichens in the world. The thallus of U. mammulata is usually 4 to 15 cm (1.6 to 5.9 in) in diameter, but specimens have been known to reach 63-centimetre (2.07 ft) in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee.  The smooth upper surface is a reddish-brown to grayish-brown color and the lower surface is pitch black.


Spirobranchus cariniferus, commonly known as the blue tubeworm or spiny tubeworm, or by its Māori name toke pā, is a species of tube-building polychaete worm endemic to New Zealand.
This species forms patchy, belt-like colonies of hard, white, triangular tubes, each containing a bright blue worm. These are cemented to the shaded side of rocks in the lower to mid-tidal zone. It may also inhabit hard objects such as dead shells and small stones. When submerged, it puts out a fan of dark-blue tentacles to feed, which it retracts during low tide.
Individuals living in Dunedin's Otago Harbour are the only polychaetes known to host gregarine parasites. Little is known about their impact on the worms, but it is likely to be a negative one.


It is found throughout New Zealand. Its tube layers can be up to 30 cm thick in the cooler climate of the South Island.


The blue tubeworm is a surface filter feeder. It feeds on plankton and organic particles, which it filters from the water using its fan of tentacles.


Adult worms can grow to 40 mm long and 3 mm wide.
The tube is hard, white, and triangular in cross-section with a ridge running along the top. This extends from above the tube opening to form a sharp protective spine. The operculum is a flat, calcareous plate. Its stalk is flat with prolonged wings.
Its body is a yellow to orange colour towards the posterior and a bright blue at the anterior. Radioles are a bright to dark blue with some white bands.


The blue mockingbird (Melanotis caerulescens) is a species of bird in the family Mimidae. It is endemic to Mexico, but has occurred as a vagrant in the southern United States. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical moist montane forests, and heavily degraded former forest.
The blue mockingbird is uniformly blue on its back, tail, wings, head and underbelly. This color is a result of feather structure rather than pigment, and therefore can look gray in the shade. It has a black "mask" surrounding its reddish-brown eyes. It has a rather long, slightly graduated tail, and dark blue streaks over its breast. Its bill is long, thin and slightly curved, and its legs and feet are black.


The blue mockingbird is an omnivore; it feeds primarily on invertebrates, but also on some vegetable matter.


Measuring 9.5–10.5 in (24–27 cm) in length, and weighing between 50.2 and 59.7 g (1.77 and 2.11 oz), the blue mockingbird is a medium-sized mimid. Individuals of the subspecies caerulescens have a mean body mass slightly higher than that for individuals of the subspecies longirostris — 63.5 g (2.24 oz) for the former and 59.7 g (2.11 oz) for the latter.


The carrion crow (Corvus corone) is a passerine bird of the family Corvidae and the genus Corvus which is native to western Europe and the eastern Palearctic.


Though an eater of carrion of all kinds, the carrion crow will eat insects, earthworms, grain, fruits, seeds, small mammals, amphibians, scraps and will also steal eggs. Crows are scavengers by nature, which is why they tend to frequent sites inhabited by humans in order to feed on their household waste. Crows will also harass birds of prey or even foxes for their kills. Crows actively hunt and occasionally co-operate with other crows to make kills, and are sometimes seen catching ducklings for food. Due to their gregarious lifestyle and defensive abilities, carrion crows have few natural predators. However, powerful raptors such as the northern goshawk, peregrine falcon, Eurasian eagle-owl and golden eagle will readily hunt them, and crows can become an important prey item locally.


The carrion crow (Corvus corone) and hooded crow (Corvus cornix), including the former's slightly larger allied form or race C. c. orientalis, are two very closely related species; the geographic distributions of both forms of carrion crow across Europe are illustrated in the accompanying diagram. It is believed that this distribution might have resulted from the glaciation cycles during the Pleistocene, which caused the parent population to split into isolates which subsequently re-expanded their ranges when the climate warmed causing secondary contact.
Poelstra and coworkers sequenced almost the entire genomes of both species in populations at varying distances from the contact zone to find that the two species were genetically identical, both in their DNA and in its expression (in the form of mRNA), except for the lack of expression of a small portion (<0.28%) of the genome (situated on avian chromosome 18) in the hooded crow, which imparts the lighter plumage colouration on its torso. Thus the two species can viably hybridize, and occasionally do so at the contact zone, but the all-black carrion crows on the one side of the contact zone mate almost exclusively with other all-black carrion crows, while the same occurs among the hooded crows on the other side of the contact zone.
It is therefore clear that it is only the outward appearance of the two species that inhibits hybridization. The authors attribute this to assortative mating (rather than to ecological selection), the advantage of which is not clear, and it would lead to the rapid appearance of streams of new lineages, and possibly even species, through mutual attraction between mutants. Unnikrishnan and Akhila propose, instead, that koinophilia is a more parsimonious explanation for the resistance to hybridization across the contact zone, despite the absence of physiological, anatomical or genetic barriers to such hybridization. The carrion crow is also found in the mountains and forests of Japan and also in the cities of Japan.


