Who am I?

I am an amphibian, a clawless, scaleless, jelly-egg laying salamander. Some salamanders spend their entire lives in water, but I only lay my eggs in water and then spend my time underground in the forest. Never too far from water though, I am an amphibian and have to stay moist. I started life as one of a bunch (50-200) of eggs all stuck together in a fancy mud puddle called a vernal pool. The pool I live in will dry out eventually but hopefully not for the four months it took me to grow up and wander off into the woods. You see, when I hatched I had gills just like a fish, I could not breathe air. It takes a long time to grow lungs. Once I had legs and lungs I could leave the pool. I spent a couple of years alone until I was ready to lay eggs myself. Soon "the big night out" was upon me. Seriously, some humans call it the "big night out". The big night out is when all my friends and family return to the same pool where we were born to find a mate and lay eggs. It is usually in late February but certainly will happen on the first night in late winter when it is raining and the air temperature is above 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Usually the males get their first and deposit little sacks of sperm and it is my task to choose one and use it to fertilize my eggs. After I lay my eggs the babies will hatch in about 10 days depending on the temperature of the water. I don't stick around and wait for them to hatch, there is a whole lot of forest to explore. My babies are on their own. They will do just fine. Me, I sleep my days away and hunt at night.

Where can you find me?

My family live in the eastern United States and Canada. I am everywhere in Southern Maryland but you usually don't see me because I am a "mole" salamander and live underground in tunnels and burrows that other animals have made. I don't have claws or teeth to dig my own tunnels. If you want to see me your best bet is in late winter (February) when I am heading to my pool to breed. Turn over logs in the water, or just look carefully -- you will see me when I move. In March and April you can catch my babies by slowly pushing your upturned hand into the leaves on the bottom of the vernal pool. Put them back right away so they can grow up to be big, healthy salamanders.

What do I eat?

Insects and worms, basically little things that will fit in my mouth. I don't like vegetables and surprisingly my mother never complained about it.

What might eat me?

Hmm ... I wish I could say that the nasty tasting poison on my skin and my bright yellow spots keeps other critters from looking to me for dinner, but I would be too optimistic. Critters such as herons, other birds, raccoons, skunks and snakes will eat me if they can stomach my foul taste. Sometimes they learn their lesson and eat one of my family and then never again, unless they are really hungry.

Cool reasons why I am the critter of the month!

• I am usually the first amphibian to lay eggs in the spring.
• After I mature I return to the same vernal pool where I was born to lay my own eggs.
• I have a sticky poison on my skin that can cause a rash like poison ivy. It makes me taste really nasty.
• I make a lousy pet because I live underground and am only active at night.

Who am I?

I am a frog, I spend lots of time climbing trees, duh. Trees are where the food lives and I blend in really well with the leaves. My mate and I will get together in late April and I will lay eggs in the local pond or other still fresh water. I will usually lay eggs only once a year, but hey, rules are meant to be broken. I make a very distinctive call that kinda sounds like a duck. If you go out at night with a flashlight you can follow my call and easily find me.

Where can you find me?

In trees, duh. Oh, and on your windows and screens on summer nights, assuming you left a light on. Okay, in ponds and puddles and wheelbarrows -- anywhere there is water sitting around; that is where I lay my eggs. There you can find my tiny tadpoles if you look carefully.

What do I eat?

I eat insects, all kinds including mosquitos, flies, crickets. Basically any insect that can fit in my mouth and is silly enough to get too close.

What might eat me?

I watch out for snakes, lizards, birds, turtles, oh, and people. People catch me and keep me in a little tank as a pet. Water beetles, fish, and other aquatic predators will eat my babies if they are not careful.

Cool reasons why I am the critter of the month!

• I am skittish and will jump or climb at the slightest hint of danger.
• I can sense vibrations in the ground so step quietly around me.
• I eat mosquitos so don't hurt me!

Who am I?

A little dinosaur? Not really, but I am a reptile, a lizard, a fast lizard. I look just like tree bark, with brown, grey, white and bluish keeled scales. (A keeled scale has a ridge down the center like the keel of a boat. Snakes sometimes have keeled scales as well.) I can grow to 4-7 inches long! Males of my kind have blue scales on their sides and underbellies. Females are more brownish. The males are very territorial and will defend their area with elaborate displays of blue-belly flashing. Sometome between April and June I will lay a group of anywhere from 5-15 eggs in a hole I've dug in the soft moist ground. Then my job is done. The eggs will hatch in two or three months. The little ones are on their own. And, hey, they look just like me. It will be a year or two before the males start to show their blue sides and underbellies.

