Pine, or conifer, needles are leaves that evolved into a very different shape from the flat, broad deciduous leaves we normally think of as leaves. They’re narrow, waxy, and tough, and built to hang on through cold and drought rather than drop and regrow every year.

A pine tree’s needles come bundled in little sheathed clusters called fascicles, with either two, three, or five to a bundle. Each one of these is doing the same thing broad leaves do—catching light and turning it into food through photosynthesis.

Evergreen Doesn’t Mean Forever

We tend to learn to sort trees into two large bins: deciduous trees that drop their leaves, and evergreen trees that keep theirs. But “evergreen” doesn’t mean a needle lasts forever. It means that the tree as a whole will always be green, because it will always be holding a few years’ worth of leaves at once.

Most pine needles live somewhere between two and five years before dropping to the ground. Because the tree sheds only its innermost, oldest needles while the newest growth stays green at its branch tips, this loss usually goes unnoticed. Eastern white pines are the exception: they shed so many two- and three-year old needles at once that the interior of the tree turns vibrant yellow in the fall!

No pine ever sheds its needles all at once. Instead, they release needles to the ground in a slow, steady trickle, year-round or in short bursts like the white pine. The result on the forest floor is not a seasonal blanket but a deep, springy, ever-renewing layer. And that layer is habitat.

What Lives in Needle Duff

A thick layer of dead needles may look devoid of life, but peel that layer back and you’ll find one of the busiest neighborhoods in your garden. The mat of fallen needles, often called duff, shelters countless tiny species, including mites, beetles, spiders, ants, and centipedes.

These invertebrates serve as valuable food for the toads, salamanders, turtles, and snakes that live on and under the needle layer. Because most of our backyard birds depend on insects to feed their young, needle duff can also provide a buffet for many bird species.

Learn about the National Wildlife Federation’s work to restore longleaf pine habitat here!

Needle Layer vs. Broadleaf Layer

Needles are built differently from broadleaves, and they behave differently once they fall. A waxy cuticle, and slow-to-digest compounds means needles decompose far more gradually. Where a broadleaf layer can be half-gone by midsummer, matted down and well on its way to soil, a needle layer breaks down at a patient, steady pace and may remain for years after the tree dies.

Slow decomposition has its own gifts. Needle duff is durable and deep, and its interlocking, water-shedding structure knits into a mat that stays put on slopes and open ground where lighter leaves would simply blow or wash away. Instead of a seasonal blanket that arrives in fall and thins by summer, it offers steady, year-round cover to wildlife. Different tenants, a different rhythm, but still unmistakably alive.

So when the leaves come down this fall, remember that the needles coming down alongside them are leaves too. They’re feeding the soil, holding the ground in place, and sheltering an entire understory of small lives!

Picture millions of small wetlands scattered across the grasslands of the northern Great Plains: these are the Prairie Potholes. They were formed when ancient glaciers retreated over 10,000 years ago, leaving millions of shallow depressions that fill with snowmelt and water in the spring creating a vast network of seasonal wetlands.

These shallow wetlands are known as potholes, and they provide critical habitat for a large array of wildlife and are one of the most important migratory bird habitats in the western hemisphere, home to more than 50% of North American migratory waterfowl.

Not only do these potholes support a vast amount of biodiversity, but they also deliver many ecosystem services. Wetlands help recharge groundwater systems, reduce flooding by acting as natural sponges, and assist with filtering out pollutants and excess nutrients from agricultural operations—helping to purify our drinking water. In addition, they also store carbon securely underground.

Why These Potholes Matter

Due to its important role in supporting migratory waterfowl, the Prairie Pothole region is also known as North America’s Duck factory. Each year it provides the resources and habitat needed to support 10 million ducks. Some of these duck species include the northern pintail, blue-winged teal, northern shoveler and more.

The region also supports an incredible array of additional bird species, including songbirds, waterbirds, raptors, shorebirds, and upland game birds. Impressively, forty different species of breeding waterbirds including herons, American white pelicans, and sandhill cranes can be found in the US part of the region. The Prairie Potholes also support a variety of other wildlife species, from frogs, turtles, deer, and more.

These wetlands are small but mighty, delivering a huge impact not only for wildlife and the environment but also surrounding communities. But right now, the Prairie Potholes are at risk due to proposed changes to protective provisions.

