W.O.L.F. Den

Scarlet Tananger Next time you are outside, think about birds for a minute.  Here are some suggestion from a bird expert, David Sibley.  Look for birds.  Watch for movement first.  Scan edges along yards, shrubs and high up in the tree tops.  Where are they going? Look at the bill.  The shape can tell you what they eat.  (Remember pick a beak with pliers and tweezers?) Listen to their songs.  This will help you spot them and soon you may be able to identify one by its song. Think about what it is doing.  Flying back and forth with something in its mouth usually means nest building.  Flying repeatedly to a bush or patch of ground may mean it is collecting insects for their young. Draw, write notes and take pictures.  Now try to identify a bird.  You don't have to have binoculars although they help.  If you have them, continue to stare at the bird as you bring the binoculars up to your eyes. This fall, put up a bird feeder.  Now the birds will come to you! A good resour

Can you name these three species of butterflies? - Click on picture to enlarge I was out on the ATV in the forest when I saw these butterflies "puddling" along the trail.  They were gathered on a pile of raccoon dung, (poop to your non-WOLF friends). WOLF Spider Dream Catcher - Click to enlarge Puddling or mud-puddling behavior is seen in butterflies and some moths.  It is a way for them to collect minerals such as salt similar to what sweat bees do landing on our skin in summer.  Some species will do this on animal dung, presumably collecting ammonium. These gatherings are predominately male as they collect sodium and amino acids which they then transfer to the female during mating which provides nutrition to her eggs.  Now here is the Butterfly Contest: See if you can identify the three species of butterflies in the picture above.  You can start by clicking on this MDC Field Guide link .   Hint:  Be sure to look at the underside of the wings in the fi

Millipede in our basement Looking for wildlife?  Look no farther than your house.  Details are in this National Geographic article sent to me by a friendly Springfield police officer and Master Naturalist.  You may want to take a flashlight, a magnifier and even a camera to "shoot" with.  Basements and garages are good hunting grounds.  This harmless long-bodied Cellar Spider is one of my favorites.  They live in the dark corners of out bathroom closet.  When touched they swing wildly on thin silk threads to avoid predators including you!  See ours in action in this Youtube video as Barb touches it.   The spider's body is less than 1/2 inch so you will have to look carefully to find them.  They catch other insects and small spiders so we tolerate each other.  More details in this blog . Asian Lady Beetle larva on my finger Asian Lady Beetle We have seen both of these this last week.  These are the Asian Lady Beetles that sometimes get in your house.  T

Our neighbor's bird This is the time of year when birds are pairing up for mating and nest building.  If you watch the birds around your house you may be able to see where they are nesting.  Our neighbor mentioned that he had a bird nesting on their front porch, more interested in the container than the fact that the flowers were artificial.  I grabbed a camera. My neighbor's nest When the female had flown off the nest I took a picture of her eggs.  Robins, finches and other neighborhood birds can build their nests in shrubs and small trees around your neighborhood.  If you find a nest, don't bother it or they may abandon their nest and have to build another one.  Once they are settled in and have laid their eggs they will be more committed and you could look in the nest, once. Click to enlarge I went back today and caught a parent on the nest.  I waited several minutes until it took off to find some baby food.  It has bee coming into our back yard wh

WOLFs:  Write your best answer to the questions as you are reading. While grading our flood rutted road I noticed a slight movement in the gravel and stopped the tractor a few inches short of running over a pair of mating toads.  While the rains and flooding disrupted the lives of a lot of our wildlife, it created a pool of water in a tire track that spelled opportunity for this pair.  Amplexus is the name for the mating position of frogs and toads, in which the male clasps the female about the back.  He looks grumpy but I think he is just straining to hold on tight. The female toad seldom moves during amplexus.  She is pushing out eggs while the male is fertilizing them in the water.  I lifted the pair out of harms way and into the pool behind the tractor.  I couldn't see any eggs in the water.  I took this frontal picture below she seemed to be glaring at me although she may have been thinking "get this guy off my back."  These are eastern Amer

Northern mockingbird - from Wikipedia Our mockingbird We have a northern mockingbird that is hanging around our house, singing continuously for 3 to 8 minutes at a time.  It seldom pauses to take a breath and its song, really a wide variety of songs, is constantly changing.  The video is fuzzy as I used my cell phone and it was high up in the tree. Listen to his performance here. Male mockingbirds are the singers and they are famous for learning and repeating the songs of other birds.  Then they show off by singing all their melodies strung together in a row.  Bird scientists (called ornithologists) think they sing like this to impress the females for mating and to warn other male mockingbirds that this is their territory.  Older males have learned more songs and that may impress the females just like a buck with a big antler rack impresses a doe. They not only learn the songs of other birds but will also remember other sounds and include them in their performances.  Two

This is the first edition of the W.O.L.F. Den, a place for current and past W.O.L.F.s to hang out occasionally, connect with nature and stay separated and healthy. ________________________________________ On the Little Sac hike, several of you found spiders that we photographed for identification.  Most people call any large spider a "wolf spider" automatically.  That is like calling every snake a "copperhead".   More on that later, but first let's find some spiders.....at night! Barb and I went out last night to find spiders that hunt in the dark.  She spotted the one above in the grass with her special "spider sense."  This isn't the same as Spider-Man's, but it is cool and you too could develop it.  All it takes is a flashlight and some practice.  You will be looking for tiny bright spots in the distance called "eye shine." Many animals hunt at night and have a reflective layer in the eyes.  This gives them better night vi