The Short-Toed Snake Eagle (Circaetus gallicus) is a medium-sized bird of prey in the Accipitridae family of raptors and accipiters.
The Short-Toed Snake Eagle is greyish-brown with a pale earthy-brown chin, throat, and upper chest. It has a predominantly white underside. Its tail has three or four bars. It has an owl-shaped head, with yellowish eyes. It has sharp claws called talons.
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The Iberian Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos homeyeri) is a large bird of prey in the Accipitridae family of booted eagles because it has feathering over its legs. It is a sub-species of the Golden Eagle, which is one of the most common eagles in the Northern Hemisphere. It is a raptor and an accipiter.
The Iberian Golden Eagle is dark-brown with red-golden-brown, or light rusty, feathers on the back of its neck (nape). The nape feathers are short, and not crested. Its forehead and crown are dark-brownish.
It has some white markings on its long, strong wings. It has a blue-grey beak with a dark, sharply down-turned tip. Its beak has a beige-coloured cere. It has light-yellowish legs and feet with long black claws, called talons. It has orange-amber eyes.
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The Pitch Ant (Camponotus piceus) is an insect in the Formicidae family of Carpenter Ants. Pitch means black.
The Pitch Ant is black with smoky-brown wings. It has a head, rounded thorax, and abdomen. It has six legs. It has a pinched-in waist. Its antennae are mid-length and bent. It has wings during the mating season – only the fertile female and adult male have wings.
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The Blacksaddle Filefish (Paraluteres prionurus) is a marine (saltwater) fish in the Monacahnthidae family of Leatherjackets. It is related to Pufferfish. It mimics the Valentin’s Sharpnose Puffer (Canthigaster valentini).
The Blacksaddle Filefish is greyish with distinctive black ‘saddles’ and a protruding nose. It has a yellow tail. It has a blue-grey head, and a white speckled body with blue-grey spots. It has four black stripes (called saddles) on its back.
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The Tau Emperor Moth (Aglia tau) is an insect in the Saturniidae family of emperor and royal moths.
The Tau Emperor Moth has large, lobed wings. It is brightly coloured, usually orange to brown with a large eye-spot on each of its four wings. It is a distinct marginal line across each wing. The hind wings (back wings) overlap the forewings (front wings). Its body is wide and hairy. It has feathery antennae.
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The Giant Click Beetle (Oxynopterus annamensis) is an insect in the Elateridae family of click beetles.
The Giant Click Beetle is black to reddish-brown. The male has distinctive feather-like antennae. The female has thin, toothed antennae. It has a prothorax (front thorax) that is shield-shaped with sharply pointed posteriolateral tips. The elytra (wing cases) are long and smooth, tapering to a point at the tail end. It has wings, but it is not a strong flyer. It has simple, hairless claws on the tarsal segments of its six legs.
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What is the difference between the Australian Magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen) and the Eurasian Magpie (Pica pica)?
The Australian Magpie is a bird in the Artamidae family of butcherbirds, whereas the Eurasian or European Magpie is a bird in the Corvidae family of crows. The Australian Magpie is an artamid and the Eurasian Magpie is a corvid. They are both passerine songbirds.
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The Ghost Spider (Anyphaena accentuata) is an arachnid (eight-legged invertebrate) in the Anyphaenidae family of spiders.
The Ghost Spider is light-brown to yellowish with darker markings on its abdomen. Its thorax is darker than its abdomen. It legs are darker near is body and become paler toward the tips. It has a pair of antennae.
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The Yellow-Banded Pipefish (Dunckerocampus pessuliferus) is a small marine (saltwater) fish in the Syngnathidae family of seahorses, pipefish, and seadragons.
The Yellow-Banded Pipefish looks like a thin, straight seahorse or a small sea snake. It is a long, tube-like, cyclindrical fish with a small mouth. It has alternating reddish-brown and yellow bands along its body. Its snout (nose) is a long tube ending in a narrow mouth which opens upwards and is toothless. It has a dorsal (back) fin, which is always moving because it helps the Pipefish to swim. It has small gill openings, called slits, which enable it to breathe underwater. It has a paddle-shaped tail.
