American Coot
American Crow
American Flamingo*
American Goldfinch
American Kestrel
American Robin
American Tree Sparrow
American White Pelican
Bald Eagle
Baltimore Oriole
Barn Swallow
Barnacle Goose*
Belted Kingfisher
Black-and-White Warbler
Black-Capped Chickadee
Black-Headed Gull*
Black Vulture*
Blue Jay
Blue Tit*
Blue-Winged Teal
Bobwhite
Broad-Winged Hawk
Brown Creeper
Brown-Headed Cowbird
Brown Thrasher
Bufflehead
Canada Goose
Canvasback
Cape May Warbler*
Carolina Chickadee*
Carolina Wren
Cedar Waxwing
Chipping Sparrow
Common Gallinule
Common Goldeneye
Common Grackle
Common Gull*
Common Moorhen*
Common Pochard*
Common Redpoll
Cooper's Hawk
Dark-Eyed Junco
Dicksissel
Double-Crested Cormorant
Downy Woodpecker
Eastern Bluebird
Eastern Goldfinch - See American Goldfinch
Eastern Kingbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Eastern Phoebe
Eastern Towhee
Eastern Wood Pewee
Eurasian Blackbird*
Eurasian Collared Dove
Eurasian Coot*
Eurasian Jackdaw*
Eurasian Magpie*
European Serin*
European Starling
Fox Sparrow
Golden-Crowned Kinglet
Gray Catbird
Graylag Goose
Great Black-backed Gull*
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Great Spotted Woodpecker*
Greater Flamingo*
Greater White-Fronted Goose*
Hairy Woodpecker
Harlequin Duck
Hermit Thrush
Herring Gull
Hooded Crow*
Horned Lark
House Finch
House Sparrow
House Wren
Indigo Bunting
Killdeer
Laughing Gull*
Lesser Black-backed Gull*
Lesser Scaup
Lincoln's Sparrow
Magnolia Warbler
Mallard (Domestic)
Mallard (Wild)
Mourning Dove
Mute Swan*
Neotropic Cormorant*
Northern Cardinal
Northern Flicker
Northern Rough-Winged Swallow
Northern Shoveler
Orange-Crowned Warbler
Palm Warbler
Red-Bellied Woodpecker
Red-Breasted Nuthatch
Red-Headed Woodpecker
Red-Legged Thrush*
Red-Tailed Hawk
Red-Winged Blackbird
Ring-Billed Gull
Ring-Necked Duck
Rock Pigeon
Rook*
Ross's Goose*
Ruby-Crowned Kinglet
Ruddy Turnstone*
Scarlet Tanager
Smooth-Billed Ani*
Solitary Sandpiper
Song Sparrow
Spotted Sandpiper
Swamp Sparrow
Tricolored Heron*
Tufted Duck*
Tufted Titmouse
Tundra Swan*
Turkey Vulture
White-Breasted Nuthatch
White-Cheeked Pintail*
White-Crowned Pigeon*
White-Crowned Sparrow
White-Eyed Vireo
White-Throated Sparrow
White-Winged Dove
Wild Turkey
Wilson's Warbler
Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker
Yellow-Rumped Warbler
Ants (Formicidae)
Bee Flies (Bombyliidae)
Blow Flies (Calliphoridae)
Brown Lacewings (Hemerobiidae)
Bumble Bees, etc. (Apidae)
Carrion Beetles (Silphidae)
Cellar Spiders (Pholcidae)
Centipedes, House (Scutigeridae)
Cicadas (Cicadidae)
Common Sawflies (Tenthredinidae)
Crane Flies (Tipulidae)
Emeralds (Corduliidae)
Fireflies (Lampyridae)
Flower Flies - See Syrphid Flies
Funnel-Web Spiders (Agelenidae)
Honey Bees - See Bumble Bees, etc.
Hornets - See Yellowjackets, etc.