Wetland Loss and Swampbuster

These wetlands face many threats and over the years have suffered substantial losses. The grasslands of the Great Plains have faced intense degradation from agricultural conversion. Many wetlands have been drained or filled, and grasslands have been converted to cropland for agricultural uses. Estimates show that over 50% of the potholes have been lost or degraded and over 60% of the native grasslands have been lost.

Due to the intense agricultural activity in the region, Prairie Potholes also face threats from pollutants, excess nutrients, and chemical runoff. Climate change has also had an impact, with rising temperatures and increased drought events, the prairie potholes are at risk of drying up more often, greatly impacting their ability to provide for the many wildlife species that rely on them.

With the substantial loss of wetlands in the Prairie Potholes that has already occurred, it is even more imperative to protect this region. One tool we have is through USDA’s Swampbuster provision which was created in the 1985 Farm Bill and is instrumental in protecting and preventing wetland conversion.

Under the Swampbuster provision producers are eligible to receive publicly funded subsidies on commodities, crop insurance premiums, and conservation programs as long as they preserve wetlands on their farm. Since its creation Swampbuster has been successful in helping to protect wetlands and preventing draining of the Prairie Pothole region. The provision applies nationwide, so it also protects rural wetlands in other parts of the country.

Swampbuster has been an effective provision for multiple reasons, it has built in flexibility for producers and provides motivation for conservation compliance while allowing farmers to graze or even crop the wetlands when weather permits.

Protect Swampbuster, Protect the Prairie Potholes

Swampbuster works because it relies on the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to use a scientific and objective process to determine wetland boundaries. These delineations help ensure that landowners are able to prevent impacts to wetlands. Current wetland criteria are governed by standards set by the Army Corps of Engineers, Environmental Protection Agency, and USDA in 1996.

For many years USDA has been working on updating inaccurate early wetland maps that were previously given to farmers prior to the 1996 standards. Updates to these maps have been made through on-site visits to correct and certify wetland boundaries. However, USDA has recently issued an interim rule that would automatically approve all pre-1996 wetland delineations without making sure they are accurate.

USDA is making the change without doing an inventory or estimate of how many unverified wetland maps remain, without an environmental assessment, without consulting the Fish & Wildlife Service about the impacts on threatened or endangered species, and without consulting Native American Tribes that could be affected.

This rule would weaken Swampbuster and significantly impact wetlands, leading to damage to these important habitats. The Prairie Pothole region and the millions of wildlife species that rely on it are counting on the protections afforded by Swampbuster especially as other protections for these vital areas, such as the Clean Water Act, have been lost through rollbacks.

You can lend your voice to help protect the Swampbuster provision and in turn provide protection to important wetlands and the many wildlife that rely on them. Please join the National Wildlife Federation in calling on the USDA to strengthen and protect Swampbuster.

Help Protect the Prairie Pothole Region – Take Action with the NWF Action Fund

For further reading, check out this report from NWF and the Izaak Walton League: Wetlands Conservation in the Farm Bill

Miss Maryland | The black rail

Talents: Black rails are typically found in wetlands along the east coast and the Gulf. Unlike other rail species, black rails tend to inhabit shallower marshes to decrease competition. As for talents, the elusive black rail is easier to hear than to see.

Platform: As a federally threatened species, the black rail rallies against sea level rise. Preferring shallower marshes and wetlands leaves black rails vulnerable to inundation during violent storms and high tides.

Miss Hawaii | The nēnē (Hawaiian goose)

Talents: Once endemic to all the Hawai’ian Islands, the nēnē is the state bird. Living in a variety of sparsely vegetated habitats, including volcanic deserts, the nēnē has evolved webbed toes designed to walk on lava. Plumage is similar to a Canada goose, differing with a non-solid black neck. 

Platform: As a federally endangered species, the nēnē is declining due to habitat loss and the introduction of non-native species such as cats, mongoose, dogs, rats and pigs that prey on nēnē. Feral agricultural stock also adversely affects nēnē habitat.

Miss Minnesota | The walleye

Talents: Seeing in the dark, swimming to the bottom of lakes over 40 feet deep, a bright toothy smile.

