Every bird watcher and nature observer has his or her "lists." Here are mine for Birds, Insects, Mammals, Plants, Reptiles, and Crustaceans, complete with pull down menus.
BIRDS
Categorized by genus/species, placed chronologically by common name
American Coot
American Crow
American Goldfinch
American Kestrel
American Robin
American Tree Sparrow
American White Pelican
Bald Eagle
Baltimore Oriole
Barn Swallow
Belted Kingfisher
Black-Capped Chickadee
Black Vulture*
Blue Jay
Blue-Winged Teal
Bobwhite
Brown-Headed Cowbird
Brown Thrasher
Bufflehead
Canada Goose
Canvasback
Cedar Waxwing
Chipping Sparrow
Common Grackle
Common Goldeneye
Common Redpoll
Cooper's Hawk
Dark-Eyed Junco
Downy Woodpecker
Eastern Bluebird
Eastern Goldfinch - See American Goldfinch
Eastern Kingbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Eastern Phoebe
Eastern Towhee
Eurasian Coot*
European Starling
Fox Sparrow
Gray Catbird
Graylag Goose
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Hairy Woodpecker
Harlequin Duck
Hermit Thrush
Herring Gull
Horned Lark
House Finch
House Sparrow
House Wren
Indigo Bunting
Killdeer
Lesser Scaup
Lincoln's Sparrow
Mallard (Domestic)
Mallard (Wild)
Mourning Dove
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-Tailed Hawk
Red-Winged Blackbird
Ring-Billed Gull
Ring-Necked Duck
Rock Pigeon
Ruby-Crowned Kinglet
Scarlet Tanager
Solitary Sandpiper
Song Sparrow
Spotted Sandpiper
Swamp Sparrow
Tufted Titmouse
Turkey Vulture
White-Breasted Nuthatch
White-Crowned Sparrow
White-Throated Sparrow
Wild Turkey
Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker
Yellow-Rumped Warbler
INSECTS, ARACHNIDS, MYRIAPODS & GASTROPODS
Categorized by family, placed chronologically by common name
“[A]s recently as just two hundred years ago billions of Passenger Pigeons lived and fed in the enormous forests that covered the eastern United States…[W]hen the first Europeans arrived on the American continent the population of Passenger Pigeons was between 3 and 5 billion individuals (a number which is apparently close to how many individual birds of all species there are in North America now). Not only was one in every four of all the birds in this New World a Passenger Pigeon, they traveled around in vast flocks that roosted together in winter, migrated together in spring, and nested together in summer. A flock on the move must have been one of the most awe-inspiring natural sights ever recorded.
One of the first settlers in Virginia wrote that,`There are wild pigeons in winter beyond number or imagination, myself have seen three or four hours together flocks in the air, so thick that even have they shadowed the sky from us.’”
By 1914, they were all extinct. A long and well-written article. I highly recommend it.
Very moving article. I was unaware of the extinction of the Passenger Pigeon. It is terrible to know what mankind it capable of. Without articles like this one to remind us, we are capable of repeating it.
What a well written and informative article! Sure makes you think.
September 25th, 2007 at 9:42 pm
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This blog is about: Iowa, Illinois, Midwest, United States, nature, wildlife, animals, birds, ornithology, insects, bugs, entomology, Davenport, Bettendorf, Rock Island, Moline, Quad, City, Cities
Moe, Many thanks for the positive comments, they’re much appreciated
September 25th, 2007 at 7:45 amArticle looks interesting, thanks for the heads up. I’ll go read it.
sandy
September 25th, 2007 at 11:51 amVery moving article. I was unaware of the extinction of the Passenger Pigeon. It is terrible to know what mankind it capable of. Without articles like this one to remind us, we are capable of repeating it.
September 25th, 2007 at 8:53 pmWhat a well written and informative article! Sure makes you think.
September 25th, 2007 at 9:42 pm