Where can you find me?

I live in forests, though I can be found near homes and as my name suggests I like to hang out on split rail fences. I like sunlight and dry areas so don’t expect to find me in shady or wet areas. Should you see me I will either run or freeze, hoping my camoflage will protect me. If I am hiding, don't blink becasue I can disappear instantly! I can be found throughout the eastern United States.

What do I eat?

I will sit and wait from my favorite perch for something small to pass by. A beetle perhaps? Really any insect will do.

What might eat me?

Other lizards! Especially the broad-headed skink. Snakes and birds will also eat me if they can catch me.

Cool reasons why I am the critter of the month!

• Like many lizards I have fracture plates in my tail that allow me to sever the tail whenever I want. It will grow back in time, sort of. But I will never look the same.
• I have overlapping scales which make me look rough and spiny.
• Males of my species defend their territory by doing push ups! ... and flashing our blue underbellies. If all else fails, we will fight..

Who am I?

Ah, now that is a complicated question. Clearly I am a butterfly, but I don't always look like a butterfly. I go through four basic changes starting with an egg, then a caterpillar (larva), then a pupa (chrysalis) and finally become the butterfly you know and love. After my egg is laid it takes about 3 days for me to hatch. I am then a really, really tiny caterpillar. As a caterpillar I will grow and shed my skin in five stages, called instars. At each stage I am getting bigger. The fifth stage, or instar, is the big caterpillar that is ready to form a chrysalis (pupate). It took me 10-14 days to get here. When I am ready to form my chrysalis I will wander around looking for a safe place to hang out for a couple of weeks. When I find my perfect spot I will attach myself with a pad of silk and wriggle and squiggle out of my larval skin and then harden forming a chrysalis. After a couple of weeks hanging around I will emerge as a butterfly. Life as a butterfly can be short -- for 2-5 weeks I will fly around eating nectar and other sweets, mating and laying eggs. Each year there will be five generations of adult Monarchs. I am the fourth. I will lay my eggs in late September and when they hatch the real magic begins.

The fifth generation of adults, sometimes called the "super generation", will live 8-9 months! It will be the arduous task of this generation, my children, to migrate all the way to Mexico, spend the winter there and then migrate back to Texas in the spring. There they will complete their lives by laying eggs and starting the whole process over again.

(Click here to view images of the Monarch life cycle)

What do I eat?

As a larvae or caterpillar I only eat the leaves and stems of plants in the milkweed family. As an adult I eat nectar from flowers, pollinating them along and way, and other sweets like fruit.

What might eat me?

The milkweed I eat as a caterpillar contains poisons (cardiac glycosides) that I collect in my body. The poisons don't make me sick but critters that try to eat me will not be very happy. Still, even as an adult, there a couple of wasps and a few species of birds that will eat me, despite the poison. Most other species will only try once. It is when I am an egg and a young caterpillar that I am most vulnerable. At this stage spiders, wasps, ambush bugs, stink bugs and others will eat me.

Cool reasons why I am the critter of the month!

• Everybody loves me.
• Despite everybody loving me my populations have been declining due to loss of milkweed and overwintering habitat.
• Males have a black spot on the inside of both their hind wings that makes them easy to spot.
• I can sometimes be seen flying in circles, just like vultures, sailing on rising columns of air to save energy.
• I poop ALOT. (My poop is often easier to see than I am.)
• I smell with my antennas.
• I have been to Earth's orbit -- astronauts have raised me on the International Space Station!

Who am I?

Duh. I’m a Deer! A brown deer! A nimble deer! An elegant deer! (Not a killdeer – that’s a bird!) I’m the only kind of deer you will find in Maryland … unless, of course, you are on Assateague Island where we can be found hanging out with our cousins the Sitka deer. We are the largest wild animals in the forest, and can weigh in at 300 or more pounds! We are a rather controversial animal even though we are just trying to eat enough to survive and raise a family. Sometimes we eat pretty flowers and humans get mad and start shooting at us. Sometimes when we cross the road we don’t look both ways and may run in front of one of those fast, noisy human carrying things. Those machines are dangerous – they can kill us, and sometimes when we are hit we even hurt the humans inside.

