Threatened and Endangered Species from the US Fish and Wildlife Service

These public domain images of threatened or endangered species are courtesy of the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Digital Library.

Canis rufus. Red Wolf at the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. By Steve Hillebrand. 335.1.01_Hillebrand_LO5S5248a.jpg

 

Ursus americuans. Black bear at the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. By Steve Hillebrand. 335.1.01_Hillebrand_LO5S4773a.jpg

 

Icaricia icarioides missionensis. Mission Blue Butterfly. By Stuart Weiss.

 

Alligator mississippiensis. J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Florida. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service_310.1.15_2009-09-29

 

Mycteria americana. Wood Stork. J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Florida. By Steve Hillebrand. Hillebrand_310.1.15_2009-01-29

 

Mustela nigripes. Black-Footed Ferret at Black-Footed Ferret Recovery Program in Colorado. By Ryan Hagerty. WV-W5B1587

 

Florida Panther. WO2883-33F

Louisiana’s Wildlife Refuges Before the BP Oil Assault

A good source of information about the areas in Louisiana where the BP oil spill has reached is the US Fish and Wildlife Service [FWS]. They have links to NOAA’s Emergency Response pages, which include PDF maps released daily showing the spread of the spill. To the right is a photo of one of these, not much use in itself, but if you go to this NOAA page, you’ll be able to download the PDF. There are some pictures at these sites of what is happening, but what I have today are images of what is being lost at a few of the 32 refuges FWS manages. 

The brown pelicans of Breton Refuge suffered from the natural disasters of Tropical Storm Arlene and Hurricane Katrina in 2005; what progress had been made in re-establishing their populations will likely be entirely lost by this manmade disaster.

Young brown pelican in nest. Breton National Wildlife Refuge. FWS photo by Donna Dewhurst. Item ID SL-03554

Polar Bears!

While browsing at the US Geological Survey’s photo collections, I thought I’d have a look around, and what I found in its Animals album are some more polar bear images for you. Based on blog stats, public domain images of polar bears are popular, so add these to the three posts of mine that featured the bears last year (one, two, three).

Interestingly, a number of these shots were credited to a Coast Guard photographer, so I thought I’d have a look there, too, and while I was at it, check to see if the US Fish and Wildlife Service had any new pictures.

 

Title: On Thin Ice
Description: A polar bear slides across thin Arctic Ocean ice Aug. 21, 2009.
Date Taken: 8/21/2009
Photographer: Patrick Kelley, U.S. Coast Guard

Title: Polar Bear
Description: A polar bear rests on the ice Aug. 23, 2009, after following the Coast Guard Cutter Healy for nearly an hour.
Date Taken: 8/23/2009
Photographer: Patrick Kelley, U.S. Coast Guard