U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)

Did you know there are about 300 species of freshwater mussels in North America?

The habitat crew at the Lower Great Lakes Fish & Wildlife Conservation Office recently participated in snorkel surveys in the Cacapon River and learned more about these fascinating creatures! These surveys are part of a monitoring grid established by the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources in 2015. Participants identified seven different species of freshwater mussels and counted approximately 500 individuals.

When you have a career with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, you never know where the day might take you!

Photo by Gwyneth Daunton/USFWS

8 out of 9 woolly bear caterpillars agree it will be a mild winter. Severe or mild, they'll all be frozen solid under leaf litter anyway. In the spring, these caterpillars will thaw out, pupate within cocoons and emerge as adult Isabella tiger moths.

While there's no scientific backing to the idea that the banding color can predict winter weather, it's still fun to watch for patterns. Even caterpillars from the same clutch of eggs can have a wide variation in color!

📷 USFWS

Draw me like one of your French girls.

Hello. Now that we have you here, you should know that there is an upcoming fee-free day at U.S. Department of the Interior public lands across the country. If you like watching wildlife pose provocatively like a character from a movie that is almost three decades old... then you should visit a public land near you. If you like wildlife period... then you should visit a public land near you.

Wildlife abounds at USFWS national wildlife refuges, National Park Service sites and Bureau of Land Management areas! On August 4th, to celebrate the 4th anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act, all entrance fees are waived on Interior lands. Come and see us AND the posing wildlife for a fee-free day!

#GreatAmericanOutdoorsDay

Photo of a coastal brown bear in Alaska by Laura Romin (sharetheexperience)

Find someone who makes you want to sing and dance like these black-footed albatross!

These beautiful seabirds, named ka’upu in Hawaiian, began arriving on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in November, excitedly reuniting with mates they haven’t seen since summer.

The first ka’upu chicks just started hatching recently on the wildlife refuge in the northwestern reaches of the Hawaiian archipelago.

USFWS volunteer video: Dan Rapp

Video description: Two all-black seabirds excitedly dance around each other using emphatically coordinated wing, bill and head gestures during courtship, with countless other albatross sitting on nests in the background.