The bulky stick nest is usually placed in a tall tree, but cliff ledges, old buildings and pylons may be used as well. Nests are also occasionally placed on or near the ground. The nest resembles that of the common raven, but is less bulky. The 3 to 4 brown-speckled blue or greenish eggs are incubated for 18–20 days by the female alone, who is fed by the male. The young fledge after 29–30 days.
It is not uncommon for an offspring from the previous years to stay around and help rear the new hatchlings. Instead of seeking out a mate, it looks for food and assists the parents in feeding the young.


The plumage of the carrion crow is black with a green or purple sheen, much greener than the gloss of the rook. The bill, legs and feet are also black. It can be distinguished from the common raven by its size of around 48–52 centimetres (19–20 in) in length as compared to an average of 63 centimetres (25 inches) for ravens, and from the hooded crow by its black plumage. The carrion crow has a wingspan of 84–100 centimetres (33–39 in) and weighs 400–600 grams (14 oz – 1 lb 5 oz).
There is frequent confusion between the carrion crow and the rook, another black corvid found within its range. The beak of the crow is stouter and in consequence looks shorter, and whereas in the adult rook the nostrils are bare, those of the crow are covered at all ages with bristle-like feathers. As well as this, the wings of a carrion crow are proportionally shorter and broader than those of the rook when seen in flight.
Juvenile carrion crows can be identified by their brownish plumage and blue eyes, both of which darken to black and brown as the crow grows older.


As its name suggests, this bird breeds in western North America, from southern Canada to northern Arizona and New Mexico. Its breeding habitat is in areas with dense stands of sagebrush and rarely in other shrubby areas. The female lays 4 or 5 eggs in a twiggy cup nest built in a low bush. Both parents incubate and feed the young birds.


In winter, these birds migrate to the southernmost United States and Mexico, including the Baja Peninsula, north and south.


They mainly eat insects in summer; they also eat berries, especially in winter. They usually search for insects on the ground in brushy locations.


Oreoscoptes montanus are pale grey-brown on the upperparts and white with dark streaks on the underparts. They have a slim straight relatively short bill, yellow eyes and a long tail, although not as long as that of other thrashers.
Measurements:
Length: 7.9-9.1 in (20-23 cm)
Weight: 1.4-1.8 oz (40-50 g)
Wingspan: 12.6 in (32 cm)


An anole's diet consists primarily of small insects such as crickets, grasshoppers, flies, butterflies, moths, cockroaches, small beetles, and other arthropods, including spiders, as well as occasionally feeding on various molluscs, grains, and seeds. Although anoles have been observed preying upon smaller reptiles such as juvenile skinks, this is not thought to be typical behavior. Many people who keep these lizards as pets feed them mealworms, grubs, maggots, and small crickets.


Anolis carolinensis or green anole (US: /əˈnoʊ.li/ (listen)) (among other names below) is a tree-dwelling species of anole lizard native to the southeastern United States and introduced to islands in the Pacific and Caribbean. A small to medium-sized lizard, the green anole is a trunk-crown ecomorph and can change its color to several shades from brown to green.
Other common names include the Carolina anole, Carolina green anole, American anole, American green anole, North American green anole and red-throated anole. It is sometimes referred to as the American chameleon (typically in the pet trade) due to its color-changing ability, however it is not a true chameleon.


