Fauna of West Virginia - Diversity, Mountain & Low Land

Diversity, Mountain & Low Land

As with West Virginia's remote mountain forests, the farms and lands with meadows and woodlots near urban areas also hold whitetail deer, chipmunks, raccoons, skunks, groundhogs, opossums, weasels, field mice, flying squirrels, cotton-tail rabbits, gray foxes, red foxes, gray squirrels, red squirrels and a cave bat to name a few. Bobcats, snowshoe hares, wild boars and black bears are not strictly found in deepest forests and parks of West Virginia. But, the mink, beaver and eastern cougar (Puma concolor couguar) have become very rarely seen near farms, even the farthest from towns.

Deep in the heart of the state's mountains is a unique natural botanical treasure. Along with very rare boreal plants, several species of orchids and carnivorous plants are found at Cranberry Glades Botanical Area. It provides a chance for the public to see mink, beavers, snowshoe hare, black bear with its unique flora and other fauna. Cranberry Glades is the southern-most breeding pocket for some northern breeding species of birds like the purple finch and the northern waterthrush. West Virginia's western valley contrasts the mountains with another natural treasure, the Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge. These islands serves as a habitat for great blue heron, wood ducks, cormorants, Canada geese, migrating loons, and tundra swans.