Platform: Invasive mussels in Minnesota’s lakes are changing ecosystems and may even contribute to high mercury levels in the water. Climate change is also affecting walleye spawning season as “ice-out” on lakes happens earlier in the year.

Miss California | The humpback whale

Talents: singing elaborate songs lasting up to 30 minutes, breaching, and long-distance swimming.

Platform: Warming oceans from climate change, vessel strikes, habitat degradation, and entanglements in fishing gear are all threats to humpback whales.

Miss Pennsylvania | The Eastern hellbender

Talents: Snot Otter, Lagasa Lizard, Mud Dog, and Allegheny Alligator are all nicknames of the glorious yet seldom seen hellbender. Although rarely seen, the eastern hellbender is the largest salamander in the United States.

Hellbenders have lungs, but they do not use them for breathing. The large, simple lungs serve mainly as a buoyancy aid, and adult hellbenders breathe almost entirely through their skin. Can you imagine a hellbender’s skincare routine?

Platform: The Eastern hellbender needs strong wetlands protections because they provide essential natural defenses: flood control, water filtration, and wildlife habitats.

Miss South Carolina | The loggerhead sea turtle

Talents: In their free time, loggerhead sea turtles love to marathon swim.  

Platform: The biggest threats to loggerhead sea turtles are climate change and ocean acidification, ocean pollution, bottom trawling, and habitat loss.

In March of 2026, ESA protections were lifted from the Gulf as a result of the “God Squad” decision to grant the oil and gas industry an exemption from ESA consultation requirements.

The God Squad is officially called the Endangered Species Committee and is made up of six permanent members including the Secretaries of the Interior, Agriculture, and the Army; the Administrators of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); and the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors. A seventh member is designated by the President.

The God Squad was designed to be a measure of last resort when conflicts between needed projects and species protection cannot be resolved. Given what is at stake and that most conflicts arising between species protection and development can be worked out, the God Squad has been very rarely convened. The last convening was in 1992, when the decision was made to overturn protections for the spotted owl. And that decision was later withdrawn after litigation.

In this convening, the God Squad ignored the usual requirements and findings that the extraordinary measure of an ESA exemption was necessary. Without even finding an irreconcilable conflict between oil and gas development and protecting species, the God Squad relied on a never before used “national security” exemption to erase protections.

The seven-member Endangered Species Committee’s unanimous vote to exempt oil and gas development in the Gulf from the Endangered Species Act—allowing oil producers to ignore long-standing commonsense safety practices—sidesteps proven practices to develop energy resources and safeguard threatened and endangered species. National Wildlife Federation press release, March 31, 2026

Without ESA protections in the Gulf, the Rice’s whales’ habitat could be facing devastating impacts and put further stress on the few whales that are left.

“Extinction is an unacceptable price to pay for expediency, especially when long-established, commonsense practices can help energy development and wildlife recovery co-exist,” said Collin O’Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation. “Endangered species in the Gulf are not impeding our military readiness nor our strategic positions—and allowing harm to them will not make our troops or nation safer. We should be rallying the nation to recover America’s critically endangered species like the Rice’s whale and Kemp’s ridley sea turtles, and we urge oil companies to continue to follow responsible practices that protect wildlife, while we work with Congress and the courts on a responsible path forward.”

Rice’s Whale 101 and Its Role in a Healthy Marine Ecosystem

The Rice’s whale is a baleen whale, which means it is a filter feeder, and feeds on krill and plankton. It’s gray on top, has a pale gray to light pink belly, a uniquely shaped hooked dorsal fin and can grow up to 42 feet long.

Their life span is unknown; however, it’s estimated that the Rice’s whale can live up to 60 years (based on the life span of a closely related whale species). It was recognized as its own unique whale species in 2021, the Balaenoptera ricei. It was previously thought to be a subspecies of the Bryde’s whale.

The Rice’s whale and other whales contribute to blue carbon storage. Whales are efficient creatures; they are able to capture and store atmospheric carbon in their bodies. When they die, they most likely sink to the ocean floor; the carbon is trapped and prevented from being released back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Additionally, whales bring nitrogen and other nutrients to the ocean surface, this process is called “the whale pump.”

Threats to the Rice’s Whale

The Rice’s whale is facing many threats including oil spills, plastics pollution, vessel strikes, ghost gear entanglement, ocean noise, etc.

