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DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge
DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge, created in 1958, is located along the banks of the Missouri River in the U.S. states of Iowa and Nebraska. The refuge (46% in Iowa, 54% in Nebraska) preserves an area that would have been otherwise lost to cultivation. In 1960, an Army Corps of Engineers channelization project on the Missouri River moved the main river channel in the area to the west. The former river channel became DeSoto Lake, a seven-mile long oxbow lake. As a result, part of the Nebraska portion of the refuge lies on the east side of the Missouri River. For over 20 years after construction, the lake was used for recreational boating, with half of the lake designated for watersports and the other half a no-wake zone for wildlife habitat and fishing. The lake was so popular that access was limited by the park's rangers to keep the boat traffic down on the lake on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. The lake's marina, snack bar, swimming area and boat ramps were all removed, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Harrison County, Iowa
Harrison County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 14,582. The county seat is Logan, Iowa, Logan. The county was formed in 1851. It was named for the ninth US President William Henry Harrison. Harrison County is included in the Omaha, Nebraska, Omaha-Council Bluffs, Iowa, Council Bluffs, Nebraska, NE-IA Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area, Metropolitan Statistical Area. Geography According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.7%) is water. Major highways * Interstate 29 in Iowa, Interstate 29 * U.S. Route 30 in Iowa, U.S. Highway 30 * Iowa Highway 37 * Iowa Highway 44 * Iowa Highway 127 * Iowa Highway 183 * Iowa Highway 191 Adjacent counties *Monona County, Iowa, Monona County (north) *Crawford County, Iowa, Crawford County (northeast) *Shelby County, Iowa, Shelby County (east) *Pottawattamie County, Iowa, Pottawattamie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Muskrat
The muskrat or common muskrat (''Ondatra zibethicus'') is a medium-sized semiaquatic rodent native to North America and an introduced species in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands over various climates and habitats. It has crucial effects on the ecology of wetlands, and is a resource of food and fur for humans. Adult muskrats weigh , with a body length (excluding the tail) of . They are covered with short, thick fur of medium to dark brown color. Their long tails, covered with scales rather than hair, are laterally compressed and generate a small amount of thrust, with their webbed hind feet being the main means of Aquatic locomotion, propulsion, and the unique tail mainly important in directional stability. Muskrats spend most of their time in the water and can swim underwater for 12 to 17 minutes. They live in families of a male and female pair and their young. They build nests to protect themselves from the cold and predators, often ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Hunting
Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, bone/tusks, horn (anatomy), horn/antler, etc.), for recreation/taxidermy (see trophy hunting), although it may also be done for resourceful reasons such as removing predators dangerous to humans or domestic animals (e.g. wolf hunting), to pest control, eliminate pest (organism), pests and nuisance animals that damage crops/livestock/poultry or zoonosis, spread diseases (see varmint hunting, varminting), for trade/tourism (see safari), or for conservation biology, ecological conservation against overpopulation and invasive species (commonly called a culling#Wildlife, cull). Recreationally hunted species are generally referred to as the ''game (food), game'', and are usually mammals and birds. A person participating in a hunt is a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Trail
A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or a small paved road (though it can also be a route along a navigable waterways) generally not intended for usage by motorized vehicles, usually passing through a natural area. However, it is sometimes applied to highways in North America. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a path or footpath is the preferred term for a pedestrian or hiking trail. In the US, the term was historically used for a route into or through wild territory used by explorers and migrants (e.g. the Oregon Trail). In the United States, "trace" is a synonym for trail, as in Natchez Trace. Some trails are restricted to use by only walkers, or cyclists, or equestrians, or for snowshoeing, or cross-country skiing, others, for example bridleways in the UK, are shared, and can be used by walkers, cyclists and equestrians. Although most ban motorized use, there are unpaved trails used by dirt bikes, quad bikes and other off-road vehicles, u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Canada Goose
The Canada goose (''Branta canadensis''), sometimes called Canadian goose, is a large species of goose with a black head and neck, white cheeks, white under its chin, and a brown body. It is native to the arctic and temperate regions of North America, and it is occasionally found during bird migration, migration across the Atlantic in northern Europe. It has been introduced to France, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Scandinavia, New Zealand, Japan, Chile, Argentina, and the Falkland Islands. Like most geese, the Canada goose is primarily herbivorous and normally migratory; often found on or close to fresh water, the Canada goose is also common in Brackish water, brackish marshes, estuaries, and lagoons. Extremely adept at urban wildlife, living in human-altered areas, Canada geese have established breeding colonies in urban and cultivated habitats, which provide food and few natural predators. The success of this common park species has led to it often being considered a pest (orga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Snow Goose
