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River Dwellers

Beaver
We are chubby, industrious critters with big, flat, leathery tails & huge, orange front teeth. (We should brush more often!)  We are rodents and that makes us cousins to rats, but we are much cooler than rats. In order to gnaw through tree trunks we need really strong, sharp teeth. Our teeth are orange because they have a lot of iron in the enamel-that makes them super strong & orange. We beavers care a lot about family.  We mate for life & build large dens for our families of 6-10 beavers. I hate to brag, but our ability to improve the ecosystem & shape the environment is beyond impressive. When we build dams, we turn a stream into a pond that becomes habitat for many creatures and plants. We are very important and are called a ‘Keystone Species’. Bet you don’t know this fun fact: During the Ice Age we were GIANTS about 8 feet long & weighing up to 200 pounds.
image courtesy of pixabay

Bobcat

I’m like an orangy-brown house cat but bigger & with spotted fur.  My ears have black tufts & the fur along the side of my face hangs down like sideburns. We bobcats have large eyes with elliptical pupils that give us great eyesight. My tail is very short.  We live almost anywhere-forests, mountains, woodlands & deserts.  We are not very social & avoid people & even other bobcats unless it’s mating season. My den is often in a cave or hole or fallen tree. Only the females care for the young. The males are busy doing guy things. At 10 months of age mother bobcats send their kits out into the world on their own.  Bobcats like to eat mice, moles, rats, rabbits and even birds, like maybe your flock of chickens.  Why do you think I am important to the ecosystem?
image courtesy of pixabay

Dragonfly

You could call me ‘big eyes’ or you could call me ‘speedy’.   As a young critter, I live in freshwater for as much as 2 years before I morph into the adult, flying version of me, totally changed. As an adult dragonfly I keep my body thin & in shape. Like a peacock, I enjoy wearing pretty, iridescent colors. I have 2 pairs of wings (that’s 4 wings). Mostly, I hover around pools of water in sunny, warm places. As an immature critter, I eat insects, tadpoles & small fish. When I become an adult, I eat flying insects like mosquitoes, aphids & other dragonflies.  Like male lions, male dragonflies are very territorial and will fight other dragonfly males to defend their home area. But for you humans, we’re totally harmless. You can imagine how important we are in getting rid of pesky critters like mosquitoes.
image courtesy of pixabay

Goldstripe Darter Fish

I may be short (very short-only 2”) but I shine like golden sunlight in the water.  Who ever said small wasn’t valuable?! I am a type of perch. We gold-stripe darters inhabit waters of the Gulf Coastal Plain, including parts of Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma, and also the lower Mississippi drainage areas westward as far as Texas.  I especially like to live in shallow, slow-moving streams where there are good places to hide.  Too much silt or pollution in the water smothers me.  I like to eat larvae, midges, mayflies, black-flies, beetles & micro-crustaceans.  Sadly, many critters like to eat me.  The Locust Fork River is perfect for me.  Can you guess why I am important to this ecosystem?
​image courtesy pixabay
Gray Fox
I’m a member of the Canidae family like wolves, dogs & coyotes.  But I’m only as big as a large house cat. I roam from Canada to Florida & am often seen in Alabama, though I don’t much like to be seen by humans. My preferred home can be a den in an old fallen tree within a thick brush of wooded lowlands where I can easily hide. We are nocturnal creatures. When escaping a predator, I can climb trees if necessary. My diet is quite varied with mice & rats (yum), snakes, birds, eggs, rabbits, fruits and berries. Hawks & coyotes have me on their menu when they can find me. Most years I raise a litter of 3-5 ‘kits’ or baby foxes. They are SO cute!
​​image courtesy pixabay