Oil spills are pretty common in the Gulf and could happen more often with the ESA protections being lifted. Oil can coat the baleen (the filter feeding structure inside the whale’s mouth) making it difficult for the whale to eat, and the whale could even swallow the oil.

According to NOAA, “scientists estimate that 48 percent of Rice’s whale habitat in the eastern Gulf was exposed to oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. And as a result, the whale’s population may have declined by up to 22 percent, and there are likely lingering effects on reproduction and population growth.” Exposure to oil can also cause respiratory issues, increased vulnerability to diseases, skin irritation, and other health impacts.

Other current threats that will most likely increase due to more oil and gas activities in the Gulf include vessel strikes and impacts from underwater noise. There is already a high amount of traffic in the northern Gulf where several commercial shipping lanes coincide with the whale’s territory. In 2009, a female Rice’s whale was found dead in Tampa Bay; it was determined that a vessel strike was the cause of death.

Additionally, shipping and energy (oil and gas) exploration and development activities produce noise underwater. For example, seismic surveys use loud air guns to map the ocean floor for oil and gas.

This underwater noise interferes with the hearing and call frequency range of Rice’s whales. “It is likely that Rice’s whales rely on their hearing to perform critical life functions such as communicating, navigating, finding mates and food, and avoiding predators.”

Check out New York Times interactive graphic about the effects of sonic blasts on the Rice’s whale. Click to view graphic.

Plastic pollution is also a critical threat to the whale’s habitat; Scientists believe between 5-13 million metric tons of plastic entered the ocean in 2010. An estimated 56 percent of whale, dolphin and porpoise species have consumed plastic, according to the Environmental Investigation Agency. Plastic often looks like food, or is ingested accidentally with water and zooplankton, like krill, as baleen whales (e.g., Rice’s whale) feed. As a result, plastic can block these animals’ breathing passages and stomachs, leading to death. Entanglement in ghost gear (abandoned fishing gear) can also impact the Rice’s whale’s ability to swim freely, surface to breath, and eat.

The Gulf’s “dead zone”, the second largest in the world, is a low-oxygen zone, that negatively impacts all marine animals including the Rice’s whales and other cetaceans. 

How You Can Help the Rice’s Whales

• Contact your public official and advocate for the Endangered Species Act. NWF’s Action Fund Advocacy Toolkit provides guidance on the many ways to share your message of support with friends, family, public officials, media outlets, and more.
• Tell your family and friends about the Rice’s whales and the threats they are facing in the Gulf.

Read NWF Blog, Oceans Are the Heart of the Planet, to learn how oceans provide vital support for living creatures, humans and wildlife.

Kids’ Corner with Ranger Rick

• Read: The Ocean
• Read: Who Needs Teeth?
• Watch: Amazing Orcas! Fascinating Killer Whale Facts for Kids
• Watch: Humpback tail slap
• Watch: Motion of the Ocean

The first-ever global analysis of plastic production found that “between 2002 and 2015 we made the exact same amount of plastic that we (humans) made between 1950 and 2002.” And much of this plastic ends up in the environment, including our rivers and oceans, by people littering, illegal dumping, and accidental loss of trash during strong winds or during transport.

Additionally, marine activities are a critical source of plastic waste in the ocean; ghost gear (lost or abandoned fishing nets, ropes, and other gear) is a growing problem. It should also be noted that all the rivers of the world are contributors to plastic pollution as they drain their respective populated land masses.

Plastics in the ocean absorb and release toxic pollutants, and these toxins enter marine food webs when animals accidentally consume plastics. Because plastic lingers in the oceans and waterways for extended periods of time, the threat is not only a continuing toxin threat, but the physical plastic item itself presents a bodily threat to marine life.

Plastic pollution is a critical threat to the world’s wildlife, particularly marine life. Scientists believe about 8 million metric tons of plastic entered the ocean in 2010, and that number has probably increased since then.

Plastic is everywhere and unfortunately will be with us beyond its intended use unless we get serious about waste management strategies which necessarily begin with individuals.

But these wasps aren’t out for human blood, and their presence in your milkweed is a benefit to butterflies. Learn why these scary-looking insects are actually a wonder to have around the garden!

