This bird is a frequent visitor to backyard feeders.
It is a type of finch and is the state bird of Virginia. What is it?
This isn't Virginia's smallest owl, but it's close. It is small enough to nest in a bird's nest box and it can be in two colors, reddish (called rufus) and gray.
Can you name it?
People often think these native creatures are washing their paws in streams when, in fact, they are fishing for dinner!
They can go up or down a tree head first and are great swimmers. Which creature is this?
Who may keep native wildlife as pets in Virginia?
anyone as long as they care for them properly
licensed wildlife rehabilitators
These birds can live up to 15 years. They need clean wetlands, marshes, and shorelines to nest and find food.
With a six-foot wing span, they are one of the biggest of our native birds. Which creature is this?
great blue heron
The eastern gray squirrel weighs about a pound when full grown, but starts its life at a ½ ounce!
Born naked, blind, and deaf, they are totally dependent on their mother. A mother squirrel has 2 to 5 babies in a litter. How many "litters" do gray squirrels usually have each year?
This is Virginia's only native marsupial which means that it carries its young in a pouch.
It "plays dead" to fool other animals and humans into leaving it alone.
Can you name it?
A mother songbird will reject her baby if you touch it because she can smell your scent.
Woodpeckers like this red-bellied woodpecker are "zygodactyl". This means that:
they nest in dead trees
their tongues are so long that they wrap around the inside of the woodpecker's head
they have two toes facing foreward and two toes facing backwards on each foot
If you find baby rabbits in the grass and don't see an adult rabbit near the nest after watching from a distance:
rescue the babies because the mother will never be far from the nest; assume they have been abandoned.
set up twigs over the opening of the nest and check back to see if the sticks have been moved by the mother.
don't worry because baby rabbit can find food for themselves.