The whooping crane occurs only in North America and is North Americas tallest bird, with males approaching 1.5 m (5 ft) when standing erect. The whooping crane adult plumage is snowy white except for black primaries, black or grayish alula (specialized feathers attached to the upper leading end...
Red Knots are large, bulky sandpipers. They are relatively short, with a straight bill tapering to the tip. The bill, as well as wings, is slightly longer in females. Female breeding plumage has light-colored feathers amongst the belly and less distinct eyeline. However, sexes appear similar in...
Size: 18 cm (7.25 in) in length. Color: Breeding season: Pale brown above, lighter below; black band across forehead; bill orange with black tip; legs orange; white rump. Male: Complete or incomplete black band encircles the body at the breast. Female: Paler head band; incomplete breast band....
Least terns are the smallest member of the gull and tern family. They are approximately 9" in length. Unlike gulls, terns will dive into the water for small fish. The body of least terns is predominately gray and white, with black streaking on the head. Least terns have a forked tail and narrow...
The Louisiana pinesnake (Pitouphis ruthveni) is an egg-laying, non-venomous constrictor of western and central Louisiana and eastern Texas. It spends most of its time underground in the burrows of Baird’s pocket gophers which are an essential part of its habitat. We listed the Louisiana...
The gopher tortoise is a large, (shell 15 to 37 centimeters or 5.9 to 14.6 inches long) dark-brown to grayish-black terrestrial turtle with elephantine hind feet, shovel-like forefeet, and a gular projection beneath the head on the yellowish, hingeless plastron or undershell (Ernst and Barbour...
The ringed sawback turtle is small. Each shield of its upper shell (carapace) has a yellow ring bordered inside and outside with dark olive-brown: its undershell (plastron) is yellow. The head has a large yellow spot behind the eye, two yellow stripes from the orbit backwards, and a...
The inflated heelsplitter has an oval, compressed to moderately inflated, thin shell. The valves may gape anteriorly. The umbos are low, and there is a prominent posterior wing that may extend anterior to the beak in young individuals. The shell is brown to black and may have green rays in young...
The Louisiana pearlshell mussel is oblong and kidney shaped. Umbos (the inflated dorsal part of the shell) are even with or slightly extended past the hinge line. The anterior end, typically buried in the substrate, is rounded; whereas, the exposed posterior end of the shell is pointed and may have...
Geocarpon MacKenzie was a monotypic genus originally described by K.K. MacKenzie (1914). It was placed in the family Caryophyllaceae. However, recent phylogenetic work suggests that it should be placed in the genus Mononeuria and it is now known as Mononeuria minima. This new scientific...
Louisiana quillwort is a small, semi-aquatic, facultative evergreen plant with spirally-arranged leaves (sporophylls) arising from a globose, two-lobed corm. The pliant, hollow leaves are transversely septate and measure 2-3 mm (0.12 in.) wide and up to 40 cm (16.0 in.) long. Spore-containing...
The green sea turtle grows to a maximum size of about 4 feet and a weight of 440 pounds. It has a heart-shaped shell, small head, and single-clawed flippers. Color is variable. Hatchlings generally have a black carapace, white plastron, and white margins on the shell and limbs. The adult...
The endangered Hawksbill Sea Turtle is one of seven species of sea turtles found throughout the world. One of the smaller sea turtles, it has overlapping scutes (plates) that are thicker than those of other sea turtles. This protects them from being battered against sharp coral and rocks during...
The Kemp's ridley turtle is the smallest of the sea turtles, with adults reaching about 2 feet in length and weighing up to 100 pounds. The adult Kemp's ridley has an oval carapace that is almost as wide as it is long and is usually olive-gray in color. The carapace has five pairs of costal...
The leatherback is the largest, deepest diving, and most migratory and wide ranging of all sea turtles. The adult leatherback can reach 4 to 8 feet in length and 500 to 2000 pounds in weight. Its shell is composed of a mosaic of small bones covered by firm, rubbery skin with seven longitudinal...
Loggerheads were named for their relatively large heads, which support powerful jaws and enable them to feed on hard-shelled prey, such as whelks and conch. The carapace (top shell) is slightly heart-shaped and reddish-brown in adults and sub-adults, while the plastron (bottom shell) is...
As their name suggests, red wolves are known for the characteristic reddish color of their fur most apparent behind the ears and along the neck and legs, but are mostly brown and buff colored with some black along their backs. Intermediate in size to gray wolves and coyotes, the average adult...
22 cm. Rather small black-and-white woodpecker with longish bill. Above black barred white. Below white with black spots on flanks. Black crown, nape and moustachial stripe border white cheeks and side of neck. Male has small red mark on the side of nape. Juvenile browner with variable extent of...
