Backyard Friend
Bessie the Flying Squirrel
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⭐ Bessie waits until the yard gets dark. Then she steps out of her tree hole, checks the branches,…
A Guide to Tootie's Friends
Every backyard neighbor has a name, a story, and something amazing to teach us!
Backyard Friend
Biv the Blue Jay
⭐ Biv has a loud voice, a blue crest, and very serious opinions about pecans.
Backyard Friend
Bob the Box Turtle
⭐ Bob has a high domed shell, bright orange markings, sturdy little feet, and the kind of slow steady…
Backyard Friend
Bonnie the Bluebird
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⭐ Bonnie is sky-blue, warm rusty-orange, quick across the lawn, and so cheerful-looking that Tootie assumes she must have…
Backyard Friend
Bucky the Buck Moth
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⭐ Bucky is a black-and-white moth with big wings, an oak-tree childhood, and a caterpillar stage that looks like…
Backyard Friend
Carl the Carpenter Bee
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⭐ Carl is big, fuzzy, loud, and always one buzzing lap away from making Tootie think somebody dropped a…
Backyard Friend
Carol the Carolina Wren
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⭐ Carol is tiny, rusty-brown, loud enough to surprise a whole porch, and always one twig away from finding…
Backyard Friend
Charlene the Carolina Chickadee
Poecile carolinensis
⭐ Charlene is a tiny gray bird with a black cap, white cheeks, and a cheerful voice that makes…
Backyard Friend
Chirp the Cricket Frog
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⭐ Chirp sounds like a cricket with a microphone, which would be confusing enough even if he were not…
Backyard Friend
Clover the Cottontail
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⭐ Clover has long ears, wide dark eyes, a white puff of a tail, and a very serious belief…
Backyard Friend
Coorha the Mourning Dove
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⭐ Coorha has soft brown feathers, gentle black spots on her wings, and a low, sad-sounding coo that makes…
Backyard Friend
Dart the Dragonfly
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⭐ Dart has giant eyes, four clear wings, and one rule for mosquitoes: if they are flying, they are…
Backyard Friend
Dash the Blue Dasher
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⭐ Dash has bright blue eyes, a powder-blue body, four fast wings, and absolutely no interest in waiting around…
Backyard Friend
Dot the Asian Lady Beetle
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⭐ Dot is a little orange beetle with black spots, a white-and-black mark behind her head, and a habit…
Backyard Friend
Earl the Earthworm
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⭐ Earl lives under Grandma’s garden, where the dirt is never just dirt and every fallen leaf can become…
Backyard Friend
Faye the Gulf Fritillary
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⭐ Faye is bright orange, fast around the flowers, and the reason Grandma leaves one very particular vine alone…
Backyard Friend
Fenn the Eastern Fence Lizard
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⭐ Fenn has rough scales, fast feet, and a favorite fence rail that he treats like the best seat…
Backyard Friend
Gary the Green Heron
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⭐ Gary is small for a heron, dark for a bird called green, and so still at the creek’s…
Backyard Friend
Goldie the Golden Orb Spider
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⭐ Goldie’s web catches sunlight like gold thread stretched between the creekside branches, which is beautiful until Tootie learns…
Backyard Friend
Grandma Grows the Backyard
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⭐ Grandma can look at a patch of dirt and see flowers, food, birds, bees, and three dogs who…
Backyard Friend
Grenda the Northern Rough Greensnake
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⭐ Grenda lives in Grandma’s front-yard shrubs, where leaves, branches, and shadows make a fine place for a small…
Backyard Friend
Helen the Honeybee
Apis mellifera
⭐ Helen visits up to 2,000 flowers a day and will fly over 50,000 miles in her lifetime — more than twice around…
Adventure Friend
Iggy the Great Egret
Ardea alba
⭐ A patient wetland guide who teaches Tootie to slow down and watch first.
