The Majorcan Midwife Toad (Alytes muletensis) is a small freshwater amphibian in the Alytidae family of toads. It is a vulnerable species.
The Majorcan Midwife Toad can be a variety of colours, but it is generally brownish to yellowish or greenish, with several irregular dark spots along its body. It has big, bulging dark eyes, suited to living in the dark. It has long legs with webbed feet that enable it to climb over rocks.
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The European Green Toad (Bufotes viridis) is an amphibian in the Bufonidae family of toads.
The European Green Toad has green or dark-brown spots on its back. Its underbelly is white or lightly coloured. It can change colour, depending on heat or light. It has moist skin with mucous glands that secrete slime-like liquid to keep it protected from dehydration, and to help it breathe.
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The Eurasian Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) is a passerine bird in the Paridae family of song birds. It is also known as the Eurasian Blue Titmouse.
The Eurasian Blue Tit has a distinctive azure-blue crown and a dark-blue line passing through its eye and encircling its white cheeks to the chin. Its forehead is white, and a bar on its wing is also white. Its nape, wings, and tail are blue and its back is yellowish-green. It underparts are yellow with a dark line down its abdomen. Its beak is black. It has bluish-grey legs. Its eyes are dark brown.
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The European Tree Frog (Hyla arborea) is a small amphibian in the Hylidae family of tree frogs.
The European Tree Frog is a light green, slender frog, with a slightly flattened, smooth body. It can also be greyish, olive-green, or tan coloured. It has lightly mottled markings, often with four faint lines or distinctive white spots. It has bulging eyes at the side of its head. Its long hind feet are webbed with cushioned pads. The male has a golden-brown throat and the female has a white throat.
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The Common Tree Frog (Polypedates leucomystax) is a small amphibian in the Rhacophoridae family of shrub frogs.
The Common Tree Frog is a light-green, slender frog, with a slightly flattened, smooth body. It can also be greyish, yellowish, or dark brown. It has lightly mottled markings, often with four faint lines or distinctive white spots. It has bulging eyes at the side of its head. Its hind feet are webbed with cushioned pads.
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What are the rictal bristles on a bird’s beak?
The rictal bristles on a bird’s beak are the stiff hair-like feathers at the base of the beak.
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The Globe Skimmer Dragonfly (Pantala flavescens) is an insect in the Libellulidae family of dragonflies. It is also known as the Globe Wanderer or the Wandering Glider.
The Globe Skimmer has a long, cylindrical body, two pairs of translucent wings, and a head with large eyes. The adult male has a reddish-yellow abdomen and the female has a yellow abdomen. It has a yellowish head. Its legs are black.
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The Russet Bush Warbler (Locustella mandelli) is a small bird in the Locustellidae family of grass warblers.
The Russet Bush Warbler is brown with a lighter, buff-coloured underbelly. It has a dark streak on its wings and underside. Its tail is medium to long. It has grey legs.
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The Jackson’s Forest Lizard (Adolfus jacksoni) is a small to medium-sized reptile in the Lacertidae family of wall lizards. It is a lacertid.
The Jackson’s Forest Lizard is long and slender with shiny scales and a long tail. It has brown stripes on either side of its body with rows of greenish spots. It has a pale underbelly. It has large black eyes with yellow eye rings. It has short legs with five toes on each foot.
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The Flat Badge Huntsman Spider (Neosparassus patellatus) is a large arachnid in the Sparassidae family of badge huntsman spiders. Sparassids are eight-eyed spiders.
The Flat Badge Huntsman Spider has a grey, thick, flat body with smooth furry hair. The female is lighter, often orange to pinkish brown. It has a distinctive shield, called a badge, with white spots on its underbelly. Its abdomen, called a carapace, is oval with a square front near its eyes. On its abdomen, it has a series of black dots. It has eight long legs. The first two pairs of legs are longer than the other legs.
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The Common Swift (Apus apus) is a bird in the Apodiformes order. It looks similar to the Barn Swallow and the House Martin, but it is related to the Hummingbird and Treeswift.
