Every animal in the Great OutQuack, alphabetically — where it lives, what it eats, and how it behaves.
Florida · Georgia
A living dinosaur that basks on banks and hunts fish, birds, and mammals. Most active in warm weather. Photograph from a safe distance — never approach or feed. Lakes, rivers, marshes, retention ponds, and wetlands across Florida and south Georgia.
Florida
Swims in big chattering groups and feeds on aquatic vegetation. Not a duck at all — watch its comical splashing takeoff runs across the water. Lakes, marshes, and ponds.
Florida · Georgia · Pennsylvania · New York
Smart, social, and endlessly entertaining. Crows feed on insects, carrion, and crops, and their group behavior makes for storytelling photos. Farms, pinewoods, suburbs, fields, and river corridors everywhere.
Florida · Georgia · Pennsylvania · New York
A ground bird with a long bill that probes soft soil for worms, famous for its springtime sky-dance display at dusk. Moist woods, thickets, alder runs, young forest, and creek bottoms.
Florida · Georgia · Pennsylvania · New York
Federally protected. Never approach a nest — use a long lens from public viewpoints. A fish-grab sequence is the ultimate east coast capture. Rivers, lakes, and reservoirs — a comeback story across all four states.
Florida · Georgia · Pennsylvania · New York
Solitary and food-driven, with a sense of smell seven times sharper than a bloodhound's. Use a long lens and never approach or feed a bear. Large forests and swamps: Ocala NF, Big Cypress, north Georgia mountains, PA big woods, Adirondacks and Catskills.
Florida · Georgia · Pennsylvania · New York
Solitary and stealthy, hunting rabbits, rodents, and birds mostly at night, dawn, and dusk. Most people never see one — a wild bobcat photo is elite. Swamps, pine flatwoods, hammocks, rocky forests, and brush country.
Florida
A massive invasive ambush constrictor devastating native wildlife in the Everglades. A photo of one in the wild is a rare and valuable capture — report sightings to FWC. South Florida: the Everglades, Big Cypress, levees, canals, and marsh edges.
Pennsylvania · New York
Big, bold, and everywhere — but a low-light flight shot of a flock in V-formation still stops the scroll. Spring goslings are bonus material. Lakes, reservoirs, farms, golf-course ponds, and river valleys.
Florida
Walks on floating vegetation with enormous feet, secretive but very vocal. Its candy-corn red-and-yellow bill makes for a striking close-up. Freshwater marshes, cattails, and lily pads.
New York
The haunting voice of the north woods. Never approach a nesting loon by boat — drift quietly and let curious loons come to you. Adirondack lakes and quiet northern waters.
Florida · Georgia · Pennsylvania · New York
Hides tight in cover and feeds in the evening and early morning on grasses and weeds. When flushed it runs in short zig-zags — anticipate the pause for your shot. Brush piles, field edges, palmetto, old farms, briars, and grassy cover.
Florida · Georgia · Pennsylvania · New York
The ultimate adaptable predator, hunting rodents and rabbits and scavenging everything else. A clean coyote portrait takes serious fieldcraft. Farms, woods, suburbs, river valleys, and open country in every state.
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania's restored elk herd numbers over 1,400 animals. September's rut brings bugling bulls into misty meadows — the east coast's greatest wildlife show. Reclaimed meadows and mountain forests around Benezette, Pennsylvania's elk country.
Pennsylvania · New York
A large, dark forest weasel that flows over logs like liquid shadow. One of the few predators that regularly hunts porcupines. Dense northern forests of Pennsylvania and New York.
Florida
The gentle sea cow. Federally protected — never touch, chase, feed, or block one. Winter springs like Crystal River and Blue Spring offer legal, respectful viewing. Springs, rivers, and coastal waters throughout Florida.
Florida
Fewer than 250 remain. Extremely rare to see — best chance is dawn or dusk from roads or refuge trails with a long lens. Never follow tracks off-trail or approach one. Southwest Florida: Big Cypress, Everglades region, Florida Panther NWR.
Florida · Georgia · Pennsylvania · New York
The everyday acrobat of the eastern woods, feeding on acorns, nuts, and seeds, busiest in the mornings. A perfect species to practice your capture skills. Hardwood hammocks, oak woods, river bottoms, and city edges in every state.
New York
New York's largest wild animal, returning slowly to the Adirondacks. Extremely dangerous up close — photograph only from a long, respectful distance. Adirondack wetlands and northern New York forests.