Backyard Friend
Inouar the Northern Mockingbird
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⭐ Inouar is pronounced “I know you are,” which is exactly what she says whenever somebody asks whether she…
Backyard Friend
Kevin the Crow
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⭐ Kevin sees everything. He also has a plan for everything. Kevin is an American Crow. He lives near…
Backyard Friend
Knossos the Bronze Frog
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⭐ Knossos has bronze skin, long jumping legs, and a voice that sounds like somebody plucked one loose banjo…
Backyard Friend
Loni the Eastern Lubber Grasshopper
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⭐ Loni is a giant grasshopper with bright colors, slow feet, and the confidence of somebody who has never…
Backyard Friend
Lucki the Leucistic Robin
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⭐ Lucki looks like an American Robin somebody painted with an extra white brush, but the pale feathers are…
Backyard Friend
Mabel the Mississippi Map Turtle
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⭐ Mabel has a shell covered in pale lines like a tiny road map, a sharp little head, and…
Backyard Friend
Mary the Monarch Butterfly
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⭐ Mary wears orange wings with black lines, white-spotted borders, and the kind of bright pattern that makes Tootie…
Adventure Friend
Moss the Barred Owl
Strix varia
⭐ A dusk guide who teaches that quiet woods belong to wildlife too.
Backyard Friend
Natalie the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
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⭐ Natalie is a tiny blue-gray bird with a long tail, a white eye ring, and the kind of…
Backyard Friend
Phoenix the Fox Squirrel
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⭐ Phoenix is bigger than Scott, rustier than Scott, and very tired of being asked whether he is just…
Backyard Friend
Piney the Pine Warbler
Setophaga pinus
⭐ A pine-woods guide who teaches the group to listen before looking.
Backyard Friend
Rio the River Cooter
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⭐ Rio is a big freshwater turtle with yellow swirl marks on his shell, long yellow stripes on his…
Backyard Friend
Robbie the Raccoon
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⭐ Robbie wears a black mask, has a ringed tail, and moved into Scott’s tree house like the whole…
Adventure Friend
Rory the White-tailed Deer
Odocoileus virginianus
⭐ A track guide who teaches careful observation and giving wildlife space.
Backyard Friend
Roy and Renee the Cardinals
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⭐ Roy sings like the porch hired him to announce the morning. Renee hears him from the shrubs and…
Backyard Friend
Ruby the Ruby-Crowned Kinglet
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⭐ Ruby is smaller than most people expect, quicker than most people can follow, and so busy checking every…
Backyard Friend
Rumpy the Yellow-Rumped Warbler
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⭐ Rumpadumpalous is his full name, but everybody calls him Rumpy because he is already three branches away by…
Backyard Friend
Scott the Gray Squirrel
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⭐ Scott thinks Grandma’s pecan trees are a grocery store, a climbing gym, and a very good place to…
Backyard Friend
Tad the American Toad
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⭐ Tad has bumpy skin, gold-flecked eyes, short sturdy legs, and the kind of serious little walk that makes…
Backyard Friend
Tank the Nine-banded Armadillo
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⭐ Tank has a hard-looking shell, a long pointed nose, digging claws, and a nighttime walk so determined that…
Backyard Friend
Thrash the Brown Thrasher
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⭐ Thrash is a cinnamon-brown bird with yellow eyes, a long curved bill, and a leaf-flipping habit that makes…
Backyard Friend
Tootie the Mini Schnauzer Puppy
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⭐ Tootie thinks every morning has at least one new friend in they. Tootie is a Miniature Schnauzer puppy…
Backyard Friend
Tuffy the Titmouse
Baeolophus bicolor
⭐ Tuffy can hold a sunflower seed with his feet and hammer they open with his beak — like a tiny woodpecker!
Backyard Friend
Wes the Metric Paper Wasp
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⭐ Wes is a Metric Paper Wasp with long legs, a reddish-brown body, a tiny waist, and a family…
Backyard Friend
Wilson the Red-Bellied Woodpecker
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⭐ Wilson does not rush through the morning. He starts at the bottom of the tree and checks every…
Backyard Friend
Yoshi the Backyard Watchdog
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⭐ Yoshi does not rush into the backyard. She checks the backyard first. Yoshi is a sleek black dog…