Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,768 · Stories: 19,540

• Great Knot Calidris tenuirostris

  

  A sandpiper that breeds in northeastern Siberia and winters along coasts in Southeast Asia and Australia. Adults in breeding plumage have a breast band and orange-brown shoulder feathers.

• Meadow Vole Microtus (Mynomes) pennsylvanicus

  The meadow vole occurs widely in North American grasslands and wetlands and favors places where grass remains.

• Orange-cheeked Honeyeater Oreornis chrysogenys

  This large honeyeater has a dark olive head and back set off by a bright orange cheek patch. It is restricted to the high mountains of west-central New Guinea, where it feeds on fruit, insects and sedge seeds.

• Small Sun Squirrel Heliosciurus punctatus

  This squirrel has dark, soft fur and a long ringed tail. In West Africa, it is recorded in rainforest and forests within forest–savanna mosaics.

• Striated Grassbird Megalurus palustris

  A large brown warbler marked with black streaks, it shows a long trailing tail and flushes from fields, scrubby edges, and dense thickets.

• Tawny-bellied Cotton Rat Sigmodon (Sigmodon) fulviventer

  The tawny-bellied cotton rat is a cotton rat with a buff-brown underside and a black, hairy tail. It lives in tall grass with scattered shrubs.

• Black-bellied Bustard Lissotis melanogaster

  The Black-bellied Bustard lives in African savanna and tall grassland. Males perform courtship displays during the breeding season.

• Long-tailed marmot Marmota (Marmota) caudata

  The long-tailed marmot is a large squirrel found in Central Asia’s high mountain meadows.

• White-cheeked Turaco Menelikornis leucotis

  The White-cheeked Turaco is a green turaco centered in the Ethiopian Highlands. Its rounded crest, white cheek patch, and crescent-shaped white neck mark are distinctive.

• Vivo's Cerradomys Cerradomys vivoi

  This rodent is recorded in eastern Brazil. The original description reports an orange-brown back, with grayish tones on the head and underside. The authors summarize records from the Caatinga and coastal forest in southern Bahia.

• Sillem's Mountain Finch Leucosticte sillemi

  The pool and the 2014 field paper use Leucosticte sillemi; BirdForum Opus gives Carpodacus sillemi. This entry is limited to records from Yeniugou Valley, Qinghai, in 2012 and 2013, including a brief feeding observation in May 2013.

• Svynnerton's Bush Squirrel Paraxerus vexillarius

  Swynnerton's bush squirrel is recorded from mountains in Tanzania. Specimens from the West Usambara Mountains are noted for orange feet and a tail tip.

• Chinese Egret Egretta eulophotes

  A white egret that feeds on mudflats and in mangroves. It breeds in East Asia and moves south seasonally.

• Eva's deer mouse Peromyscus eva

  Eva's deer mouse occurs on Mexico's Baja California Peninsula and Carmen Island. Its coat varies, and the island population is darker.

• Siberian Nuthatch Sitta arctica

  A 2006 taxonomic study examined the Siberian form arctica within the Eurasian Nuthatch group and supported treating it as a separate species. That form has dark bluish-grey upperparts, a white belly centre and chestnut flanks. A current species account lists forest habitat and invertebrates as food, but the taxonomic study says ecological information about arctica remains fragmentary.

• Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel Callospermophilus lateralis

  The golden-mantled ground squirrel lives from woodlands to alpine meadows in western North America and makes burrows in rocks or underground.

• 'Alala Corvus hawaiiensis

  The ‘Alalā, or Hawaiian Crow, is a medium-sized dark crow that formerly occurred naturally in dry and semi-dry forests on Hawai‘i Island.

• Southern Bog Lemming Synaptomys (Synaptomys) cooperi

  The southern bog lemming is a small rodent of moist places in eastern North America. It uses underground burrows and surface runways, and builds nests from grass and leaves.

• Black-throated Mango Anthracothorax nigricollis

  The Black-throated Mango has a black throat and chest in the male, while the female has a dark stripe down her white underparts. It takes nectar and flying insects and also visits gardens.

• Gray Marmot Marmota (Marmota) baibacina

  This marmot lives in the highlands of the Altai and Tian Shan and spends much of the cold season hibernating.

• Guianan Toucanet Selenidera piperivora

  This toucanet has green upperparts and tail, chestnut tail tips and a red-and-black bill. It ranges from southeastern Venezuela through the Guianas to northern Brazil north of the Amazon and eats fruit and insects.

• Cauca Climbing Mouse Rhipidomys caucensis

  The Cauca climbing mouse is a small rodent known from the Andes of western Colombia. It has been collected in high-elevation cloud forest.

• Blue Bunting Cyanocompsa parellina

  The Blue Bunting lives in thickets and woodland edges in Mexico and northern Central America. Males are blue, while females are warm brown overall.

• Mexican Ground Squirrel Ictidomys mexicanus

  This ground squirrel has rows of white spots along its back. Records from Mapimí Biosphere Reserve in Mexico showed it active during the hottest part of the day.