Rodents, Small Mammals and Birds of Yellowstone

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Brinnadaze
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Rodents, Small Mammals and Birds of Yellowstone

Post by Brinnadaze » Fri Nov 03, 2017 6:30 pm

Wolves don't just eat what's shown in WolfQuest 2.7 -- there's much more to a wolf's diet than elk, rabbits, and the occasional moose. Many websites I've visited simply say "Wolves eat hoofed animals and rodents", which is way too vague for someone like me. So, I've come up with an organised list of Yellowstone rodents, small mammals and birds.
  • Rodents
    North American Porcupine
    Beaver
    Yellow-bellied Marmot
    Black-tailed Prairie Dog
    Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrel, Golden-mantle Ground Squirrel, Wyoming Ground Squirrel, & Eastern Fox Squirrel
    Least Chipmunk, Unita Chipmunk, Yellow-pine Chipmunk
    Deer Mouse, House Mouse, Western Jumping Mouse
    Muskrat
    Western Heather Vole, Long-tailed Vole, Meadow Vole, Montane Vole, Southern red-backed Vole, Water Vole
    Bushy-tailed Woodrat
Whew! That's a lot of squirrels! :squirrel:
  • Small Mammals
    Racoon
    American Badger
    Long-tailed Weasel, Short-tailed Weasel, Fisher, American Marten, American Mink, North American River Otter, Wolverine
    Striped Skunk
    American Pika
    Dusky Shrew, Masked Shrew, American Water Shrew, Preble's Shrew, Dwarf Shrew
    Northern Pocket Gopher
    Big Brown Bat, Fringe-tailed Bat, Hoary Bat, Little Brown Bat, Long-eared Bat, Long-legged Bat, Silver-haired Bat, Western small-footed Bat, Townsend's big-eared Bat, Yuma Bat
I'm starting to understand why websites just write "rodents". It's such a long list! :ferret:
  • Birds
    Duck, Goose, Swan
    Partridge, Grouse, Turkey, Quail
    Loon
    Grebes
    Cormorant
    Pelican
    Bittern, Heron, Egret
    Ibis, Spoonbill
    Stork
    New World Vulture
    Osprey
    Hawk, Kite, Eagle
    Caracara, Falcon
    Rail, Gallinule, Coot
    Crane
    Lapwing, Plover
    Stilt, Avocet
    Sandpiper, Curlew, Stint, Godwit, Snipe, Phalarope
    Gull, Tern, Skimmer
    Skua
    Auk, Murre, Puffin: Long-billed Murrelet
    Pigeon, Dove
    Cuckoo, Roadrunner, Anis: Black-billed Cuckoo
    Barn Owl, True Owl
    Nightjar: Common Nighthawk
    Swift: Vaux's Swift, White-throated Swift
    Hummingbird: Calliope Hummingbird, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Rufous Hummingbird
    Kingfisher: Belted Kingfisher
    Woodpecker, Sapsucker, Flicker
    Tyrant Flycatcher
    Shrike: Loggerhead Shrike, Northern Shrike
    Vireo
    Jay, Crow, Magpie, Raven
    Lark: Horned Lark
    Swallow, Martin
    Chickadee, Titmice
    Nuthatch
    Creeper
    Wren
    Dipper
    Kinglet
    Gnatcatcher: Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
    Thrush
    Mockingbird, Thrasher
    Starling: European Starling
    Wagtail, Pipit: American Pipit, Sprague's Pipit
    Waxwing: Ceder Waxwing
    Silky-flycatcher: Phainopepla
    Wood-Warbler
    Longspur, Snow Bunting: McCown's Longspur, Lapland Longspur, Snow Bunting
    American Sparrow, Towhee, Junco
    Cardinal, Grosbeak
    Icterid
    Fringilline Finch, Cardueline Finch, Allie
    Old World Sparrow: House Sparrow
I seriously underestimated how difficult and time-consuming this would be. Good to know, though. It's never really crossed my mind before that there were so many types of creatures out there, oddly enough. I think this was worth the effort! My hope is that WolfQuest 3 will include some of these wonderful prey animals for our hungry wolves. I don't expect the game to ever have this many, though! That'd be impressive! :acorn:


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wolf567
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Re: Rodents, Small Mammals and Birds of Yellowstone

Post by wolf567 » Mon Nov 06, 2017 10:15 am

This is very intersting - thanks for putting this list together Brinnadaze!

It's great to see how many different species call Yellowstone home :)
Wolf567 / Blaze

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paperpaws
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Re: Rodents, Small Mammals and Birds of Yellowstone

Post by paperpaws » Tue Nov 07, 2017 4:00 am

Well, looks like WolfQuest will never have to run out of ideas for animals to add. Thank you for taking the time to put this beautiful list together (and providing your sources as well!). I didn't expect Yellowstone to be home to so many species of bats.

Such a long list of birds, too - and it doesn't even list all of the birds that were included in the Name the Bird Sounds Challenge! Guessing there's too many of them to count, heh.

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