Big Manitou Falls
The Black River drops 165 feet through Pattison State Park, carrying tannin-stained water past basalt, forest, and accessible overlooks.
Wisconsin, United States: places and wildlife — page 4
Browse the published Explore collection for Wisconsin, United States. Open a discovery for its field guide, practical details, and background.
Ice Age National Scenic Trail
Moraines, kettles, eskers, outwash, forests, farms, and towns form a statewide trail whose disconnected segments demand careful trip design.
Elroy–Sparta State Trail
A 32.5-mile crushed-limestone route links five towns, wetlands, farms, and hand-cut railroad tunnels through the Driftless edge.
Glacial Drumlin State Trail
Nearly fifty miles connect Waukesha and Cottage Grove through drumlins, wetlands, farmland, small towns, pavement, limestone, and one on-road gap.
Hank Aaron State Trail
A mostly paved east–west route links Lake Michigan, the Menomonee Valley, Harley-Davidson, American Family Field, State Fair Park, and western neighborhoods.
Mountain-Bay State Trail
A crushed-stone rail trail crosses farms, forests, the Eau Claire River, and small communities between Marathon and Brown counties.
Olbrich Botanical Gardens
Prairie, perennial borders, roses, herbs, water gardens, a Thai pavilion, and a conservatory make plant design legible in every season.
Boerner Botanical Gardens
Rose terraces, peonies, herbs, annual displays, perennial borders, and wooded parkland show nearly a century of Milwaukee County horticulture.
Green Bay Botanical Garden
Display gardens, native plants, children’s landscapes, woodland, and winter events show what thrives in northeastern Wisconsin’s climate.
Rotary Botanical Gardens
Twenty acres surround a spring-fed pond with Japanese, Italian, French, English, woodland, prairie, and seasonal display gardens.
Bookworm Gardens
More than seventy book-inspired spaces pair plants, play, sculpture, reading, and sensory discovery across a compact family garden.
Milwaukee County Zoo
Large mammals, primates, birds, reptiles, aquatic life, and conservation programs occupy a wooded campus west of downtown Milwaukee.
Henry Vilas Zoo
Lions, primates, polar bears, reptiles, birds, and children’s habitats fill a compact admission-free zoo woven into Vilas Park.
NEW Zoo & Adventure Park
Animals from Wisconsin and around the world occupy a forested campus where a separate adventure park adds climbing, zip lines, and a fire tower.
Racine Zoo
Giraffes, rhinos, primates, cats, birds, and native species share a walkable lakefront campus with unusually broad water views.
International Crane Foundation
Fifteen crane species, restored prairie, wetland, research, and international conservation turn a wildlife center into a global lesson in coexistence.
Karner Blue Butterfly
A tiny endangered butterfly depends completely on wild lupine as a caterpillar and on frequently disturbed, flower-rich barrens throughout its life cycle.
Fassett’s Locoweed
A globally rare Wisconsin endemic survives where periodic lake-level changes expose open sand before shrubs and trees can close in.
Lake Sturgeon
An armor-plated fish can live for more than a century, migrating from Lake Winnebago into rocky rivers for a brief, spectacular spring spawn.
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.
Golden-winged Warbler
This crisp gray-and-gold migrant thrives not in deep forest or open field, but in the shifting edge between them—a habitat easy to erase by accident.
Walleye
Minnesota’s state fish is a low-light predator whose famous eyes, seasonal movements, and lake-by-lake management make it more interesting than a dinner plate.
Rusty Patched Bumble Bee
A once-common Upper Midwest pollinator now survives in scattered strongholds, including the Twin Cities, where an ordinary garden can become consequential habitat.
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
This large striped butterfly, South Carolina’s state butterfly, moves between tree canopies, flowers, puddles, and host plants.
Baltimore checkerspot
Black wings checked with cream and orange identify a wet-meadow butterfly whose official status contrasts with its rarity in Maryland.
Baltimore oriole
Maryland’s orange-and-black state bird whistles from leafy edges and suspends a woven pouch nest near a branch tip.
Black-eyed Susan
Rough-haired stems and golden rays around a raised brown center make Maryland’s state flower a familiar open-ground wildflower.
White oak
Maryland’s state tree supports insects and wildlife; rounded leaf lobes and pale bark reward a slower look in mature woodland.
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.
Nine-spotted Lady Beetle
New York's state insect once seemed ordinary; finding its precise pattern now demands care and a little luck.
Sugar Maple
Recognize New York's state tree by more than its color: bark, paired buds, and leaf shape tell the whole story.