The crushing power of a great horned owl’s talons is 200 to 500 pounds per square inch to our 70; it can sits on eggs through temperatures of 25 below; and if our eyes were as proportional to our bodies as an owl’s, they would be the size of grapefruits.

North America’s smallest diving duck – weighing about a pound – are small, energetic and found here during the winter. That is, if you can find them at all.

Turkeys roamed North America 10 million years ago. The subspecies we are most familiar with, the Eastern wild turkey, descended from these ancient birds – and so did the Mexican turkey, the grandparent of what we eat for Thanksgiving.

Many predators eat chipmunks, so these little critters don’t waste time pausing to eat the food they find; they stuff it into their cheek pouches to take back to the safety of their burrows, where they sleep 15 hours a day and settle into a torpor from now until spring.

Your house cat probably weighs more than a red fox, but the only way you might get close enough to see is if they den under a porch or shed with newborns.

Damage is significant in states with these stowaways from East Asia, where wasp predators we don’t have keep them in check. Here, the line of defense is us.

Fungi are classified in a kingdom of their own, though DNA analysis has shown that they are more closely related to animals than to plants – just the start of surprises offered by the wide, wide world of spores.

Sounds sneaky, but common yellowthroats are only trying to ensure their babies get born – and the species is one of the most frequent victims of fatal collisions with windows and communication towers or buildings.

Despite their name, spotted sandpipers – often referred to as “spotties” or “teeter-bobs” – are spotted for only about half the year, during breeding season.

The female locust borer feeds on goldenrod pollen in the morning and flies to lays eggs in black locust trees, which have a complicated history in Massachusetts.