The genus, Delichon, is part of the swallow family, and contains 3 species that are known as house martins. They are a passerine bird, and they are closely related to other swallows that build mud nests such as the Hirundo barn swallows. It was first described by Thomas Horsfield and Frederic Moore in 1854. The
The California Condor is a member of the vulture family that is native to North America. Its claim to fame is that it is the largest North American land bird. At present, it only inhabits Zion National Park, the Grand Canyon area, as well as Baja, California and California’s western coastal mountains. It is the
The Arctic Tern is a sea bird belonging to the tern family of Sternidae. It is a very migratory bird, which has a circumpolar breeding distribution covering the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of the northern hemisphere, such as Europe, Asia, and North America (as far south as the state of Massachusetts). This bird sees 2
Also known as the port wine banksia or the strawberry banksia, the firewood banksia is a flowering plant species in the genus, Banksia. It is actually either a gnarled up tree that stands 10 metres tall, or a shrub that spreads about 1 to 3 metres in the northern parts of its distribution range. It
The Black Vulture, also known as the American Black Vulture (as opposed to the unrelated Eurasian Black Vulture) is a bird that is found from the south-east of the United States of America to Central Chile and Uruguay in South America. It is a common and widespread species, and is the only current member of
Endemic to the subterranean waters of the Dinaric karts caves in southern Europe are the Olm, also known as the Proteus. They live in waters that flow in the underground caves in this large limestone region, which include the waters of the Soca River in Italy through to Slovenia, Croatia, and even Herzegovina. It is
The Pallid sturgeon is a species of ray-finned fish which is endemic to the waters of the Missouri and the lower Mississippi River basins in the USA. It is an endangered species, which is named after its pale color. It is closely related to its more common cousin, the shovelnose sturgeon. The differences between these
The Elfin-woods Warbler, also known as Reinita de Bosque Enano (in Spanish) is a bird that is endemic to Puerto Rico. It is a local but uncommon species. It was first discovered in 1968 and described in 1972 by Cameron and Angela Kepler, and Parkes. The elusive Elfin-woods Warbler This bird is predominantly black and
Also known as wapiti, the elk is one of the largest deer species in the world. It is also one of the largest mammals in eastern Asia and North America. As part of the deer family, only the moose is larger the sambar deer can rival the elk in size. Elks are almost identical to
The Noronha skink is native to Fernando de Noronha which is in north-eastern Brazil. A lot of research has been done throughout the centuries to actually define these species, as many Scientists have claimed that this poor skink has been labelled into the wrong category. Either way, this skink is thought to have descended from
Native to east Australia and Lord Howe Island, the Pied Currawong is a medium-sized black passerine bird. It is one of 3 currawong species in its genus, Strepera, and is closely related to the Australian Magpie and butcherbirds in the Artamidae famliy. There are 6 subspecies of the Pied Currawong that are currently recognised. In
The oceanic whitetip shark is a large pelagic shark that lives in tropical and warm temperate seas. This shark goes by many common names in English, such as brown shark, whitetip shark, nigano shark, whitetip whaler, and Brown Milbert’s sand bar shark. It was first described by the Naturalist, René-Primevère Lesson in Louis Dupprey’s world
Also known as the Green Bell Frog, Green Frog, and the Green and Golden Swamp Frog, the Green and Golden Bell Frog is a ground-dwell tree frog that is native to the eastern part of Australia. However, this is a bit of a misnomer as it has been classified as a tree frog but does
The Golden White-eye is a species of bird in the white-eye family of Zosteropidae. It is the only species within its genus, Cleptornis. However, it was previously thought to be a honeyeater and was then calld a Golden Honeyeater. This bird’s range is restricted to the Aguijan and Saipan islands that form part of the
The Amanita ocreata is known as the Western North American destroying angel (destroying angel for short) and the death angel. This is because it is a poisonous basidiomycete fungus. It primarily lives in the Pacific Northwest and the California floristic provinces of North America. It is strongly associated with oak trees, particluarly the coast live
