I have been unable to discover any convenient online guides to animals of Virginia comparable to the guides to trees and vines and shrubs listed on the Plants page. The book pictured here, however, has the advantage of being specific to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Although it is by no means a comprehensive guide to the flora and fauna of the region, it makes a good starting point for learning about the natural world of the Parkway region.

Another general guide to plants and animals which includes the Blue Ridge–along with a much wider region– is the National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Mid-Atlantic States.

Specific Groups of Animals:

Virginia’s Department of Wildlife Resources has a page on Wildlife Information, which consists of links to other pages on their site relating to various fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds. The same site also has a List of Species found in the state, but many of the entries lack illustrations.

The most comprehensive site for Virginia animals of any sort comes from the Virginia Herpetological Society This website covers all known reptiles and amphibians in the state. The entries for each species includes detailed information, numerous color photos, and distribution maps.

If you’re looking for birds and have a smartphone, it’s hard to improve on the free Merlin Bird ID app from the Cornell University Ornithology Lab. Not only does it help you identify birds through photos and location, but it also allows you to record bits of birdsong and identifies the birds you are hearing, and perhaps not seeing, by their various calls. The screenshot on the right shows a sample of a few seconds worth of audio bird identification.

The National Park Service (NPS) has produced a handy checklist of the 70+ species of mammals documented in Parkway territory.

The NPS site for the Blue Ridge Parkway also has a page that lists the ninety-odd species of fish found in streams and lakes along the Parkway.

There are numerous other field guides and apps for various types of animals from sources such as Peterson and Audubon printed field guides and online app stores for iPhone and Android.