Carolina Chickadee

Birds > Songbirds

The Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis) is a charming, inquisitive woodland acrobat that brightens southern forests and backyard feeders throughout the American Southeast. Famously identified by its crisp black cap and bib contrasting with clean white cheeks,...

Red-bellied Snake

Reptiles > Colubrids

The Red-bellied Snake (Storeria occipitomaculata) is a tiny, secretive, and completely harmless woodland serpent native to eastern North America. Celebrated by naturalists and gardeners alike for its dramatic secret coloration—combining a drab grey or slate-brown...

White Saddle

Fungi > Cup Fungi

The White Saddle (Helvella crispa), also famously known as the Elfin Saddle, is an architectural, bizarre ascomycete fungus native to temperate deciduous forests across the Northern Hemisphere. Instantly distinguished by its lobed, contorted white cap resembling a...

Wood White

Invertebrates > Insects

The Wood White (Leptidea sinapis) is one of the most ethereal, delicate, and poetically graceful butterflies in the European insect fauna. Belonging to the family Pieridae, it bears no resemblance to the robust, fast-flying cabbage whites; instead, this woodland...

Common Toothwort

Plants > Parasitic Plants

The Common Toothwort (Lathraea squamaria) is an extraordinary and ghostly woodland holoparasite belonging to the broomrape family Orobanchaceae. Completely lacking chlorophyll and the ability to photosynthesize, this eerie plant spends almost its entire life hidden...