The green anole is a small to medium-sized lizard, with a slender body. The head is long and pointed with ridges between the eyes and nostrils, and smaller ones on the top of the head. The toes have adhesive pads to facilitate climbing. They exhibit sexual dimorphism, the males being fifteen percent larger. Adult males within a population can be classified within a heavyweight and a lightweight morph. The male dewlap (throat fan) is three times the size of the female's and bright orange to pink, whereas that of the female is lighter in color. The dewlap is usually pink for Anolis carolinensis (more orange-red in A. sagrei) and is very rarely present in females. The color of the dewlap is variable and different from the lizard eye to the human eye. Green anoles are thought to be capable of seeing a larger range of the UV spectrum, and that the dewlap reflects ultraviolet light for attracting mates. Female anoles do, however, often have a dorsal line down their back. Extension of the dewlap from the throat is used for communication. Males can form a pronounced dorsal ridge behind the head when displaying or when under stress. Females and juveniles have a prominent white stripe running along their spine, a feature most males lack.
Adult males are usually 12.5–20.3 cm (4.9–8.0 in) long, with about 60-70% of which is made up of its tail, with a body length up to 7.5 cm (3.0 in) and can weigh from 3–7 g (0.11–0.25 oz).


This species is native to North America, where it is found mainly in the subtropical southeastern parts of the continent. Anoles are the most abundant on the Atlantic Coastal Plains in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, and on the Gulf Coast in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, where they extend inland as far as Texas Hill Country and the DFW Metroplex;  they have also been recorded in Tamaulipas, Mexico, but it is mostly likely an introduction. In the Carolinas, they are found on the coastal plains as far north as False Cape in Virginia, and in the southern piedmont of North Carolina, but throughout South Carolina, while in Georgia they are widespread except in the Blue Ridge region.
The species has been introduced into various locales in the Pacific and the Caribbean: Hawaii, the Ogasawara Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Bahamas, Anguilla, Palau, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as the Canary Islands.  In 2005 they were recognized and listed as an invasive alien species in the Ogasawara Islands of Japan for causing insect population collapse. They have been sighted in Orange County and San Diego County of southern California, with sightings in San Diego going at least as far back as 1993.
A. carolinensis is arboreal in nature but may be seen on the ground and frequently seen on shrubs in the low country of the Carolinas. However, it can live in cities like Atlanta with little trouble  so long as there is plentiful vegetation and bugs to eat.  One can observe them on steps, trellises, and railings adjacent to foliage; on particularly hot summer days they may seek to cool off on indoor walls or on wrap around porches of older buildings, and in the former case can simply be captured in a shoebox and gently placed outdoors.  It is common on roadsides, the edges of forests where there are shrubs and vines, but also construction sites having abundant foliage and sunlight. Their preferred habitat is open pine communities with a greater shrub density, it may harbor a greater abundance of anoles  where they are able to watch for prey and intruders coming into their territory.


The typical breeding season for Carolina anoles starts as early as April and ends in late September, gonadal activity being largely regulated by photoperiod, enlarging in spring as the weather warms up and days lengthen, and then regressing in late summer.
During this time, the males patrol their territory and the most brilliant displays of these creatures can be seen. Males defend their territory and females from rivals, while courting the females with elaborate displays of extending their brightly colored dewlaps while bobbing up and down, almost doing a dance. The dewlap is also used to ward off other males. The male courts and pursues a female until the two successfully mate. Usually, when the female is ready to mate, she may let the male catch her, at which point he will grasp her by biting a fold of her skin behind her neck. The male will then position his tail underneath the female's tail near her vent. Males have two sex organs, known as hemipenes, which are normally kept within the body, but are everted from his vent for mating. Males seem to alternate between the left and right hemipenis on successive matings.
The female matures one ovarian follicle at a time, the ovaries alternating in production. The sight of a courting male induces ovarian development, sexual receptiveness and then ovulation. About two to four weeks following mating, the female lays her first clutch of eggs, usually one or two in the first clutch. She can produce an egg every two weeks during the breeding season, until about 10 eggs have been produced. However, she can store sperm for up to eight months following mating. She then buries the soft-shelled eggs in a shallow depression in soft soil, leaf litter, compost, rotting wood, or even a hole in a nearby tree. Eggs average 12.5 mm (0.49 in) by 9.3 mm (0.37 in) in size.
The eggs are left to incubate by the heat of the sun, and if successful, will hatch in about five to seven weeks (30–45 days) from late May to early October. The incubate temperature has to be 80 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit. On hatching, the hatchlings are 52–67 mm (2.0–2.6 in) in length.
The hatchlings must fend for themselves, as they are not cared for by either parent. The young hatchlings must be wary of other adult anoles in the area, as well as larger reptiles and mammals, which could eat them. Younger anoles differ from adults in having less obvious head ridges, a wider head and shorter tail. They mature in about eight months.


