Author: Tara Allison

Garter snakes are beneficial predators, good to have, harmless to humans and pets.

Short list of the books reviewed by WelcomeWildlife. More to come.

Praying mantises are beneficial members of our garden carnivores and the only insects that can swivel their head.

These moths are beautiful and large. At least some of them visit your yard.

One or more of these ladybugs and other beetles live in your yard. Look for them on foliage or flowers, and sometimes on the ground. (Ladybugs are also known as lady beetles and ladybird beetles.) “An inordinate fondness for beetles” That was population geneticist J.B.S. Haldane’s reply when asked what he had learned about the “Creator” from his studies. And, no wonder—Coleoptera, the order of beetles (and weevils, their cousins), is the most populous on earth: 30 percent of all insects, 30 percent of all other animals; 300,000 known species, with over 30,000 in North America. And that’s just a…

Look on plants in your yard. You’ll probably spot some of these common “bugs.”

Why do they “play ‘possum?” Do opossums get rabies? Do they hang by their tail? Are they dangerous? What about rabies?

Wasps are scary, right? But they’re beneficial and will ignore you if you ignore them.

When we alter natural habitat, we challenge wildlife and destroy native plants, sometimes to extinction. Read their stories.

Bees and wasps to look for in your yard. (No need to be afraid!)

The Striped Skunk is the most familiar, but there are other kinds of U.S. skunks.