Florida · Georgia · Pennsylvania · New York
Fast flyers that feed on seeds, often near grain fields. Their whistling wings and mournful cooing are the soundtrack of southern mornings. Dove fields, farms, powerlines, and open ground in every state.
Pennsylvania · New York
Nature's engineer. Dusk at a beaver pond almost guarantees action — tail slaps, lodge repairs, and V-shaped wakes in golden water. Ponds, slow creeks, and wooded wetlands.
Florida · Georgia · New York
A playful swimmer that eats fish, crayfish, and frogs. Look for slides on muddy banks — otters genuinely play, and the photos prove it. Rivers, creeks, lakes, and marshes.
Florida · Georgia
A covey bird that needs grass, weeds, open pine habitat, and insects. Listen for the whistled 'bob-WHITE!' call to locate a covey before you ever see one. Pine savannas, old fields, and managed plantations in Florida and Georgia.
Florida · Georgia · Pennsylvania · New York
The masked bandit of the east. Nocturnal, eating fruit, crayfish, eggs, and insects. Dusk near a creek is your best window for a wild capture. Creeks, swamps, farms, forests, and neighborhoods.
Florida
Secretive marsh birds that are often heard before they're seen. Catching one in the open is one of the toughest photo challenges in the marsh. Salt marsh, freshwater marsh, and thick reeds.
Pennsylvania · New York
Photogenic, quick, and alert — hunting mice, rabbits, birds, and insects. A fox mousing in snow, mid-pounce, is one of wildlife photography's holy grails. Farms, field edges, suburbs, and brushy areas.
Pennsylvania · New York
The males are outrageously photogenic — iridescent copper, emerald head, scarlet face. Often found in managed fields; listen for the harsh crowing call. Grasslands, farm fields, and managed game lands in Pennsylvania and New York.
Georgia · Pennsylvania · New York
Pennsylvania's state bird. Explodes from cover in a heart-stopping flush and drums on logs in spring — a thundering wingbeat you feel more than hear. Young forest, mountain laurel, and aspen stands in north Georgia, Pennsylvania, and New York.
Pennsylvania · New York
Changes coat from brown to pure white for winter. Finding one mid-molt — half brown, half white — is a rare seasonal capture. Young conifer forests and mountain thickets in northern Pennsylvania and the Adirondacks.
Florida · Georgia
Migratory dabblers that feed in shallow water and fly early and late. Blue-winged and green-winged teal are small, fast, and unforgettable in golden light. Marshes, lakes, coastal impoundments, and wetlands.
Florida · Georgia
North America's only marsupial. A night-active scavenger of insects, fruit, and carrion — and a quiet hero that eats thousands of ticks. Woods, neighborhoods, farms, and brushy areas.
Florida · Georgia · Pennsylvania · New York
The east coast's most iconic big game animal. Most active at dawn and dusk, browsing on leaves, acorns, grasses, and crops. Watch field edges and travel corridors between bedding cover and food. Pinewoods, oak hammocks, farm edges, hardwood bottoms, and swamp margins across all four states.
Florida · Georgia
An invasive rooter that travels in groups called sounders, feeding on plants, acorns, and insects. Look for fresh rooting and muddy wallows to find them. Swamps, farms, ranches, palmetto thickets, river bottoms, and oak woods across Florida and Georgia.
Florida · Georgia · Pennsylvania · New York
Roosts in trees at night and feeds in openings on insects, acorns, and seeds. Famously sharp eyesight — camouflage and patience are your best lenses. Pine and hardwood mixes, creek bottoms, farms, and open woods. Osceola subspecies in central/south Florida; Eastern subspecies northward.
Florida · Georgia · New York
A zig-zag flyer that probes mud for insects and worms. Yes — the snipe hunt is real, and the camera version is the only one that always ends with a trophy. Wet fields, marsh edges, and muddy flats.
Florida · Georgia · New York
Arguably the most beautiful duck in North America. Nests in tree cavities and feeds in quiet shallow water. Early light on a drake's plumage is a leaderboard-worthy shot. Wooded swamps, cypress ponds, beaver ponds, and river backwaters.
Pennsylvania · New York
The famous burrowing weather-forecaster of Punxsutawney. Stands sentinel at its burrow entrance — approach low and slow for the classic upright pose. Pastures, field edges, and roadside burrows.