American Crow
Large all-black bird with a heavy bill, familiar caw, and remarkably observant social life
Iowa, United States: places and wildlife — page 2
Browse the published Explore collection for Iowa, United States. Open a discovery for its field guide, practical details, and background.
Great Horned Owl
Massive owl with ear tufts, a deep paired hoot, and formidable dusk hunting ability
Barn Owl
Pale heart-faced owl that floats low over fields while listening for prey beneath grass
Common Grackle
Long-tailed blackbird with a pale eye, bronze gloss, and a rusty mechanical voice
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
Regal Fritillary
A Regal Fritillary turns a Kansas prairie remnant into a complete life-cycle map: orange forewings above, black spotted hindwings behind, nectar flowers for adults, and violets waiting below for spring larvae.
Southern Plains Bumble Bee
This long-faced native bumble bee connects deep prairie flowers to an underground social colony that lasts only one growing season.
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.
Compass Plant
A compass plant can spend decades building a taproot before raising its rough flower stalk above nearly every neighboring prairie plant.
Leadplant
Leadplant is a prairie shrub disguised as a wildflower: silver-haired leaflets and purple one-petaled blooms sit above woody stems and roots that reach deep into dry Kansas ground.
Eastern Cottonwood
Cottonwoods trace water across the plains, their restless leaves revealing river corridors from miles away.
Bur Oak
Thick bark and an enormous root system let bur oak stand where prairie fire, drought, and winter test less durable trees.
Common Hackberry
A familiar Kansas creek-and-street tree becomes unmistakable at arm’s length: corky bark ridges, sandpapery three-veined leaves with crooked bases, and dark winter fruit crowded with birds.
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.
Nebraska Conehead
A loud summer katydid reveals itself by a buzz longer than a second, repeated about every two seconds, before its black-bottomed head cone comes into view.
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.
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.
Eastern Redcedar
Eastern redcedar can be both winter shelter and ecological warning: a useful native tree that transforms grassland when fire disappears.
Periodical Cicadas
Missouri’s periodical cicadas are not an annual attraction: the forest-wide chorus arrives only when a mapped 13- or 17-year brood emerges.
Common Eastern Firefly
The familiar summer flash is a coded courtship signal, with each species using its own timing, height, and shape in darkness.
Luna Moth
A luna moth’s luminous green adult life lasts roughly a week, devoted entirely to finding a mate rather than eating.
Big Bluestem
Missouri’s prairie giant builds a warm-season canopy above the flowers and a far larger architecture belowground, where dense roots helped create and still stabilize tallgrass soil.
Purple Coneflower
A familiar garden flower becomes more interesting in the wild, where its stiff cone feeds pollinators in summer and finches in winter.
Cardinal Flower
Few Missouri flowers match cardinal flower’s red, a color and tubular shape tuned especially well to hummingbird vision and bills.
Rose Verbena
From a distance Rose Verbena can masquerade as a patch of phlox; at knee level, its hairy trailing stems, rooted nodes, and opposite three-part toothed leaves give the glade plant away.
Eastern Black Walnut
Black walnut combines valuable dark timber with a green-husked fruit whose hidden shell demands patience from squirrels and people alike.
Black-capped Chickadee
Black cap, white cheeks, small bib, and a curious approach make this year-round northern songbird a foundational backyard identification.
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.
Say’s Firefly
A dark firefly with pale margins and an angular shield pattern, Say’s firefly turns summer dusk into species-specific communication.
Large-flowered Trillium
Three broad leaves, three white petals, and a flower held above a single whorl mark Ohio’s woodland wildflower.
Common Milkweed
Opposite broad leaves, milky sap, round pink flower clusters, and warty pods identify a plant central to monarch development.