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The Carrion Crow (Corvus corone) is a common medium-sized bird in the Corvidae family. It is native to western Europe and eastern Asia.
It mainly eats carrion (the meat of dead animals), but it also eats insects, worms, grain, seeds, fruit, and small animals, such as worms and frogs, as well as eggs. It will also scavenge food scraps from humans.
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The Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly (Aglais urticae) is a medium-sized insect in the Nymphadidae family of Eurasian butterflies.
The Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly is mainly reddish-orange wih black and yellow markings on its forewings (front wings) and a ring of blue spots around the edge of its wings.
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The Gudgeon (Gobio gobio) is a freshwater fish in the Cyprinidae family. It is a cyprinid.
The Gudgeon has a long, slender body with a flat, wide head. It is usually greenish-brown with silvery sides. It has a row of 6-12 faint black-grey blotches running lengthwise on the side of its body. Its underbelly is white. Its fins are greyish-white with a brownish tinge. The dorsal (back) fin is pale-brown with small, dark spots. It has a barbel at the corner of each side of its mouth. It has two rows of teeth.
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The Dwarf Spider (Erigone atra) is an arachnid in the Linyphiidae family of dwarf spiders.
The Dwarf Spider is black or dark-brown. Its carapace (shell) is dark and its abdomen usually has a black marking. The male has a more pointed abdomen than the female. It has eight brown legs covered with hairs. It has tooth-like pedipalps near its mouth. It has two rows of four eyes to total eight eyes. The back row of eyes is straight and the front row of eyes is slightly curved.
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The Common Redshank (Tringa tetanus) is a medium-sized bird in the Scolopacidae family of waders. A shank is a leg, so redshank means red leg.
The Common Redshank has brown marbled feathers with a lighter mottled underbelly. In winter, it is greyish brown with a white underbelly. It has red legs and a black-tipped red beak. It has small, rounded black eyes.
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The Triangulate Cobweb Spider (Steatoda triangulosa) is an arachnid in the Theridiidae family of cobspiders and tangle-web spiders.
The Triangulate Cobweb Spider has a round, bulbous abdomen, a small head, and six thin, hairy, striped legs. It has dark-brown triangle-shaped patterns on the back of its light-brown abdomen. The female’s patterns appear zig-zagged.
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The Comma Butterfly (Polygonia c-album) is an insect in the Nymphalidae family of butterflies. It is also known as the Anglewing, due to its angular wings.
The Comma Butterfly is orange on the upperside of its wings with dark-brown to black markings and light spots on the edge. It has angular notches on the edges of its forewings (front wings). The underside is marbled brown. The hind wings (back wings) have a white spot in the shape of the letter C. It can look like fallen leaves when resting, which confuses its predators. It is a strong flier.
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The Eurasian Otter (Lutra lutra) is a semi-aquatic mammal in the Mustelidae family of weasels and otters. It is also known as the European Otter, Common Otter, Old World Otter, and Eurasian River Otter.
The Eurasian Otter has a streamlined, elongated body, and a long, strong, flat tail. It has two layers of dense brown water-repellent fur, and a cream underbelly. It has a short neck, small dark eyes, a black nose, long white whiskers, and small rounded ears. It has five long toes and webbed feet to swim in water, but it needs air to breathe.
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The Brown-Banded Carder Bee (Bombus humilis) is an insect in the Apidae family of bumblebees.
The Brown-Banded Carder Bee has a yellow-orange fuzzy thorax. It has a broad dark-brown band on its abdomen. Its body has fluffy hairs. It has a rounded head with short antennae. Its rear legs are bare and shiny.
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The European Hobo Spider (Eratigena agrestis) is an arachnid in the Agelenidae family of funnel web spiders.
The European Hobo Spider varies in appearance. It has a light-brown body, and eight legs. Its two front legs are longer than its other legs. Its abdomen has a V-shaped pattern down the middle.
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The Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum) is an insect in the Coenagrionidae family of dragonflies and damselflies. It is also known as the Common Bluet or the Northern Bluet.
The Common Blue Damselfly has a long, thin, cylindrical beige to cream body with a light-blue head and a light-blue bulbous tail. Its wings are long and translucent. The male is blue with black markings, and the female can be varied in colour.
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