Barn Owl
Pale heart-faced owl that floats low over fields while listening for prey beneath grass
Colorado, United States: places and wildlife — page 2
Browse the published Explore collection for Colorado, United States. Open a discovery for its field guide, practical details, and background.
American Goldfinch
Small bouncing finch with black wings, a musical flight call, and dramatic seasonal plumage
House Sparrow
Chunky introduced sparrow closely tied to buildings, livestock areas, sidewalks, and busy human settlement
European Starling
Glossy introduced bird with a pointed bill, triangular wings, and astonishingly coordinated winter flocks
Muskrat
Stocky aquatic rodent with a vertically flattened tail, compact lodge, and busy wetland feeding routes
American Mink
Dark, low-slung mustelid moving quickly along water edges while hunting on land and underwater
Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrel
Slender ground squirrel striped with alternating pale lines and spots, often upright beside prairie burrows
Prairie Vole
Small blunt-faced vole hidden within woven runways beneath dense grass, seldom crossing open ground
Bullsnake
Large blotched snake that hisses loudly, imitates a rattlesnake convincingly, but remains nonvenomous
Plains Garter Snake
Striped garter snake with a bold orange-yellow back stripe, especially at home near prairie wetlands
Plains Lubber Grasshopper
The Plains Lubber is the heavy, short-winged answer to the idea that every grasshopper should fly: an outsized prairie walker patterned in green, brown, pink, black, and pale dots.
Great Plains Giant Tiger Beetle
A flightless tiger beetle patrols Kansas after dark like a small black hunting machine built almost entirely from legs and jaws.
Common Sunflower
Kansas’s familiar sunflower is a branching wild annual, not simply a smaller version of the single-headed crop plant.
Little Bluestem
Little bluestem turns an ordinary-looking summer bunchgrass into one of the prairie’s most luminous copper winter plants.
Purple Poppy Mallow
Wine-colored flowers seem scattered directly across the ground because this prairie mallow grows outward instead of upward.
Eastern Cottonwood
Cottonwoods trace water across the plains, their restless leaves revealing river corridors from miles away.
Western Soapberry
Clusters of amber soapberries glow like marbles after the leaves fall, making this modest plains tree easiest to recognize in winter.
Peachleaf Willow
Peachleaf willow follows prairie watercourses, growing taller and straighter than the shrubby willows many people expect.
Ottoe Skipper
The Ottoe skipper turns a thumbnail-sized butterfly into a demanding test of whether a prairie still functions as habitat rather than scenery.
Sandy Tiger Beetle
Against pale Sandhills sand, the sandy tiger beetle reverses the usual camouflage equation: white becomes the color of concealment.
Sand Milkweed
Sand milkweed hugs loose prairie sand with thick woolly leaves, looking almost sculpted by the drought and wind around it.
Silky Prairie Clover
Silky prairie clover softens the Sandhills at ankle height, pairing pale hairs with pink flower spikes and roots built for shifting soil.
Soapweed Yucca
Soapweed gives western Nebraska an evergreen silhouette and stages one of the prairie’s most intimate partnerships with a tiny moth.
Giant Goldenrod
Nebraska’s floral emblem is a late-summer colony, not one giant flower: arching branches carry hundreds of tiny golden heads above a smooth bluish stem alive with visiting insects.
Ponderosa Pine
Ponderosa pine gives the Pine Ridge a western forest silhouette and reaches the eastern edge of its natural continental range in Nebraska.
Limber Pine
A few native limber pines reach east from the Rockies into Kimball County, forming one of Nebraska’s most surprising tree populations.
Rocky Mountain Juniper
Rocky Mountain juniper threads blue-green columns through Nebraska’s western escarpments, where it can meet and hybridize with eastern redcedar.
Eastern Redcedar
Eastern redcedar can be both winter shelter and ecological warning: a useful native tree that transforms grassland when fire disappears.
American Black Bear
America’s most widespread bear is often easier to recognize by tracks, clawed logs, and overturned stones than by a direct sighting.
Gray Wolf
Long legs, a broad muzzle, and purposeful travel distinguish a wolf whose family life shapes northern forests and human debate.
Moose
Long legs, a heavy overhanging muzzle, and an appetite for twigs and aquatic plants make the moose unmistakably built for northern country.
Pronghorn
Neither deer nor antelope, the pronghorn pairs extraordinary eyesight and speed with horns that shed their outer sheath.
Common Raven
Heavy bill, shaggy throat, and wedge-shaped tail separate the raven from crows as it works cliffs, tundra, forests, and towns.
Hermit Thrush
Spotted breast, plain face, and a reddish tail contrasting with a browner back identify the thrush behind one of Vermont’s clearest woodland songs.
Osprey
Dark eye stripe, kinked long wings, and reversible outer toes identify the fish specialist nesting beside Oregon waters.
Largemouth Bass
A jaw extending behind the eye, deep body, and dark side stripe separate largemouth bass from their smaller-mouthed relatives.
Bluegill
A deep compressed body, dark ear flap, and blue-green cheek identify a widespread sunfish that rewards close looking.
Northern Pike
Duckbill snout, rear-set fins, and pale bean-shaped spots identify the pike waiting almost motionless beside cover.
Monarch Butterfly
Orange wings with heavy black veins identify a migrant whose caterpillars can eat only milkweeds and whose journey outlasts any one summer adult.
Common Green Darner
Large size, bright green thorax, and a dark bull’s-eye on the forehead help identify a darner capable of continental movement.
Black Swallowtail
Paired rows of yellow spots and an orange-centered hindwing eye distinguish a butterfly whose striped caterpillar feeds on carrots’ wild relatives.
Big Sagebrush
Three-toothed wedge leaves, silvery foliage, and a resinous scent identify a shrub that shelters far more life than its muted color suggests.
Douglas-fir
Three-pointed bracts protruding from each cone scale make Douglas-fir recognizable even when its immense crown is far overhead.
Western Tiger Swallowtail
A big yellow swallowtail patrols Black Hills streams and canyon edges, often descending to damp mineral-rich ground.
Scarlet Globemallow
Scarlet globemallow places brilliant orange cups only inches above dry prairie soil, often where little else appears lush.
Rocky Mountain Maple
A modest canyon maple supplies vivid autumn color and dense wildlife cover in moist pockets of the otherwise pine-dominated Black Hills.
Antelope-horns Milkweed
Curved seed pods suggest antelope horns, while greenish flower balls feed early-season pollinators across dry southern prairie.
Bighorn Sheep
Restored bighorn herds use Black Hills cliffs as escape terrain, but disease carried by domestic sheep remains a serious management concern.