Your Milkweed is Working as Designed

Tarantula hawks are one of the main pollinators of milkweed. If you’re planting milkweed to support pollinators, then seeing these wasps around means your garden is succeeding!

Plus, by pollinating milkweed and other native plants, tarantula hawk wasps help ensure these important plants continue to grow in the landscape to provide habitat for monarchs and other pollinators. The wasp at the flower and the monarch you’re hoping to support are linked through the same plant.

Find milkweed for monarchs (and wasps) with our Native Plant Finder!

Tarantula Hawks are Docile While Foraging

Tarantula hawks at flowers are almost always docile. Foraging time is strictly for gaining energy, and aggression costs energy; there’s no reason for a nectaring wasp to spend its calories chasing a human. Pretty much the only time a foraging tarantula hawk will sting is if someone touches it or swats at it, in which case it is trying to protect itself. Stand near a milkweed full of these wasps and they will ignore you completely while they eat.

Aggression is for Rival Wasps, Not Humans

Male tarantula hawks claim dominance through a behavior called hilltopping, which is essentially the children’s game King of the Hill played by wasps.

A dominant male perches on the highest, most conspicuous post near foraging grounds—a tall shrub, the corner of a building, the tip of a fence—and launches out to investigate anything that moves past, including humans!

He’s checking whether the moving object is a rival male to be chased away or a receptive female to mate with. Either way, he needs to arrive at speed. Wait a few seconds, and the male will return to his post once he realizes you are not a wasp.

Male Wasps Can’t Sting

This is the most important point: only female tarantula hawks have stingers. The males doing the dramatic intercept flights from their perches, the ones that might feel like they are “chasing” you, are physically incapable of stinging. They might look terrifying but are completely harmless.

Females, meanwhile, spend most of their time in that calm, can’t-be-bothered foraging mood. When they’re not foraging, they’re hunting tarantulas—which is what the species name refers to. This is the only kind of animal they will sting aggressively, and they do it for a reason: to bring back to her nest, alive but paralyzed, to feed her young. Females do not chase humans. They chase tarantulas!

Designing Gardens with Tarantula Hawks in Mind

When gardening with milkweed in tarantula hawk territory, a couple design choices can substantially reduce unwanted encounters:

1. Tuck milkweed away from high-traffic paths and tall conspicuous perches. Doorways, walkways, and the immediate edges of buildings are exactly where you don’t want a hilltopping male to set up. Group plantings away from those zones when possible.
2. Build a better perch. If the affected area is near a building or other structure that’s currently the tallest perch around, consider installing a pole with a small platform on top, taller than the building, set about thirty feet away in a quieter spot. This may pull territorial males off the building edge and into a location where their displays won’t startle anyone.

The Bigger Picture

A milkweed planting that attracts tarantula hawks is a planting that’s pulling in real pollinator diversity. The same flowers feeding the wasps are feeding monarchs, native bees, and more. The wasps are also keeping the local tarantula population in check, which, depending on where you live, is a service worth keeping around.

Once you can read the behavior, these encounters stop feeling like attacks and start looking like what they actually are: a healthy native ecosystem doing its thing, loudly, right outside the front door.

#1: Snowberry Clearwing Moth

Is it a bumblebee? A hummingbird? Nope, this magnificent creature is a snowberry clearwing moth. It’s one of a few species of moths found flying by day, while most are active at night. They mimic the flight of hummingbirds, hovering to sip nectar. This moth belongs to the family Sphingidae, commonly known as sphinx or hawk moths. These are some of the fastest flying insects in the world, with some reaching speeds at over 33 m.p.h.! 

#2: Luna Moth

Luna moths are fascinating. In their adult form, they have no mouth! They don’t eat as adults, and only live for a week in this adult stage.

The tail-like structures on their wings are not only beautiful, but they also help luna moths to evade bats. They flutter them and disrupt the bat’s sonar.  

#3: Texas Wasp Moth

This species has evolved to mimic paper wasps to protect themselves. Predators that are averse to wasps will stay away from these moths as well. Pure genius. 

#4: Rosy Maple Moth

As its name suggests, these moths depend on maple trees! As caterpillars, they eat the leaves. Many moths and butterflies have “host plants” that are the only food source for the caterpillars. One great way to support moths and butterflies is to plant their host species. 

