Plains

Swallow

Masters of the open air

Swainson's Hawk

The grasshopper hawk that goes global

Short-Eared Owl

Twilight hunter of the open plains

Sarus Crane

Tallest flyer, truest partner

Common Grackle

Pale eyes. Loud calls. City-smart flocks.

Osprey

Nature's plunge-diving fish hawk

King Quail

Small quail, big color.

Egret

Wetland hunters in white

Eastern Turkey (Wild Turkey)

Big woods. Big gobble.

Jabiru

Big bill. Big bird. Big wetlands.

Egyptian Vulture

Small vulture, big cleanup crew

Gray Catbird

Mew, mimic, and melt into the thicket

Evening Grosbeak

Vise-billed finch of winter flocks

Bee-Eater

Color in flight, precision in the air

Elf Owl

Tiny owl, big desert night hunter

Yellowhammer

Hedgerow gold with a looping chorus

Cedar Waxwing

The berry-loving bird in a velvet mask

Herring Gull

Coastline's clever scavenger

Xeme (Sabine's Gull)

Arctic elegance, ocean wanderer

Xiaosaurus

Small bones, big uncertainty

Xenotarsosaurus

Patagonia's "strange-ankled" hunter

Meganeura

Carboniferous skies, colossal wings.

Ichthyostega

Half fish, half pioneer tetrapod

Seymouria

A near-amniote on Permian shores