Black Vulture
A highly social scavenger whose broad circles and white wing patches are familiar above both cities and wild rivers.
Quintana Roo, Mexico: places and wildlife
Browse the published Explore collection for Quintana Roo, Mexico. Open a discovery for its field guide, practical details, and background.
Roadside Hawk
The small, vocal hawk of tropical roadsides often watches from a wire or bare branch before dropping onto prey.
Great Kiskadee
A loud, adaptable tropical flycatcher whose name echoes its ringing kis-ka-dee call.
Blue-gray Tanager
The calm blue-gray tanager of Amazonian gardens often appears in pairs wherever fruit and open canopy meet.
Black Rat
The agile roof-climbing rat of ports and warm cities differs sharply from its heavier, burrowing relative.
Green Iguana
A powerful tree-dwelling herbivore that can escape predators by diving from branches directly into water.
Common House Gecko
A human-transported tropical gecko that patrols walls beneath lights and announces itself with surprisingly audible chirps.
Turkey Vulture
A long-tailed scavenger rides warm air on raised wings, teetering with few flaps while its pale flight feathers flash across the entire trailing edge.
House Mouse
The mouse most closely tied to people is best identified by a nearly bare scaly tail and muted gray-brown body—and best managed by sealing the building, not chasing the animal.
Interior Least Tern
A Nebraska river can erase and rebuild this tiny tern’s nursery: two or three camouflaged eggs lie on nearly bare sand while adults hover for fish above the channel.
Baltimore oriole
Maryland’s orange-and-black state bird whistles from leafy edges and suspends a woven pouch nest near a branch tip.