Beaches and Coasts

Lakes and Rivers

Forests

Mountains

Deserts

Wetlands

Prairies

Panoramas

From the rocky coasts of the Pacific Northwest's mighty Pacific Ocean to the tops of the Canadian Rockies, through Florida Everglades' River of Grass and across the painted deserts of the American Southwest then over the Appalachian Mountains ... these galleries have a little bit of everything that the best of North American landscapes can offer.

Brushfoots

Gossamer Wings

Swallowtails

Skippers

Sulphurs and Whites

Moths

Metalmarks

North America is wildly rich in butterflies and moths. In the United States and Canada alone, there are roughly 750 species of butterflies and a whopping 11,000 species of moths! With careful and painstaking research, more new species are still being discovered all the time!

Birds A-M

Birds N-W

When it comes to birds, North America is fantastically rich in native species diversity. While some species are found all around the world, the vast majority are found only here and nowhere else.

Bison, Goats, Sheep

Squirrels, Chipmunks

Deer and Elk

Rabbits, Hares, Pikas

Rats, Mice, Voles

Seals and Sea Lions

Foxes, Wolves

Raccoons

Pigs

Pronghorns

Armadillos

Manatees

Bears

Weasels, Otters, Badgers

We mammals have come a long way since the time of the dinosaurs. We've conquered the land, sea and air. North America has more than 740 species alive today.

Dragonflies

Grasshoppers

Arachnids

Insects

Marine Invertebrates

Snails, Mollusks

Crustaceans

Myriapods

96% of all currently living animal lifeforms alive today are invertebrates. Included are all the insects, arachnids, worms, crabs, shellfish, starfish, corals, and more! One thing they all have in common? No backbone.

Alligators, Crocodiles

Lizards

Snakes

Turtles, Tortoises

Long before the first dinosaur walked the earth, reptiles ruled the world. 65 million years after the last dinosaur drew its final breath, North America's modern crocodiles, alligators, snakes, lizards, and turtles and tortoises are still keeping our native natural history alive!

Tree Frogs

Toads

Spadefoots

True Frogs

Salamanders

Did you know the word "amphibian" means "two lives"? All amphibians start their lives in the underwater, but after they go through a series of metamorphosis stages to adulthood, most trade gills for lungs and live the rest of their lives out of the water.

Arethuseae

Calypsoeae

Cranichideae

Cymbidieae

Cypripedieae

Epidendreae

Malaxideae

Maxillarieae

Neottieae

Orchideae

Pogoniinae

Polystachyeae

Triphoreae

Vandeae

Vanilleae

One of the largest families in the plant kingdom with nearly 28 thousand species around the globe, orchids are also one of the most popular and most sought-after flowering plants in history. In Victorian times, entire foreign expeditions were sent around the world at great personal risk led by fearless (and often ruthless) orchid hunters to acquire the next new unknown exotic species from the most distant corner of the Earth. Luckily for us, North America is rich with unique native species found nowhere else in the world!

Wildflowers by Color

Wildflowers by Family

By far our largest collection of galleries, these wildflower image sets are arranged by both color and by taxonomic family for use as a casual identification tool or field guide, or for more thorough scientific research for deeper understanding.

Pitcher Plants

Venus Flytraps

Bladderworts

Butterworts

Sundews

Sometimes called insectivorous plants, these amazing plants have adapted to a life in places where the soil is so poor in nutrients, that they've gained the ability to grow by trapping their food with modified leaves. By taking root in a harsh habitat, they have eliminated most of their competition from other plants.

Light-spored Gilled Mushrooms

Brown-spored Gilled Mushrooms

Dark-spored Gilled Mushrooms

Polypore and Crust Fungi

Morels

Jelly-like Fungi

Unique & Unusual Mushrooms

Puffballs

Club, Coral and Fan-like Fungi

Cup-fungi

Boletes

Lichens

Slime Molds

Without the enormous and nearly invisible world of fungi, there would be no forests or plants as we know them, no animals living, feeding and hunting in the forests and nothing to break down what organic matter is left. It's this wonderful (and often weird) group that keeps nutrients moving and cycling through our world's ecosystems.

Fruits and Berries

Cacti

Ferns

Bromeliads

Agaves and Yuccas

Palms

Saprophytes

Mosses

Horsetails

Deciduous Trees

Coniferous Trees

Botanical Images

This last and final collection of galleries include all the non-wildflower images such as our native trees, ferns, palms, fruits and berries, cacti, saprophytes, mosses, bromeliads and more!

Slithering Beauty of the Cascades

by Rich Leighton | Nov 28, 2011

Last August as I was just learning my way in a totally alien environment in the Cascades Mountains,  this newcomer from Florida was searching for exotic wild orchids in Stevens Pass east of Seattle. Constantly looking over my shoulder for that great white shark of the land - the grizzly bear, I plunged into my new wild environment like a man lost in a desert into a barrel of cool water. Everything was new, fresh, exciting, and unknown! These next few posts will be from this series of forays into this beautiful and spectacular wilderness.

 Common Garter Snake in the Snoqualmie National Forest

I spotted this beautifully patterned garter snake at the edge of a small mountain lake in the Snoqualmie National Forest. I've seen many garter snakes all over the continent, but the ones I've seen (and caught) from Nova Scotia to Florida have never been so pretty. Two of the most notable facts about this snake is that it is found further north than any other snake on the planet (they are even found in Alaska!) and that while considered a harmless snake to people in general, they are actually rear-fanged, and to a lizard or frog this is deadly. Don't worry - the mouth of a garter snake is too small to get one of these fangs into any of us. To see more images of snakes, please visit my Snake Gallery.

Sharing and commenting via the social media links below will help me greatly, and is much appreciated.

Thank you in advance!

ALL IMAGES ARE AVAILABLE FOR PRINT OR DIGITAL DOWNLOAD. JUST CLICK ON THE IMAGE AND ADD TO CART.
 

Related posts:

Northwestern Garter Snake (Thamnphis ordinoides) Wild Florida! Charming Scorpions and Handling Snakes A Great Blue Heron Catches a Northwestern Garter Snake

1 Comment

  1. Erin Kohlenberg
    Erin Kohlenberg on November 29, 2011 at 12:58 am

    They also let out a defensive smell when your cat brings them in the house alive. 

    Reply

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