The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is dedicated to the conservation, protection, and enhancement of fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats. 🐟🦆 🌱
Washington, DC
Joined July 2009
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Happy Veterans Day!
Today we honor our veterans and make sure we never forget their dedication and sacrifice.
At the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, we're fortunate to work alongside many veterans who continue to serve our country by safeguarding its natural treasures.
Photo: Gordon Garcia
ALT Bald eagle, with distinctive white head and tail feathers, spreads its wings wide on a blue sky day, as seen from below.
Eastern carpenter bees are large, shiny pollinators often mistaken for bumblebees. As temperatures drop, activity winds down and these bees seek shelter to overwinter, often in the tunnels they carved into wood in the spring. Mated females hibernate alone in nests, waiting to re-emerge when warmth returns.
Photo: Judy Gallagher/CC BY 2.0 flic.kr/p/2o78Bsq
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service retweeted
Conservation happens on the ground, led by the people closest to our lands and wildlife who know them best.
Under @POTUS, we’re cutting red tape and putting resources where they have the biggest impact. These commonsense recommendations provide a practical path to healthier wildlife habitats, stronger partnerships and more opportunities for Americans to hunt, fish and enjoy our public lands.
doi.gov/pressreleases/interi…
Spawning salmon + fall foliage = Pacific Northwest perfection!
In November, coho salmon are reaching the end of their epic journey from the ocean back to the freshwater streams where they were born. After years at sea, they return to spawn in cold, clear rivers, especially in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.
Males develop a hooked jaw and bright red sides, while females dig gravel nests to lay their eggs. This seasonal migration is not only vital for the next generation of salmon, but also for nourishing entire stream ecosystems.
USFWS video: Marjie Lodwick
Video description: Several dark salmon are seen in clear river waters from above, as the camera pans up to show yellow cottonwoods, red dogwood and hawthorn scrubs, with green ponderosa pine and Doug fir mixed in.
Did you know U.S. military veterans, current service members and their families are eligible to receive free access to more than 2,000 federal recreation sites?
There are two types of America the Beautiful military passes: military annual and military lifetime. Annual passes provide free access for current military and dependents. The lifetime pass is for gold star families and U.S. military veterans.
These passes grant access to national parks, national wildlife refuges and other federally managed lands that charge for use.
It’s one small way to honor military service and help those families connect with the land they helped protect.
Learn more or order your pass now by searching ‘USGS military pass.’
USFWS photo
ALT Row of American flags line a walkway next to a military marker, with many seabirds resting on their ground nests nearby and the sun setting in the distance.
Harbor seals are some of the most widespread marine mammals of North America, found along coastlines from the North Atlantic and North Pacific, from temperate shores all the way into Arctic waters. These adaptable, spotted swimmers are at home on rocky shores, sandbars, and estuaries, so if you see one hauled out, be sure to give it plenty of space!
NOAA Fisheries video of harbor seals swimming and resting filmed under NMFS MMPA PERMIT #13430-01
The Atlantic halibut is the largest flatfish in the world, with some growing up to 15 feet long and weighing more than 700 pounds! Found in cold waters of the northern Atlantic, they spend much of their time on the ocean floor. Photo: shankar s./CC BY 2.0 flic.kr/p/JmuiqS
ALT Dark-colored fish resting on the sandy floor of an aquarium tank surrounded by rocks and dim blue lighting.
Black-and-white warblers spend winters in parts of the southeastern U.S. and across much of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. These warblers will move every direction along trees as they forage for insects. USFWS
ALT Black-and-white warbler clinging vertically to a tree trunk with blurred background.
Go ahead and stare – everybody does.
American alligators are iconic reptiles native to southeastern states. Adult males can measure more than 14 feet and weigh more than 1,000 pounds.
Alligators play a key role in wetland ecosystems, digging gator holes that provide water for countless other species during dry spells.
USFWS photo: Larry A. Woodward
ALT A long, dark alligator rests on a partially submerged log, with its reflection in the still water and green foliage all behind it.
Eastern gray squirrels are busy gathering and caching food for the cold winter months, but they're never too busy to stop for a quick snack. We noticed that this squirrel was munching on a milkweed seed pod. USFWS photo by Courtney Celley
ALT A gray squirrel perched on a rock nibbling on a small piece of food with a blurred natural background.
American shad are growing, hatching, and heading home!! North Attleboro National Fish Hatchery in MA raises and stocks millions of shad to their native waters each season, playing a key role in protecting and restoring these migratory fish. USFWS video of shad eggs with dark eye spots wiggling and hatching
Chill!! Tiger wolf spiders are not coming for you, even though they have the scariest predator-filled name of all time.
These opportunistic hunters commonly go after cockroaches, crickets, flies and other insects. While they are venomous, they aren't considered dangerous to humans, so leave them alone to spook their prey and help with pest control!
Photo: Judy Gallagher/CC BY 2.0 flic.kr/p/23rcpQp
ALT Close-up of a brown spider resting on a dry, textured leaf in natural light.
American icon coming through! 🦋
The monarch butterfly is one of the most iconic insects in North America. In late summer and early fall you might catch a glimpse of them as they rest and fuel up on their 3,000-mile migration to high elevation forests of central Mexico.
USFWS photo: Mike Budd
When a wildlife biologist takes up pumpkin carving 🎃
ALT Illuminated orange pumpkin shows carving of caribou, including gigantic antlers.
Enjoy these incredible pumpkin designs carved by USFWS biologist Sarah Dzielski, who said she has been carving endangered species on pumpkins since high school!
ALT Illuminated orange pumpkin shows carving of lynx face, including eyes, whiskers and pointy ears.
ALT Illuminated orange pumpkin shows carving of wolverine, including dark face and whiskers.
Featured in these fantastic pumpkin images: caribou, Canada lynx, great gray owl, wolverine and monarch butterfly!
Using wood-carving tools, each pumpkin takes a few hours, Dzielski said, but the lynx took five hours and the caribou took her eight hours!
Photos courtesy Dzielski
ALT Illuminated orange pumpkin shows carving of owl with wings stretched wide and talons out.
ALT Illuminated orange pumpkin shows carving of monarch butterfly landing on a flower.
It’s nest burrowing season right now for the nocturnal bonin petrel, or nunulu in Hawaiian, on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
It isn’t always glamorous work, but the little seabird parents-to-be waste no time while on their bellies, loosening soil with their bills and kicking it backwards with their webbed feet.
Nunulu burrows on the refuge can be up to 10 feet long and are usually about 3.5 feet deep, just big enough to fit both parents.
The vast majority of nunulu breed and nest in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands, including Midway Atoll NWR; all of the islands are protected as part of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.
USFWS volunteer video: Dan Rapp
Video description: Various rear views of black and white birds with heads obscured as they use their pinkish webbed feet to kick sand and soil backwards, with grasses growing all around.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service retweeted
Congratulations to retired Senior Special Agent Eric Holmes (third from left) on winning the Guy Bradley Award!
After 32 years with @USFWS Office of Law Enforcement, Holmes leaves a legacy that includes Operation Broken Glass — a 6-yr, 20-agency probe into illegal glass eel trade: $7M in exports seized, 22 convictions.
Thank you for protecting wildlife!
Meet the Oregon Chub! 👋🐟 Catch our latest episode later today and new episodes every Monday wherever you get your podcasts: fws.gov/fish-of-the-week-pod…🎣
📷 Off-channel habitats are important to both Oregon Chub and Chinook Salmon. (Freshwaters Illustrated/used with permission)