Hover Flies - See Syrphid Flies
Ichneumon Wasps (Ichneumonidae)
Jumping Spiders (Salticidae)
Katydids (Tettigoniidae)
Ladybird Beetles (Coccinellidae)
Leaf Beetles (Chrysomelidae)
Leaffooted Bugs (Coreidae)
Leafhoppers (Cicadellidae)
Lightning Bugs - See Fireflies
Longhorned Beetles (Cerambycidae)
Mantid Flies (Mantispidae)
Mantids (Mantidae)
Minettia Flies (Minettia)
Narrow-Winged Damselflies (Coenagrionidae)
New York Weevils (Ithyceridae)
Orb-Weavers (Araneidae)
Paper Wasps - See Yellowjackets, etc.
Picture-Winged Flies (Ulidiidae)
Plant Bugs (Miridae)
Robber Flies (Asilidae)
Scarab Beetles (Scarabaeidae)
Scentless Plant Bugs (Rhopalidae)
Short-horned Grasshoppers (Acrididae)
Signal Flies (Platystomatidae)
Soldier Beetles (Cantharidae)
Soldier Flies (Stratiomyidae)
Spittlebugs (Cercopidae)
Stink Bugs (Pentatomidae)
Swallowtails (Papilionidae)
Sweat Bees (Halictidae)
Syrphid Flies (Syrphidae)
Tiger Moths (Arctiidae)
Tiphiid Wasps (Tiphiidae)
Yellowjackets, etc. (Vespidae)
FYI nocturnal animals such as opossums and raccoons are often out during daylight hours if they haven’t found enough food during their night foraging.
Opossums often are out during daylight in the winter months, and you’ll often see them extending their foraging before sunset and after sunrise during the summer months as well. If it’s a hard winter an opossum will den up for several days at a time only coming out to eat when absolutely necessary. Unfortunately necessary means every 3-5 days, and if that happens to be during bitterly cold conditions, they risk frostbite on their thin ears and their tale, which this one looks to have recent damage to the ears. Since it’s winter I’d say he’s out during daylight because he was unable to find enough food during the night and needs to eat. This one actually looks very healthy other than those ears, his coat is good, eye’s are good, etc. he’s not sick. Opossums have several parasites (like all animals) but rarely suffer from illness or disease, including rabies. It’s theorized that their body temperature is to low to sustain the rabies virus. Although they are still listed by the CDC as a rabies vector species, there has never been a single documented case of opossum rabies. Opossums are currently studied for their immunity to all manner of lethal poisons, from the deadliest snake venom to scorpions, etc. and may eventually provide humanity with anti-venom serums better than those currently in use. Possums are North America’s only marsupial, and a highly beneficial species. They are natures sanitation workers wandering around cleaning up all manner of garbage; most notably including eating destructive bugs and rodents, which makes them a welcome addition in urban neighborhoods. In urban neighborhoods they have no bad habits such as digging under things or climbing into attics, etc. as they only den in winter and only in abandoned burrows made by more destructive digging critters. They rarely stay in one location for more than a few days, and only if they have to due to harsh weather. They birth their babies on the go, and keep them with them in their pouch instead of a nest site. Sure they eat the cat, or dog, or bird food, or people garbage that’s left outside laying around, but so does every other critter that can find it. The opossum is a docile and complex creature, one who is most beneficial to humans and our habitats. And if you haven’t guessed by now, I’m an opossum fan and rehabber.
For raccoon’s it’s most common during baby season when food is scarce and she’s nursing her kits. She’s often forced to forage during daylight because she’s basically starved since nursing those ravenous kits has now depleted her stored fat reservoir. So yeah, seeing a coon out in daylight is actually not unusual unless it’s in the middle of summer. And of course if it’s stumbling or unsteady on it’s feet, lying down, obviously injured, or otherwise acting oddly including showing no fear of anything, then that’s a different matter. But note that we do not have problems with raccoon rabies as of 2009 in the state of IA.
May 13th, 2010 at 10:56 am