Great Blue Heron

For a bird, I’m really big, bigger than most hawks.  My home territory is in north & central America & the Galapagos Islands. I build my nest in tall trees.  My favorite sport is fishing in marshes, rivers or on the sea coast. I prefer to fish alone, but like living with a large group of herons, called a ‘rookery’.  Besides fish, I like to eat frogs, dragonflies, crayfish, insects & even snakes.  Without me, some of these species would be out of control – so I have an important place in the ecosystem.  And I especially love living around the Locust Fork River!
image courtesy pixabay
Kingfisher
I’m a medium-sized bird with a rather large head, a long, dagger-like beak & I’m usually quite colorful with iridescent blue feathers on my back.  I don’t sing but do have a shrill whistle.  Can you whistle? I like to live near a river, like the Locust Fork, to easily go fishing. But, mostly I like living in tropical places like Central America and Australia. There are 87 different species of Kingfishers in the world. We kingfishers build our nests in holes in trees or tunnels dug into river banks or even inside termite nests.  I like to dive into the water to catch fish, invertebrates and dragonflies!  Can you guess why we are important to this river & ecosystem?
​image courtesy pixabay
Leopard Frog
I have brownish green spots and that’s why I’m called a leopard frog.  My spots work like a camouflage suit & I need it because so many critters would like to eat me: snakes, herons, fish, raccoons & skunks.  Even you humans like to munch on my little legs when they are grilled!  You can find me from New Jersey to Florida in woodland ponds or brackish water. Brackish water is when seawater mixes some with fresh water. I eat insects and other small invertebrates. When we have babies, we lay 1,000's of eggs, hoping some will grow to become adult frogs. Our kids are called ‘tadpoles’. They are without legs & stay this way for 2-3 months. Frogs are nocturnal.  In the daytime we hide in the leaves on the edge of ponds.  Why are we important to the Locust Fork River?  Please don't say 'for grilled frog legs'! 
​image courtesy pixabay
Northern Map turtle
In addition to their tan or grayish shells and the yellow markings on their skin, Northern Map Turtles have a few other field marks useful for identification. The intricate markings on the top of their shell resemble contour lines on a topographic map, giving the species its name. Those lines can fade with age as the shell darkens, and they are much easier to see when the turtles are wet.
The northern map turtle inhabits ponds, rivers and lakes. They prefer large bodies of water and areas with fallen trees and other debris for basking. They are more likely to live in smaller rocky rivers and streams in the south. Since they are turtles, naturally they need the sun to survive.
What is interesting about Northern map turtles is their incredible sexual dimorphism (differences between males and females). In this group of turtles, the females can be up to 10x the mass of the male, and in some species, like the Northern map turtle, females develop very large heads that they use to specialize on snails and mussels, while males have a small head for eating small insects. This prevents the two sexes from competing for the same resources in their environment. Why do you think females are so much larger? 
Water pollution can hurt the species by threatening mussel populations, which map turtles depend on for food. 
As with any turtle, if you find a Northern Map Turtle crossing a road, usually the best thing to do is help it cross to whichever side it was headed toward. Odds are it is a female searching for a place to lay eggs. Is this the reason females are larger?
​The two turtles in the photo were found by Dr Grover Brown in a small stream that flows into the Locust Fork.
River Otter
Sliding & wrestling, belly flopping, & somersaulting, we river otters really know how to play!  We can glide on our bellies like on a sled. We river otters are aquatic mammals with waterproof fur, webbed feet & flippers instead of hands. We live along rivers, like the Locust Fork, bordered by woods & wetlands, such as marshes. When we dive under water we close our ears & nostrils to keep water out. We can stay underwater for up to 8 minutes. Can you? Underwater we hunt fish but take them to the shore to dine. We like to eat crayfish, frogs, turtles & fish, our favorite. While we otters spend most of the time in water, we do travel across land as well—often in search of a mate.  We are important members of the ecosystem-can you guess why?
image courtesy of pixabay

Southern Water Snake

Have you ever heard the phrase ‘mean as a snake’? I’m not mean! Really! I’m pretty timid when it comes to human folk. I’m not venomous but I will bite if cornered. My body is brown with cross bands of reddish-tan (classy, huh?). My babies, born 9 to 50 at a time, are born alive, not as eggs. They know how to swim from the beginning of their life. Do you know how to swim? It sure is important! Fish & frogs & salamanders don’t like me! I eat them. Without me, some of these species would overpopulate so I have an important job for the ecosystem. I love living in the quiet pools of the Locust Fork River, but you will rarely see me because I’m pretty shy & I’m nocturnal.
​image courtesy pixabay

About FLFR

Friends of the Locust Fork River, aka “FLFR,” was founded in 1991. FLFR's mission is to preserve the free-flowing and natural wonder of the Locust Fork River and its tributaries by educating the community, promoting recreation, watchdogging polluters, and advocating for the River. 
© 2025 Friends of Locust Fork River