W.O.L.F. Den

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 t...

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...