Washington, United States: places and wildlife — page 4

Browse the published Explore collection for Washington, United States. Open a discovery for its field guide, practical details, and background.

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Olympic Marmot

Olympic Marmot is a large stout marmot with a broad head, small rounded ears, and seasonally yellow-brown to dark coat and is most meaningfully sought in subalpine and alpine meadows and talus of the Olympic Mountains.

Olympic Torrent Salamander

Olympic Torrent Salamander is a tiny brown salamander with prominent eyes, short limbs, and yellow to orange-yellow belly and is most meaningfully sought in cold permanent streams, springs, seepages, and waterfall splash zones in mature Olympic forests.

Olympic Mudminnow

Olympic Mudminnow is a small dark olive fish with rounded fins, a blunt head, and pale mottling or bars and is most meaningfully sought in slow vegetated wetlands, sloughs, and floodplain channels of western Washington.

Island Marble Butterfly

Island Marble Butterfly is a small white butterfly marbled with greenish-gray patterning beneath the hindwing and is most meaningfully sought in open prairie-like habitat, dunes, and coastal lagoon edges with mustard-family host plants.

Mardon Skipper

Mardon Skipper is a small tawny-orange skipper with a stout hairy body and pale rectangular marks beneath and is most meaningfully sought in native grasslands and open meadows in south Puget Sound and the southern Cascades.

Taylor’s Checkerspot

Taylor’s Checkerspot is a compact orange, cream, and black checkered butterfly with strongly patterned wings and is most meaningfully sought in short-stature native prairie and balds with larval host plants.

Golden Paintbrush

Golden Paintbrush is an upright hairy perennial with brilliant golden-yellow bracts and narrow lower leaves and is most meaningfully sought in Puget Trough glacial outwash and island prairies, plus restored Willamette Valley sites.

Wenatchee Mountains Checker-mallow

Wenatchee Mountains Checker-mallow is a tall perennial with pink five-petaled flowers, maple-like leaves, and clustered stems and is most meaningfully sought in moist meadows and openings restricted to the Wenatchee Mountains.

Western Redcedar

Western Redcedar is a very large conifer with fibrous reddish bark, drooping leader, and flattened sprays of scale leaves and is most meaningfully sought in moist forests, river terraces, wetlands, and shaded slopes across the Pacific Northwest.

Common Loon

Minnesota’s state bird is a superb underwater hunter whose haunting calls carry across northern lakes—but whose nest can fail after one careless wake.

Brook Trout

Follow this jewel-colored char from shaded headwaters to Adirondack ponds, where water quality shapes its future.

Common Snapping Turtle

A rugged freshwater turtle is easiest to notice when it leaves the water to nest, not while it lies hidden below.