Mosquitoes
The day-biting mosquitoes behind dengue and Zika. They breed in containers, and the eggs survive months on a dry rim.
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Ticks
One of the main U.S. carriers of Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Look for the mottled off-white shield behind the head.
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Cockroaches
Two big dark roaches that share a habit. Both live outdoors and come inside, unlike the German cockroach.
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Mosquitoes
The malaria genus. It rests at a steep head-down angle rather than parallel to the surface.
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Furbearers
A digging problem that never comes indoors. It roots up lawns and beds and leaves the building alone.
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Furbearers
North America's largest rodent, built entirely for water. The damage is flooding and felled trees, not the house.
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Bed Bugs
Bed bugs feed on blood, hide within a few feet of where you sleep, and fit into a crack no wider than a toothpick. They do not spread disease, and they have nothing to do with how clean your home is.
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Bats
If bats are in your attic in the Northeast or Midwest, this is now the likely species. Older guidance names the wrong one.
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Furbearers
Back in at least 40 states. Almost every conflict starts with food a person left reachable.
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Birds
The one North American vulture that is not only a scavenger. It takes newborn calves and lambs, eyes first.
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Spiders
Venomous, and far less dangerous than its reputation. The red hourglass is not always an hourglass and not always complete.
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Ticks
The tick behind most Lyme disease in the Northeast. Adults are active October through May, not in summer.
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Spiders
Six eyes in three pairs, not eight. The most misdiagnosed spider in America, and absent from most of it.
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Birds
The geese on your pond in July are almost certainly not migrating. Most problem birds are residents.
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Ants
Large black or red-and-black ants that hollow out damp wood to nest. They do not eat it, so what you find is sawdust rather than missing wood.
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Stinging Insects
The big black bee that charges your head cannot sting you. It bores round holes in bare wood to nest.
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Snakes - Non-Venomous
One of the fastest snakes in North America, and completely non-venomous. It hunts across open ground in daylight.
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Snakes - Non-Venomous
It eats other snakes, venomous ones included, and there is peer-reviewed evidence its presence changes the neighborhood.
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Birds
An all-black bird up to 27 inches long, one of the largest songbirds in North America, and among the smartest.
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Amphibians/Reptiles
Docile in the water and defensive out of it. Every real problem happens on land, in late spring and early summer, when a female is nesting.
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Snakes - Venomous
The venomous snake homeowners in its range are most likely to actually meet. It damages nothing and bites rarely.
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Snakes - Non-Venomous
Harmless and killed on sight far too often, because its black-bordered blotches read as copperhead at a glance.
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Snakes - Venomous
Very likely the most misidentified venomous snake in its range. Most cottonmouth sightings are watersnakes.
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Furbearers
Every state in the lower 48 has them, and the densest populations sit against cities. A daytime sighting is not by itself a warning sign.
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