#5: Cecropia Moth

Female Cecropia moths, like many other species, produce pheromones to attract mates. Following this scent can be dangerous for male Cecropia moths, however. Bolas spiders are able to mimic these pheromones and eat whichever male moths show up!

#6 Pandorus Sphinx Moth

These moths, like others in the sphinx moth family, have a very long proboscis that helps them to drink nectar from flowers.

#7 Io Moth

The large eye-spots on its wings can mimic the eyes of larger animals. When threatened, io moths can flash their wings and scare away predators by tricking them into thinking they are a larger animal looking at them!

How to Help Moths

Like many insects, moths are experiencing a worrying decline. Some are even becoming listed as threatened or endangered. 

You can help by planting native species in your own garden! These plants can serve as host plants for the caterpillars to eat, and as nectar sources for the adults. In fall, support moths by leaving the natural leaf layer. Many of these moths overwinter in the leaves!

Instead of the more common pointed head of many shark species, the hammerhead shark has a wide head, some think it looks like a hammer (hence the name), or a mallet, with its eyes on each end of its head.

The “hammer” shaped head is called a cephalofoil. The wide shape of the cephalofoil provides a wide space for sensory organs called ampullae of Lorenzini; these sensory organs help the shark detect electrical fields which could be signs of prey (e.g., muscle contractions, heart beats, and gill movements).

These highly efficient sensory organs can help the hammerhead shark find one of its favorite foods, the stingray, and can even detect prey that is buried beneath the sand.

Download Shark Fun! Activity Guide for kids and families.

Download Shark Fun! Activity Guide for kids and families.

Kids’ Corner with Ranger Rick®

• Watch: Hammerhead Shark Sing-a-Long
• Watch: Shark Family Reunion with Nina the Nurse Shark
• Watch: Fish Clean a Shark’s Teeth
• Watch: Sharks4Kids
• Play: Shark Kahoot
• Play: Whale Shark Kahoot
• Make: Shark Hat Craft

More Resources About Sharks:

• Quiz: Sharks! The Amazing Creatures That Are Older Than Dinosaurs
• Sharks in the Parks, NWF Blog
• Not So Scary After All: Shark Facts You Might Not Know, NWF Blog
• NWF’s Affiliate Resolution “Protecting Sharks to Safeguard our Oceans”
• Plastic Pollution Impacts on Wildlife, NWF’s Plastics Reduction Partner Program
• Sharks in Atlantic, Gulf, and Caribbean Coastal Waters

Once you learn to read those signals, planting for specific pollinator groups becomes easy. Here, we’ll teach you all you need to know to join the conversation!

Pollination Syndromes: How Plants Advertise to Pollinators

Not all plants are pollinated by animals, but about 90% of flowering plants have evolved to attract animal pollinators specifically. It benefits a plant species to focus on one pollinator or a group of pollinators. If all flowers shared the same pollinators, there’s a good chance a lot of pollen will be wasted as the animals visit every other flower species around.

Botanists call these signal patterns ‘pollination syndromes’: predictable traits that reveal which pollinator the flower is courting. Four of these traits do the most talking:

1. Shape: Tube length, opening angle, whether there is space to land
2. Color: Whatever is brightest in the target pollinator’s spectral vision
3. Scent: Sweet, musky fermented, or absent entirely
4. Timing: Day or night openings, seasonal peak

These rules aren’t ironclad (and plenty of flowers are visited by multiple pollinators), but they’re good indicators for who’s meant to show up. Here’s how these traits sort among six groups of pollinators.

Flowers that Attract Bees

Bees are the workhorses of pollination, and was the first species group to evolve as pollination specialists. Flowers built for them tend to be generous with nectar and easy to use.

• Shape: open bowls, landing platforms, or short tubes they can wedge into
• Color: yellow, blue, and purple
• Scent: fresh, sweet, pleasant, strong floral perfumes
• Timing: warm daytime hours (bees turn sluggish below about 55°F, so temperature matters)

Native examples: penstemon, goldenrod, sunflower, and baby blue eyes

Flowers that Attract Butterflies

Butterflies forage mostly by sight and can’t hover, so they need flashy flowers that double as a landing strip. Many flowers built for butterflies also end up attracting some bees.