The Common Swift is black-brown, except for a small patch of white or pale-grey on its chin. It has long swept-back, narrow wings that resemble the silhouette of an anchor or a boomerang. It has a short-forked tail. It has short legs.
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The Willie Wagtail (Rhipidura leucophyrs leucophyrs) is a passerine songbird. It is not related to the Eurasian Wagtail in the Motacillidae family. It is related to the crow, raven, drongo, and bird of paradise. It wags its tail from side to side when it is on the ground.
The Willie Wagtail has black upperparts and white underparts. It has a white eyebrow. It has a black fantail. It has a short, thin, black beak, which has a hooked tip. It has long, black legs for its size.
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The Albert’s Lyrebird (Menura alberti) is a large passerine songbird in the Menuridae family. It is a ground-dwelling bird.
The Albert’s Lyrebird looks like a partridge or pheasant, with a plumpish body, slender neck, and a long tail. It has short, rounded wings, which makes them poor fliers.
When the tail is fanned out, the male’s large tail looks like a lyre musical instrument. His tail has 16 modified feathers. Two of the tail feathers, called medians, are broad, brown curved feathers with dark tips. There are also two thin dark feathers, called lyrates. The rest of the 12 tail feathers are white filamentaries.
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The European Bee-Eater (Merops apiaster) is a small passerine bird in the Meropidae family of bee-eaters.
The European Bee-Eater has brown and yellow upper parts, green-grey wings, a yellow throat, and a bluish belly. It has a long, thin black mask around its orange-brown eyes, with a shiny blue line above its eye. It has a notched tail. Its beak is black. The male and female look similar, but the female tends to have greener feathers on the shoulders.
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The Eurasian Treecreeper (Certhia familiaris) is a small passerine bird. It is also known as the Common Treecreeper.
The Eurasian Treecreeper has camouflaged, patterned, light-brown and dark-brown upperparts, white underparts, and a rufous (red-brown) rump. It has a white eyebrow. Its tail is brown and long. It has a curved, dark-grey beak. It has pink-beige legs and feet, with long, hooked claws.
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The Sunwatcher Toadhead Agama Lizard (Phrynocephalus helioscopus) is a small lizard in the agamid family. It is also known as the Fergana Toadhead Agama.
The Sunwatcher Toadhead Agama Lizard has a short, wide head, and a short nose. It has rough skin. It has scale fringes around its eyes to keep out the desert sand. It varies in colour from light-beige to grey to dark-brown, with white, black, and red patterns that camouflages it with its environment. It has a light underbelly. It has partially fringed toes to help it walk on sand.
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The Northern Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes trogolodytes) is a small passerine song bird, and a sub-species of the Eurasian Wren.
The Northern Wren is rufous-brown with a paler underbelly. It has short, rounded wings and a tail with a dark barred pattern. Its beak is dark-brown. Its legs are pale brown.
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The American House Spider (Parasteatoda tepidariorum) is an arachnid in the Theridiidae family of spiders. It is also known as the Cobweb Spider or the Tangle-Web Spider.
The American House Spider is brown with mottled markings. It has a large, bulbous, round abdomen with eight long legs. The two front legs are longer than the oher legs. Its legs are black with light brown bands.
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The Indian Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba dukhunensis) is a small bird and a sub-species in the Motacillidae family of white wagtails, pipits, and longclaws.
The Indian Pied Wagtail has pale blue-grey upperparts and a continuous unbroken white panel on its wings. It has long tail feathers with some black markings, as well as black markings on its crown. Its face is white with a thin black line from its cheek to its chest. It has black eyes and black legs.
It frequently wags its tail up and down.
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The European Mantis (Mantis religiosa) is a large insect in the Mantidae family of mantids, commonly known as the Praying Mantis.
The front pair of legs of the European Mantis has spikes and are bent in a praying position. It is long and green and can be camouflaged in plants. It can also be brown, reddish-brown, or yellow-green. It has a hard shell, called an exo-skeleton. The male and the female have wings, but the wings of the female are too small for flying. It has a triangular head on a thin flexible neck. It has large compound eyes.
Its movement is rhythmic. It sways back and forth or side to side.
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