OH, AND THAT SPIDER....

The wolf spider! Volunteer Mary Muchowski found this lady on our way down to check the nets. Guest Dan Roskopf was with us to meet a NSWO, and took the spider's photo. She's a protective mother, carrying tens of babies on her back. Apparently this is rare spider behavior, only wolf spiders do it, so I feel very excited that we got to see her! Watch this video to see a live version of active young wolf spiders: 

Wolf spider mother and hitch-hiking babies, Dan's photo

there is always something interesting in the night.... Come join us and see for yourself!

Dan and Mary with NSWO, Dan's first!

OWLS, BATS AND SPIDERS, OH MY!

Owl season was off and running on October 13, 2017 when program directors Ken and Julie and volunteer Mary, banded a whopping 13 owls!! Since then, we have been out six more nights and have banded 5, 5, 2, 7 and 6 owls, = 38 owls, averaging 6 owls a night. A great surprise, we had one recapture from our Snow Goose Festival event from January 2017, showing migration site fidelity. Recapture information is always valuable.

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  NSWO profile. They are amazing tiny predators, and captivate all that meet them!

Lucky guests, meet and release a NSWO

Volunteer Carol Anderson with saw-whet owl.
Volunteers help drive our program, thank you!

All our other owls are new owls without bands and most are hatch year birds, meaning owls were hatched in summer 2017, and it was a great summer for saw-whet owl breeding! We have also captured and released 3 pallid bats, a flying squirrel and a katydid!