Carolina anoles' nervous natures makes it advisable not to attempt to handle them very often; despite this, Carolina anoles are popular pets. Individual animals may or may not adapt readily to cage life. Care must be taken to ensure the animals receive the support they need to adapt to captivity and live full and enriching lives;  an adequately sized enclosure, as well as the appropriate plants and substrate material, are beneficial to the health of captive Carolina anoles.
A well-cared for green anole can be expected to live for up to 10 years, with longer being possible.


The grass snake (Natrix natrix), sometimes called the ringed snake or water snake, is a Eurasian non-venomous colubrid snake. It is often found near water and feeds almost exclusively on amphibians.


Grass snakes mainly prey on amphibians, especially the common toad and the common frog, although they may also occasionally eat ants and larvae. Captive snakes have been observed taking earthworms offered by hand, but dead prey items are never taken. The snake will search actively for prey, often on the edges of the water, using sight and sense of smell (using Jacobson's organ). They consume prey live without using constriction.


The grass snake is widely distributed in mainland Europe, ranging from mid Scandinavia to southern Italy. It is also found in the Middle East and northwestern Africa.
Grass snakes in Britain were thought to belong to the subspecies N. n. helvetica but have been reclassified as the barred grass snake Natrix helvetica. Any records of N. natrix in Britain are now considered to have originated from imported specimens.


The grass snake is typically dark green or brown in colour with a characteristic yellow or whitish collar behind the head, which explains the alternative name ringed snake. The colour may also range from grey to black, with darker colours being more prevalent in colder regions, presumably owing to the thermal benefits of being dark in colour. The underside is whitish with irregular blocks of black, which are useful in recognizing individuals. It can grow to 1 m (3 ft 3 in) or more in length.


Grass snakes are strong swimmers and may be found close to freshwater, although there is evidence individual snakes often do not need bodies of water throughout the entire season.
The preferred habitat appears to be open woodland and "edge" habitat, such as field margins and woodland borders, as these may offer adequate refuge while still affording ample opportunity for thermoregulation through basking. Pond edges are also favoured and the relatively high chance of observing this secretive species in such areas may account for their perceived association with ponds and water.
Grass snakes, as with most reptiles, are at the mercy of the thermal environment and need to overwinter in areas which are not subject to freezing. Thus, they typically spend the winter underground where the temperature is relatively stable.


As spring approaches, the males emerge first and spend much of the day basking in an effort to raise body temperature and thereby metabolism. This may be a tactic to maximise sperm production, as the males mate with the females as soon as they emerge up to two weeks later in April, or earlier if environmental temperatures are favourable. The leathery-skinned eggs are laid in batches of eight to 40 in June to July and hatch after about 10 weeks. To survive and hatch, the eggs require a temperature of at least 21 °C (70 °F), but preferably 28 °C (82 °F), with high humidity. Areas of rotting vegetation, such as compost heaps, are preferred locations. The young are about 18 centimetres (7 in) long when they hatch and are immediately independent.


The three-banded plover, or three-banded sandplover (Charadrius tricollaris), is a small wader. This  plover is resident and generally sedentary in much of East Africa, southern Africa and Madagascar. It occurs mainly on inland rivers, pools, lakes and pans, frequening their exposed shores. This species is often seen as single individuals, but it will form small flocks. It hunts by sight for insects, worms and other invertebrates. Three-banded plovers have a sharp whistled weeet-weet call. Its larger and darker-plumaged sister species, Forbes's plover, replaces it in West Africa and in the moist tropics. The two species have largely allopatric breeding ranges. Both species present a distinctively elongated profile, due to their proportionally long tail and wings.


Lactarius indigo, commonly known as the indigo milk cap, indigo milky, the indigo (or blue) lactarius, or the blue milk mushroom, is a species of agaric fungus in the family Russulaceae. A widely distributed species, it grows naturally in eastern North America, East Asia, and Central America; it has also been reported in southern France. L. indigo grows on the ground in both deciduous and coniferous forests, where it forms mycorrhizal associations with a broad range of trees. The fruit body color ranges from dark blue in fresh specimens to pale blue-gray in older ones. The milk, or latex, that oozes when the mushroom tissue is cut or broken — a feature common to all members of the genus Lactarius — is also indigo blue, but slowly turns green upon exposure to air. The cap has a diameter of 5 to 15 cm (2 to 6 in), and the stem is 2 to 8 cm (0.8 to 3 in) tall and 1 to 2.5 cm (0.4 to 1.0 in) thick. It is an edible mushroom, and is sold in rural markets in China, Guatemala, and Mexico. In Honduras the mushroom is called a chora, and it's generally eaten with egg; generally as a side dish for a bigger meal.