The snow goose (''Anser caerulescens'') is a species of goose native to North America. Both white and dark morphs exist, the latter often known as blue goose. Its name derives from the typically white plumage. The species was previously placed in the Chen (genus), genus ''Chen'', but is now typically included in the "gray goose" genus ''Anser (genus), Anser''. Snow geese breed north of the tree line, timberline in Greenland, Canada, Alaska, and the northeastern tip of Siberia, and spend winters in warm parts of North America from southwestern British Columbia through parts of the United States to Mexico. Taxonomy In 1750 the English naturalist George Edwards (naturalist), George Edwards included an illustration and a description of the snow goose in the third volume of his ''A Natural History of Uncommon Birds''. He used the English name "The blue-winged goose". Edwards based his hand-coloured etching on a preserved specimen that had been brought to London from the Hudson Bay ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Bird Migration
Bird migration is a seasonal movement of birds between breeding and wintering grounds that occurs twice a year. It is typically from north to south or from south to north. Animal migration, Migration is inherently risky, due to predation and mortality. The Arctic tern holds the long-distance migration record for birds, travelling between Arctic breeding grounds and the Antarctic each year. Some species of Procellariiformes, tubenoses, such as albatrosses, circle the Earth, flying over the southern oceans, while others such as Manx shearwaters migrate between their northern breeding grounds and the southern ocean. Shorter migrations are common, while longer ones are not. The shorter migrations include altitudinal migrations on mountains, including the Andes and Himalayas. The timing of migration seems to be controlled primarily by changes in day length. Migrating birds navigate using celestial cues from the Sun and stars, the Earth's magnetic field, and mental maps. Histor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Central Flyway
The Central Flyway is a bird migration route that generally follows the Great Plains in the United States and Canada. The main endpoints of the flyway include the Canadian Prairies and the region surrounding the Gulf of Mexico; the migration route tends to narrow considerably in the Platte River and Missouri River valleys of central and eastern Nebraska, which accounts for the high number of bird species found there. Some birds even use this flyway to migrate from the Arctic Ocean to Patagonia. Routes used by birds are typically established because no mountains or large hills block the flyway over its entire extent. Good sources of water, food, and cover exist over its entire length. The other primary migration routes for North American birds includes the Atlantic, Mississippi and Pacific Flyways. The Central Flyway merges with the Mississippi Flyway between Missouri and the Gulf of Mexico. The Central Flyway Council is composed of representatives from agencies responsible for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Northern Cardinal
The northern cardinal (''Cardinalis cardinalis''), also commonly known as the common cardinal, red cardinal, or simply cardinal, is a bird in the genus ''Cardinalis''. It can be found in southeastern Canada, through the eastern United States from Maine to Minnesota to Texas, New Mexico, southern Arizona, southern California and south through Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala. It is also an introduced species in a few locations such as Bermuda and all major islands of Hawaii since its introduction in 1929. Its habitat includes woodlands, gardens, shrublands, and wetlands. It is the state bird of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia. The northern cardinal is a mid-sized Passerine, perching songbird with a body length of and a crest on the top of its head. The species expresses sexual dimorphism: Females are a reddish olive color, and have a gray mask around the beak, while males are a vibrant red color, and have a black mask on the face, as we ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Wild Turkey
The wild turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo'') is an upland game bird native to North America, one of two extant species of Turkey (bird), turkey and the heaviest member of the order Galliformes. It is the ancestor to the domestic turkey (''M. g. domesticus''), which was originally derived from a southern Mexican subspecies of wild turkey (not the related ocellated turkey). Taxonomy The wild turkey was Species description, formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae, tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae'' under its current binomial nomenclature, binomial name ''Meleagris gallopavo''. The type locality (biology), type locality is Mexico. The genus name ''Meleagris'' is from Ancient Greek μελεαγρις/''meleagris'' meaning "guineafowl". The specific epithet ''gallopavo'' is a late Medieval Latin word for a wild turkey: it combines Latin ''gallus'' meaning "fowl" and ''pavo'' meaning "peacock". The word was used in 155 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Pelican
Pelicans (genus ''Pelecanus'') are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before swallowing. They have predominantly pale plumage, except for the Brown pelican, brown and Peruvian pelicans. The bills, pouches, and bare facial skin of all pelicans become brightly coloured before the breeding season. The eight living pelican species have a patchy, seasonally-dependent yet global distribution, ranging latitude, latitudinally from the tropics to the temperate zone. Pelicans are absent from interior Amazon Rainforest, Amazonian South America, from polar regions and the open ocean; at least one species is known to migrate to the inland desert of Australia's Red Centre, after heavy rains create temporary lakes. White pelicans are also observed at the American state of Utah's Great Salt Lake, for example, some 600 miles (965&n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Egret
Egrets ( ) are herons, generally long-legged wading birds, that have white or buff plumage, developing fine plumes (usually milky white) during the breeding season. Egrets are not a biologically distinct group from herons and have the same build. Biology Egrets hold a separate group with bitterns and herons within the 74 species found in the bird family Ardeidae. Many egrets are members of the genus, genera ''Egretta'' or ''Ardea (genus), Ardea'', which also contain other species named as herons rather than egrets. The distinction between a heron and an egret is rather vague, and depends more on appearance than biology. The word "egret" comes from the French word ''aigrette'' that means both "silver heron" and "brush", referring to the long, filamentous feathers that seem to cascade down an egret's back during the breeding season (also called "egrets"). Several of the egrets have been reclassified from one genus to another in recent years; the great egret, for example, has be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
