-Frank Lloyd Wright-
Plant and Wildlife Identification
The ability to identify a bird, flower, or tree; to recognize features that distinguish it as a lady’s slipper, or a mourning dove, or a white oak brings an enjoyment of nature. But this is only the beginning of your exploration of nature. Continued field observations and learning will bring a deeper satisfaction when you start to anticipate the flowers you will find along a river bank in August, or the hawk you see soaring in the air along the fringe of a hardwood forest is a broad winged hawk instead of a red tailed hawk. Eventually you feel part of a larger community which includes the flowers, the birds, the animals, the trees, and YOU.
The resources listed in this section will lead you on the first steps to becoming part of the nature community. These websites are some of the best we have found for identifying the birds, plants, and trees you will encounter. If you know of others that would benefit our visitors, please share them with us.
Enjoy!
Birds
All About Birds is a website of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, a premier organization for the study of birds and a great resource for birders. The Bird Guide section will take you to a general description of a bird. For the beginning birder, check out the other sections of the website to get you started. The Gear Guide is definitely useful in selecting the best equipment. It has been a great help to us. For those who want more information, select the Birding 1, 2, 3.
Another useful link is the Patuxent-Bird Population Studies website. Under the Learning About Birds section there is the standard bird identification, as well as Bird Identification Tips section.
Trees
There are a number of useful sites; however, they mostly focus on the trees of a state or a region.
One site that includes many of the trees you will encounter throughout the U.S. is the ID IT offered by the Department of Forestry at Virginia Tech. This site provides information on approximately 800 trees. It is user-friendly, with 2 ways to approach identification of your unknown tree. The Dichotomous Keys at the top of the page allow you to take an either-or approach to tree ID. The lower half of the page takes you through an interview to identify your unknown tree.
ID It (Virginia Tech tree identification)
Another website of Basic Tree Identification is offered by The Wisconsin Forestree Project. It provides an intuitive menu, with pictures, to identify your unknown tree.
Wildflowers
Most wildflower identification websites are specific to one region, or one state, or even one park. However, one of the best websites is provided by University of Texas at Austin-Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. The site contains the Native Plants Database, a comprehensive listing of over 6,800 native plants for all 50 states plus the provinces of Canada.
The easiest method is to use the Combination Search, found midway down the page. Just fill in as much information as you know then SUBMIT COMBINATION SEARCH. Then work your way through the photos. The more information you can provide the quicker you will find your wildflower.
The following site is very helpful if you already know the name of the flower (see lists in featured parks on this website). Click on the link below, select the common or scientific name tab, then select the alphabetic tabs to go to the flower name. This is a nice, easy approach.
Wildflowers of Eastern North America
Another site takes the approach of looking at the parts of the flower, such as the number of petals, the position of the leaves, shape of the leaves, and when the flower blooms. The site walks you through an online interview to determine the wildflower you have seen in nature.
Identifying Wildflowers with this Key
A website from the U.S. Forest Service provides a variety of information to enhance your enjoyment of wildflowers.