Although L. indigo is a well-known edible species, opinions vary on its desirability. For example, American mycologist David Arora considers it a "superior edible", while a field guide on Kansas fungi rates it as "mediocre in quality". It may have a slightly bitter, or peppery taste, and has a coarse, grainy texture. The firm flesh is best prepared by cutting the mushroom in thin slices. The blue color disappears with cooking, and the mushroom becomes grayish. Because of the granular texture of the flesh, it does not lend itself well to drying. Specimens producing copious quantities of milk may be used to add color to marinades.
In Mexico, individuals harvest the wild mushrooms for sale at farmers' markets, typically from June to November; they are considered a "second class" species for consumption. L. indigo is also sold in Guatemalan markets from May to October. It is one of 13 Lactarius species sold at rural markets in Yunnan in southwestern China.


The characteristic blue color of the fruiting body and the latex make this species easily recognizable. Other Lactarius species with some blue color include the "silver-blue milky" (L. paradoxus), found in eastern North America, which has a grayish-blue cap when young, but it has reddish-brown to purple-brown latex and gills. L. chelidonium has a yellowish to dingy yellow-brown to bluish-gray cap and yellowish to brown latex. L. quieticolor has blue-colored flesh in the cap and orange to red-orange flesh in the base of the stem. Although the blue discoloration of L. indigo is thought to be rare in the genus Lactarius, in 2007 five new species were reported from Peninsular Malaysia with bluing latex or flesh, including L. cyanescens, L. lazulinus, L. mirabilis, and two species still unnamed.


Panellus serotinus, commonly known as the late oyster, is a species of fungus in the family Mycenaceae. Fruit bodies grow as overlapping fan- or oyster-shaped caps on the wood of both coniferous and deciduous trees. The gills on the underside are closely spaced, bright orange yellow, and have an adnate attachment to the stipe. It produces a yellow spore print; spores are smooth, amyloid, and measure 4–6 by 1–2 µm. The caps are edible, but some people report the taste to be bitter—a factor that may depend on the host tree on which it is found. In Japan, where it is called Mukitake, it is considered "one of the most delicious edible mushrooms", and a system has recently been developed to cultivate the mushroom in plastic greenhouses. However, some guidebooks list it as inedible.


The painted turtle (Chrysemys picta) is the most widespread native turtle of North America. It lives in slow-moving fresh waters, from southern Canada to northern Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. They have been shown to prefer large wetlands with long periods of innundation and emergent vegetation. This turtle is a member of the genus Chrysemys, which is part of the pond turtle family Emydidae. Fossils show that the painted turtle existed 15 million years ago. Three regionally based subspecies (the eastern, midland, and western) evolved during the last ice age. The southern painted turtle (C. dorsalis) is alternately considered the only other species in Chrysemys, or another subspecies of C. picta.
The adult painted turtle is 13–25 cm (5–10 in) long; the male is smaller than the female. The turtle's top shell is dark and smooth, without a ridge. Its skin is olive to black with red, orange, or yellow stripes on its extremities. The subspecies can be distinguished by their shells: the eastern has straight-aligned top shell segments; the midland has a large gray mark on the bottom shell; the western has a red pattern on the bottom shell.
The turtle eats aquatic vegetation, algae, and small water creatures including insects, crustaceans, and fish. Painted turtles primarily feed while in water and are able to locate and subdue prey even in heavily clouded conditions. Although they are frequently consumed as eggs or hatchlings by rodents, canines, and snakes, the adult turtles' hard shells protect them from most predators. Reliant on warmth from its surroundings, the painted turtle is active only during the day when it basks for hours on logs or rocks. During winter, the turtle hibernates, usually in the mud at the bottom of water bodies. The turtles mate in spring and autumn. Females dig nests on land and lay eggs between late spring and mid-summer. Hatched turtles grow until sexual maturity: 2–9 years for males, 6–16 for females.
In the traditional tales of Algonquian tribes, the colorful turtle played the part of a trickster. In modern times, four U.S. states (Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, and Vermont) have named the painted turtle their official reptile. While habitat loss and road killings have reduced the turtle's population, its ability to live in human-disturbed settings has helped it remain the most abundant turtle in North America. Adults in the wild can live for more than 55 years.