So, about us … well we really just wander around and eat, mate and try to keep our babies safe. We mate in the fall and we will have up to 3 fawns that are born six months later -- in late winter or early spring. We will sometimes mate in the spring as well. You know our fawns; they are brown with white spots which allow them to hide in the forest.

I remember when I was young, my mother would leave my brothers, sisters and I alone for hours. It was lonely and quiet. Mom never hid us all in the same place. After about 6 weeks I no longer needed to drink my mother’s milk and we all went out eating together. My sisters and I stayed with mom for a year or two before we left to start our own family. My restless brothers took off after the first year – you know how boys are! So now I have my own family and we hang out together. Because that good for nothing father abandoned us I am a single working mom with 3 fawns. Who knows where dad went – he’s probably hanging out with his male buddies, munching leaves, playing chicken with those human carriers and otherwise getting into trouble. Men!

Where can you find me?

We can be found everywhere in the United States (except Hawaii, the deserts and Alaska) and throughout southern Canada. We prefer rather dense forests but can be found in cities and suburbs as well. We are nothing, if not adaptable. We especially like suburbs and farm areas because there are lots of things to eat and lots of small dense forest areas around neighborhoods and fields where we can hide and sleep. Dump a pile of corn in your backyard and we will find you! Even if you have never seen us around. We really don’t want to hang around humans though – they are dangerous. Sadly they have taken over our forests and built houses and farms and shopping centers so now we have no choice but to live nearby. Alas.

What do I eat?

We eat plants, so we are called herbivores. We can eat all sorts of plants, even plants and parts of plants that might not seem very tasty or even munchable. We can eat all sorts of plant stuff because we, like cows, have lots of stomachs! In our case we have 4 stomachs, each one helping to break down our food a little more until we get the good stuff – the nutritious bits! Of course, we have to chew our food really well – twice in fact. We chew, swallow, throw up our food and chew it again! The fancy word for this is called “regurigation”. This allows us to get energy from woody bits of plants, like bark.

What might eat me?

Yeah for humans! They have killed most of the wild animals that used to eat me; critters like wolves and mountain lions. Boo for humans! They and their dogs and their dangerous machines are about the only things left around that kill us!

Cool reasons why I am the critter of the month!

• This is my time of year. We are mating and very active.
• We are everywhere. Though we were almost wiped out and had to be reintroduced.

• Who am I?

I am fish. I am an anadromous fish which just means that I spend most of my life in saltwater. Not all of it, however. every spring when the water begins to warm I head upstream into fresher and fresher water until I am way up in the streams where I will lay my eggs. This assumes that the humans have not built dams or other obstructions that would keep me from getting upstream. Time once was when my friends and i would swim up all the rivers on the east coast of North America. Now there are only a few places left. Once I have made it upstream I will lay a few hundred thousand eggs. My eggs will drift downstream and hatch within a couple of weeks My babies will spend their first year in these freshwater streams before heading out to the ocean where we all overwinter. A few years later I will head back upstream to where I was born to lay my own eggs.

Where can you find me?

We are found everywhere from Canada to North Carolina, breeding in the freshwater rivers along the coast and spending our winters in the Atlantic between Maryland and North Carolina.

What do I eat?

When I am a small fry, baby, I will eat mostly small animals that live in freshwater streams, like copepods and other zooplankton. As an adult I will continue to eat plankton but will also eat small crustaceans and fish.

What might eat me?

Most of the bigger fish in the ocean will eat me. Sharks, dolphin, tuna and mackerel are among the fish I worry most about. In the Chesapeake I am a favorite meal of striped bass and the american eel.

Cool reasons why I am the critter of the month!

• In the Chesapeake only the Patuxent, Nanticoke and Susquehanna rivers remain as viable breeding grounds for shad.
• I was once the most sought after finfish, not only in the Bay, but throughout the east coast of North America.
• If I am breeding in the southern part of the United States I may only breed once before dying. Further north I may have the chance to return to my birth home many times before dying.
• The oldest shad found in Maryland was 11 years old.
• The biggest shad ever recorded was 2 1/2 feet long.