• Shape: flat, clustered flowers that act as a runway, or long narrow tubes that match a coiled proboscis
• Color: bold pinks, oranges, and purples (butterflies can see muted reds that most bees miss!)
• Scent: faint to mild; showy color is more important
• Timing: daytime in full sun, since most butterflies need to bask before they can fly well

Native examples: Joe-pye weed, butterfly weed, coneflower, and blazing star

Flowers that Attract Moths

When the bees clock out, the moths clock in. In fact, moths evolved from butterflies and took the night shift to take advantage of nectar resources when butterflies aren’t active. Color is far less important than scent for night foragers.

• Shape: long narrow tubes for hovering hawkmoths; open dishes for smaller settling moths
• Color: white, pale pink, or dull yellow (colors that hold light at dusk and catch moonlight)
• Scent: strong and sweet, often released only after dark
• Timing: open or fragrant at dusk and through the night, with many closing by morning

Native examples: phlox, yucca, wild tobacco, and evening primrose

Flowers that Attract Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds, like many birds, have an underdeveloped sense of smell, but unlike most of our other pollinators, they can see red. Hummingbirds are also burn fuel very fast, so their flowers are bright, sugar-rich, and built to keep insects out.

• Shape: long narrow tubes, often tilted down or outward, that exclude most insects
• Color: bright red, orange, and hot pink (birds see red; most insect competitors don’t)
• Scent: little to none
• Timing: daytime, especially mornings and late afternoons when hummingbirds are most active, with nectar refilled often

Native examples: cardinal flower, wax currant, trumpet vine, trumpet honeysuckle

Flowers that Attract Bats

In the American Southwest and the tropics, nectar-feeding bats pollinate many important plants—including the agave behind your margarita! Because bats are much larger than other pollinators, flowers signaling for bats must provide a large amount of dilute nectar.

• Shape: large, robust, bowl- or bell-shaped flowers; many must be sturdy enough for a bat to rest, but some bats hover
• Color: pale white, green, or purple (because bats navigate with echolocation rather than sight, color barely matters)
• Scent: strong, musky, fermented, sometimes sulfurous
• Timing: open at night, often for a single night

Native examples: agave, saguaro, organ pipe cactus, and desert willow

Flowers that Attract Carrion Flies

Not every pollinator wants a sweet reward. Some flowers court carrion flies by impersonating exactly what flies love—rot. These flowers do not reward their pollinators with nectar. They don’t even produce nectar!

• Shape: deep, trap-like flowers that mimic carrion or dung
• Color: dull maroon, brown, mottled green, or speckled to mimic corpses and rot
• Scent: strongly putrid, like rotting meat or feces
• Timing: day or night, depending on species; flies stay active in cool, cloudy weather

Native examples: pawpaw, skunk cabbage, wild ginger, and red trillium

A Pollinator-Plant Cheat Sheet

Use this cheat sheet to learn the language of plants and pollinators!

Invite Pollinators to Your Garden

You don’t need to court every pollinator on this list (and depending on where you live, you couldn’t). The point is to plant with intention: choose natives that match the pollinators already in your region, and aim for a range of colors, shapes, and bloom times so something is always advertising!

Check out NWF’s Native Plant Finder to see which native plants support the most butterflies and moths where you live!

But more importantly than having fun in the sun, is that the ocean is home to more than 200,000 marine wildlife species (that have been identified), and possibly up to more than one million that have yet to be discovered. Our oceans also provide essential support to humans in many ways.

Get ready to be amazed by these wild ocean facts!

• The biggest animal in the world lives in the ocean—it’s the blue whale.
• Greenland sharks can live more than 250 years and dive up to 7,000 feet deep.
• The gender of sea turtle hatchlings is determined by the temperature of the nest—warmer sand produces more females, and cooler sand produces more males.
• Atlantic swordfish can swim up to 50 miles per hour.
• Salmon hatch in freshwater rivers, swim to the ocean to mature, and then go back to the same river in which they were born to spawn.
• Sea snakes are among the most venomous snakes in the world and they breath air.
• Deep-sea sponges produce anti-tumor agents that may be able to treat cancer in humans.

Take our quiz to test your knowledge about the ocean. If you want to boost your chances of getting a 100% on this quiz, first read our blog “Oceans are the Heart of the Planet“.