Nesting is done, by the females only, between late May and mid-July. The nests are vase-shaped and are usually dug in sandy soil, often at sites with southern exposures. Nests are often within 200 m (220 yd) of water, but may be as far away as 600 m (660 yd), with older females tending to nest further inland. Nest sizes vary depending on female sizes and locations but are about 5–11 cm (2–4 in) deep. Females may return to the same sites several consecutive years, but if several females make their nests close together, the eggs become more vulnerable to predators. Female eastern painted turtles have been shown to nest together, possibly even participating in communal nesting.
The female's optimal body temperature while digging her nest is 29–30 °C (84–86 °F). If the weather is unsuitable, for instance a too hot night in the Southeast, she delays the process until later at night. Painted turtles in Virginia have been observed waiting three weeks to nest because of a hot drought.
While preparing to dig her nest, the female sometimes exhibits a mysterious preliminary behavior. She presses her throat against the ground of different potential sites, perhaps sensing moisture, warmth, texture, or smell, although her exact motivation is unknown. She may further temporize by excavating several false nests as the wood turtles also do.
The female relies on her hind feet for digging. She may accumulate so much sand and mud on her feet that her mobility is reduced, making her vulnerable to predators. To lighten her labors, she lubricates the area with her bladder water. Once the nest is complete, the female deposits into the hole. The freshly laid eggs are white, elliptical, porous, and flexible. From start to finish, the female's work may take four hours. Sometimes she remains on land overnight afterwards, before returning to her home water.
Females can lay five clutches per year, but two is a normal average after including the 30–50% of a population's females that do not produce any clutches in a given year. In some northern populations, no females lay more than one clutch per year. Bigger females tend to lay bigger eggs and more eggs per clutch. Clutch sizes of the subspecies vary, although the differences may reflect different environments, rather than different genetics. The two more northerly subspecies, western and midland, are larger and have more eggs per clutch—11.9 and 7.6, respectively—than the eastern (4.9). Within subspecies, also, the more northerly females lay larger clutches.


Panaeolus papilionaceus is inedible, and is neither choice in flavor nor substantial in mass. While similar looking species, such as Panaeolus cinctulus, do contain psilocybin, Panaeolus papilionaceus does not.


Cap: 1–5 cm across, obtusely conic, grayish brown, not hygrophanous, becoming campanulate in age, margin adorned with white toothlike partial veil fragments when young or towards the edge, flesh thin.
Gills: adnate to adnexed close to crowded, one or two tiers of intermediate gills, pale gray, acquiring a mottled, blackish appearance in age, with whitish edges.
Spores: 12–18 x 7–10 µm, elliptical, smooth, with an apical pore, spore print black.
Stipe: 6–12 cm by 2–4 mm, gray-brown to reddish brown, darker where handled, paler toward the apex, brittle, fibrous, and pruinose.
Odor: Mild.
Taste: Unappetizing.
Microscopic features: Basidia 4-sterigmate; abruptly clavate. Cheilocystidia abundant; subcylindric, often subcapitate or capitate.


Xanthoria elegans, commonly known as the elegant sunburst lichen, is a lichenized species of fungus in the genus Xanthoria, family Teloschistaceae. Recognized by its bright orange or red pigmentation, this species grows on rocks, often near bird or rodent perches. It has a circumpolar and alpine distribution. It was one of the first lichens to be used for the rock-face dating method known as lichenometry.


The thallus of this lichen is described as foliose, having the aspect of leaves, although the central portions of the thallus may appear nearly crustose. It is small, typically less than 5 cm (2 in) wide, with lobes less than 2 mm (0.08 in) broad, appressed to loosely appressed. The upper surface is some shade of orange while the lower surface is white, corticate, with short, sparse hapters (an attachment structure produced by some lichens). The vegetative propagules called soredia and isidia are absent, although apothecia are common. It has been described as possessing swollen, orange-yellow thalli (in streams), compact orange thalli (on boulders) or dark orange-red thalli on the driest rock faces.
The variety X. elegans var. granulifera, characterized by having isidia-like vegetative propagules, has been reported from Greenland and Spitsbergen.


Amanita vaginata, commonly known as the grisette or the grisette amanita, is an edible mushroom in the fungus family Amanitaceae. Unlike many other Amanita mushrooms, A. vaginata lacks a ring on the stem. The cap is gray or brownish, 5 to 10 centimetres (2.0 to 3.9 in) in diameter, and has furrows around the edge that duplicate the gill pattern underneath. It has a widespread distribution in North America, and is thought to be part of a species complex that includes other similar-looking Amanitas.


