E. L. Botha - Little Backyard Naturalist

Little Backyard Naturalist — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "Little Backyard Naturalist" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

12

Little Backyard Naturalist

E. L. Botha

Contents

C opyright 2016 by E. L. Botha

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Key Vocabulary

O mnivore : an animal that eats both plants and meat

Herbivore: an animal that eats only plants

Carnivore: an animal that eats only meat

Habitat: the natural home of an animal

Nocturnal: an animal that is active at night

Eastern Gray Squirrel

Sciurus carolinensis

T he Eastern Gray Squirrel has gray fur on its back and a white belly. There is also a melanistic variety found in northern populations. This means that its fur is black instead of gray and white. The Eastern Gray Squirrel can be found throughout the Eastern half of the United States. It prefers forests with trees that provide food that can be stored for winter, such as oak, walnut, and pine trees. It is an omnivore and eat nuts, seeds, eggs, insects, and small amphibians.

Eastern Gray Squirrels store food to eat during the winter. They use a method called scatter hoarding, where they hide food in different locations, then find it using their memory and sense of smell.

Red Fox

Vulpes vulpes

T he Red Fox has reddish fur on its back and white or gray fur on its underside and at the tip of its tail. Its legs are black. It can be found throughout North America in a wide range of habitats from forests, to deserts, to urban areas. The Red Fox is an omnivore and eats rodents, amphibians, birds, insects, and fruit. When hunting mice, the it stands perfectly still, then leaps into the air, coming down to pin the mouse to the ground with its front paws.

The Red Fox lives in underground burrows, or dens, where it raises its young and keeps warm during the winter. It will often have extra dens in its territory to use in emergencies.

Raccoon

Procyon lotor

T he Raccoon has fur that can range from reddish-brown to gray, with a distinctive black mask and a tail with black rings. The Raccoon can be found throughout North America. Though it prefers moist woodlands, it is very adaptable and can be found in almost any habitat. The Raccoon is nocturnal, so it is more likely to be found at night. It is an omnivore and eat seeds, fruit, nuts, rodents, insects, fish, and amphibians.

Though its shuffling walk may make it seems slow, a Raccoon can run up to 15 miles per hour. It is also an excellent climber and very strong swimmer.

Coyote

Canis latrans

T he Coyote has grayish-brown fur with white fur on its belly and throat. The fur around its face, feet, and on its legs is usually reddish in color. The Coyote is found throughout the United States and lives in a variety of habitats including forests, fields, suburbs, and even cities. It is a carnivore and eats small mammals, birds, and insects. It will sometimes work with other coyotes as a team to capture larger prey such as deer.

Coyotes are social animals and live in family groups called packs. These packs are usually made up of a male, a female, and their female offspring. Male offspring leave the pack when they reach adulthood.

White-tailed Deer

Odocoileus virginianus

T he White -tailed Deer has a reddish-brown coat in the summer that fades to a brownish-gray in the winter. Its tail is white on the bottom. When startled, it lifts its tail as it runs. The White-tailed Deer can be found throughout North America. In the summers it lives in meadows and fields, and finds shelter in the forests in the winter. It is an herbivore, and grazes on almost any available plants including grass, corn, leaves, and twigs.

Male White-tailed Deer have antlers, which they shed once a year. They grow bigger antlers with more points with every passing year.

Eastern Chipmunk

Tamias striatus

T he Eastern Chipmunk has reddish-brown fur with a white tummy and black and white stripes down its back. It is found in the Eastern United States and lives in open forests, at the edges of woodlands, or in bushy and rocky areas. Though its main diet is made up of nuts, acorns, and berries, it is an omnivore and will eat eggs, insects, and snails.

The Eastern Chipmunk has pouches in its cheeks that it uses to store and transport food. It spends much of its time finding and storing food. They keep this food in a chamber in their burrow to eat during the winter.

Virginia Opossum

Didelphis virginiana

T he Virginia Opossum has white fur on its face and gray fur everywhere but on its tail, ears, and feet, which are hairless. It can be found throughout the United States in a variety of habitats, from woods, to marshes, to farmland. It is an omnivore and eats fruit, insects, and small animals.

The Virginia Opossum has a prehensile tail, which allows it to hang onto branches while climbing, similar to the way monkeys use their tails to climb. The Virginia Opossum is also the only marsupial in the United States. A marsupial is an animal that carries its babies in a pouch on the mother's stomach.

Eastern Cottontail

Sylvilagus floridanus

T he Eastern Cottontail has brownish-gray fur on its back and a white belly. Its tail is white on the bottom, which makes it look like a cotton ball. The Eastern Cottontail can be found throughout the Eastern United States in a variety of habitats, from swamps, to deserts, to fields. It is an herbivore and eats grass, clover, fruits, and vegetables.

The Eastern Cottontail has two different fur coats. In the summer, its coat is short and brown. In the winter, it grows longer and is grayer. Its belly and the underside of its tail, however, stay white year round.

Deer Mouse

Peromyscus maniculatus

Next page

12

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «Little Backyard Naturalist»

Look at similar books to Little Backyard Naturalist. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.

E. L. Botha

Little Lepidopterist

E. L. Botha

Little Ophiologist

W. H. Hudson

The Book of a Naturalist

Jenny deFouw Geuder

Drawn to Birds: A Naturalists Sketchbook

David Mizejewski

National Wildlife Federation(R): Attracting Birds, Butterflies, and Other Backyard Wildlife, Expanded Second Edition, 17 Projects & Step-by-Step Instructions to Give Back to Nature

Kay de Silva

Spiders: Amazing Pictures & Fun Facts on Animals in Nature (Our Amazing World Series Book 7)

Kay de Silva

Dinosaurs: Amazing Pictures & Fun Facts on Animals in Nature (Our Amazing World Series Book 8)

Penner

Native Plants for the Short Season Yard

Gruen John

One-yard wonders: look how much you can make with just one yard of fabric!

Beatty

The Switching/Yard

Barilla

My backyard jungle: the adventures of an urban wildlife lover who turned his yard into habitat and learned to live with it

Childs Veronica

Low Carb In The Back Yard: 130 Keto Friendly Recipes for Sun-Filled Picnics, Reunions, and Backyard Entertaining

Discussion, reviews of the book Little Backyard Naturalist and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.