What is this animal?
Match a spider, snake, caterpillar, bird or track to its likely species by describing what you see — color, pattern, size. 37 identification guides, each built from real naturalist sightings on iNaturalist.
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8 guidesIdentify a spider by color, pattern, size or web shape. Fear-free matching from real North American sightings.
Black Spider With White Spots
The most-searched spider descriptor in the US. Most people asking this are looking at a bold jumping spider on a wall — not a widow.
Brown Spider With White Spots
Usually a large orb-weaver on an outdoor web, or a wolf spider carrying young.
Large Brown Spider
Almost always a wolf spider, huntsman, or fishing spider — not a brown recluse.
Black Spider With Red Markings
Includes the widow spiders you should know, plus common look-alikes that are harmless.
Yellow And Black Spider Identification
Nine times out of ten, the yellow-and-black spider on a garden web is the harmless yellow garden spider.
Orb-Weaver Spider Identification
The classic web-in-the-garden spiders. Big, dramatic-looking, and completely harmless to people.
Jumping Spider Identification
Small, fuzzy, and famously curious — jumping spiders are among the safest and most photographed spiders on the planet.
Wolf Spider Identification
Large, hairy, ground-dwelling spiders that hunt at night. Frequently mistaken for tarantulas or brown recluses.
Caterpillars
6 guidesMatch a caterpillar to its adult moth or butterfly by color, hair, and markings.
Fuzzy Black Caterpillar Identification
Usually a woolly bear, gypsy moth larva, or tussock moth — check for orange or brown bands before touching.
Black And Yellow Caterpillar Identification
Monarchs, black swallowtails, and cinnabar moth larvae are the top matches for this look.
Green Caterpillar With Stripes
Hornworms, sphinx-moth larvae, and swallowtails dominate this description.
Hairy Brown Caterpillar Identification
Salt marsh caterpillars, banded woolly bears, and Virginia tiger moths lead the list.
Large Green Caterpillar Identification
If it's finger-sized and pale green, it's almost certainly a saturniid or hornworm.
Orange Caterpillar With Black Spots
Milkweed tussocks, gulf fritillaries, and yellow-necked caterpillars are the leading matches.
Snakes
5 guidesIdentify a snake by color and pattern. Includes venomous look-alikes and safe field-mark checks.
Black Snake With Yellow Stripes
Almost always a garter snake or a ribbon snake — both harmless and beneficial.
Small Black Snake Identification
Ring-necked snakes, black racers, and juvenile rat snakes are the top matches.
Brown Snake With Black Stripes
Usually a garter, a hognose, or a rat snake. Only a couple of look-alikes are venomous.
Snake In My Pool
Almost always a water snake, garter, or corn snake that fell in. Very rarely a cottonmouth.
Green Snake Identification
Almost every bright-green snake in North America is a harmless rough or smooth green snake.
Birds
9 guidesIdentify a bird by color, size and field marks — the fastest path when you don't know where to start.
Small Brown Bird Identification
House sparrows, wrens, and finches account for 90% of small-brown-bird sightings.
Yellow Bird With Black Wings
American goldfinches and evening grosbeaks dominate. Yellow warblers in migration are the other match.
Small Black Bird Identification
Cowbirds, red-winged blackbird females, and starlings account for most matches.
Brown Bird With Red Head
House finch males are the answer 90% of the time. Purple finches and cassin's finches are the other 10%.
Gray Bird With Black Head
Juncos, chickadees, and titmice cover the vast majority of matches.
Yellow Bird Identification
Goldfinches, warblers, and orioles are the top three matches — check wing pattern to narrow it down.
Blue Bird With Orange Belly
Eastern, western, and mountain bluebirds all wear this combination.
Large Black Bird Identification
Crow, raven or vulture? Size, tail shape, and flight style tell them apart in seconds.
Red Bird Identification
Northern cardinals, house finches, scarlet tanagers, and summer tanagers cover almost every match.
Ticks
3 guidesTell disease-carrying ticks apart from harmless species by shape, color and life stage.
Deer Tick (Black-Legged Tick) Identification
The primary Lyme disease vector in North America. Adults are tiny (3mm) with a solid dark scutum.
American Dog Tick Identification
Larger than deer ticks, with pale ornate scutum markings. Vector of Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
Lone Star Tick Identification
Adult females have a distinctive single white dot on the back. Vector of alpha-gal syndrome (red meat allergy).
Animal Tracks
4 guidesIdentify animal tracks and footprints in mud, snow or sand by toe count, shape and stride.
Cat-Like Paw Prints
Bobcats, mountain lions, and domestic cats all leave four-toed round prints without claw marks.
Five-Toed Animal Tracks
Raccoons, opossums, skunks, otters, and bears all leave five-toed prints — foot shape and claw marks separate them.
Dog-Like Tracks
The X-shaped negative space between toe and heel pads tells wild canids apart from domestic dogs.
Small Mammal Tracks
Squirrels, chipmunks, mice, and voles leave distinctive bounding pair-prints.
Scat & Droppings
2 guidesIdentify animal droppings by shape, size, contents and location.