Although not poisonous, most authors advise against consumption due to the possibility of mistaking other poisonous species of Amanita for it. One source notes that the species is usually regarded as edible but may cause intoxication.
One field guide notes that cows enjoy eating this mushroom.


A mycorrhizal species, Amanita vaginata grows singly or numerous in both coniferous and hardwood forests. It has also been noted to occur frequently in grassy areas at the edge of forests, unkempt lawns, and suburban area where the ground has been recently disturbed. A widely distributed and common species, it fruits from the spring to the fall.
This species is widely distributed in North America. It is also found in the Azores, Australia, Iran  and Scotland.


The cap is 3 to 10 centimetres (1.2 to 3.9 in) in diameter and gray to grayish-brown in color; initially the cap is oval, then as it matures it becomes progressively conical, convex, and eventually flattened, sometimes with a small umbo (a rounded elevation in the center of the cap). The gills are white, free (not attached to the stem) to narrowly attached, moderately crowded together, and sometimes have a grayish tint; the lamellulae (small gills that run from the edge of the cap towards the stem) are truncate. The flesh is white and thin, and does not change color upon bruising or injury. The stem is 8 to 22 centimetres (3.1 to 8.7 in) long and 1 to 2 centimetres (0.4 to 0.8 in) thick. Unlike many other Amanitas with stems that are swollen at the base (bulbous), the thickness of the A. vaginata stem is roughly the same at both ends. The stem surface is covered with a finely powdered bloom (pruinose), especially near the top; faint longitudinal lines may be seen. The base of the stem is enclosed in a loose, sack-like volva that may discolor grayish or reddish brown. The spore print is white.
The variant A. vaginata var. alba is pure white, and has a volva that is either absent, or not constricted around the base of the stem.


The tawny grisette (Amanita fulva) was once thought to be a variety of A. vaginata. In North America, A. vaginata is considered to be part of a species complex, that includes A. constricta, A. pachycolea and A. protecta.


Nursery web spiders are wandering hunters. They are usually found on vegetation or at water margins throughout North America. Pisaurina mira is usually seen in the woods and meadows, but it is most populated in the transitional areas between woods and fields. They inhabit tall grass, shrubs, and bushes, which gives them an advantage considering their hunting strategy, waiting for prey to come within their reach and using their pincers ("sit-and-wait ambush predator").


Pisaurina mira, also known as the American nursery web spiders, is a species of spider in the family Pisauridae. They are often mistaken for wolf spiders (Lycosidae) due to their physical resemblance. P. mira is distinguished by its unique eye arrangement of two rows.
P. mira is known for its wide distribution across eastern North America and tend to inhabit high weeds or low shrubs in ecotonal areas. It is categorized as a "sit-and-wait ambush predator" that waits for prey to come within reach and snatches them using its chelicerae (clawlike pincers).
P. mira is most well known for its sexually cannibalistic behavior and extensive use of silk web in mating. Prior to copulation, the male binds the female's legs with his silk to avoid being consumed by the female. This silk use for survival has been found to increase P. mira males' reproductive fitness, as they typically engage in mating with multiple females when not manipulated.
Like other members of the Pisauridae, P. mira carries its eggs along with it in a sac that is secured both by a thread of silk linking it to the spider's spinnerets and by being held by the spider's chelicerae. When the eggs are nearly ready to hatch the mother builds a nursery web within which the egg sac is then hung. After they hatch, and until their first molt, the infant spiders inhabit the rather large volume enclosed by this nursery web. The mother spider stations herself nearby to defend the nursery. The responsibility of parental care is upheld solely by the female, as males who survive the sexually cannibalistic female during mating depart to mate with more females.
Although the venom of P. mira is enough to kill its prey, which are usually small insects, it is insufficient for any lethal damage to bigger animals or humans.


Pisaurina mira are active hunters. Instead of setting up a spider web to passively wait for prey, the most significant silk use in P. mira is centered around the mating behavior. In order to obtain food, the nursery web spiders wander around, hunting for insects such as gnats and mosquitoes. They use their chelicerae to grab the prey. While P. mira's venom is not lethal, it injects digestive juices into their prey and liquifies the prey's internal organs. The vast majority of nutritional intake for the nursery web spiders come from this soup of liquified organs.