This page is a "catch all" for any backyard critters which don't belong on the Birds or Insects pages here on the Backyard Biology web site. I suspect it may branch out into more than one page in the near future. Almost all these critters were found in our yard (back or front) or, in some cases, inside the house. The main exception to this rule being some of the marine critters (we're lucky enough to have some great sand and mud beaches on the Sound here in Lacey and Olympia). If a critter is from more than 100 yards from my house, there will be a clickable link under it showing you a map of where it was photographed. In the mammals section, I've also listed a few animals that I have seen near my house (usually on the road and a bit flat), but for one reason or another, I haven't been able to get a good picture of one running around the neighborhood yet.

There are buttons beneath the thumbnails with links to pages that have more info on the critters pictured. As with the insects page, the folks over at BugGuide have been instrumental in identifying a lot of the critters on this page such as the spiders, non-spider arachnids, centipedes, and millipedes. Frans Janssens, in particular, over at BugGuide has been invaluable at IDing one of my new favorite critters: the springtails. Check them out--some are absolutely the stuff of movies and special effects! In some few cases, I've been lucky enough to be able to provide the first example of a particular species for the BugGuide site. Those critters are special to me and marked with a .

Some of these critters below are cute and furry; some of these critters are hairy and scary! In either case, enjoy peeking through some of the amazing fauna that are probably in your backyard as well.