September 30 - Gray Wolf

Gray Wolf - (Canis lupus) also known as the timber wolf, is a mammal of the order Carnivora and is the largest wild member of the Canidae family. Though once abundant over much of Eurasia and North America, the gray wolf inhabits a very small portion of its former range because of widespread destruction of its habitat, human encroachment of its habitat, and the resulting human-wolf encounters that sparked broad extirpation. Today, wolves are protected in some areas, hunted for sport in others, or may be subject to extermination as perceived threats to livestock and pets.

Defenders of Wildlife - Defenders created a compensation fund, now known as The Bailey Wildlife Foundation Wolf Compensation Trust. The Bailey Trust is funded by private donors and pays ranchers for verified losses of livestock due to wolf predation. It has been heralded as the most important factor in contributing to the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park and the Northern Rockies.

September 27 - Horned Owl

Horned Owl - The American horned owls are from the genus Bubo. This genus, depending on definition, contains about one or two dozen species of typical owls (family Strigidae) and occurs in many parts of the world. Traditionally, only owls with ear-tufts were included here, but this is now known to be wrong.

Slow Migration - Fall Migration is slower than Spring migration for many species. Due to abundant food sources, flocks will linger in these locations until the food source diminishes, or the temperature begins to drop rapidly.

September 25 - Ant Lift

Ant Lift - Ants can lift 10 times their body weight, which helps them move large stores of food for the coming winter.

Since most ants live on the ground, they use the soil surface to leave pheromone trails that can be followed by other ants. In species that forage in groups, a forager that finds food marks a trail on the way back to the colony; this trail is followed by other ants, these ants then reinforce the trail when they head back with food to the colony.

September 22 - Equinox

Equinox - There is an equinox (autumn and spring) or a solstice (summer and winter) on approximately the 21st day of the last month of every quarter of the calendar year. On a day which has an equinox, the center of the Sun will spend a nearly equal amount of time above and below the horizon at every location on Earth and night and day will be of nearly the same length. The word equinox derives from the Latin words aequus (equal) and nox (night). In reality, the day is longer than the night at an equinox.

The autumnal equinox occurs this afternoon at precisely 15:44 UT.

Happy Autumn!

September 18 - Tree Frog

Tree Frog - any frog that that spends a major portion of its lifespan in an arboreal state. As the name implies, these frogs are typically found in trees or other high-growing vegetation. They do not normally descend to the ground, except for mating—but some even build foam nests on leaves and during their adult lives rarely leave the trees at all.

Speed of Darkness - The advance of darkness is most rapid near the September (Fall) equinox, when three minutes of daylight are lost each day - about 12 times the rate of change that takes place near the solstices.

September 12 - Pumpkin

Pumpkin - (Cucurbita) a squash-like fruit that range in size (less than 1 pound to over 1000 pounds), shape, color, and appearance (smooth or ribbed). Pumpkins are grown all around the world for a variety of reasons ranging from agricultural purposes (animal feed) to commercial and ornamental sales. As one of the most popular crops in the United States, 1.5 billion pounds of pumpkins are produced each year. The top pumpkin producing states in the U.S. include Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and California.

Giant Pumpkin - the largest pumpkins are Cucurbita maxima. They were cultivated from the hubbard squash genotype, crossed with kabocha-pumpkin types by enthusiast farmers through intermittent effort since the early 1800s. “Weigh-off” competitions for giant pumpkins are a popular festival activity. 460 pounds held the world record for the largest pumpkin until 1981 when Howard Dill(of Nova Scotia) broke the record with a pumpkin near 500 pounds.

September 9 - Grapevine

Grapevine - A vining plant from the genus vitis. There are about 60 species of vining plants predominantly from the Northern hemisphere. It is economically important as the source of grapes, both for direct consumption of the fruit and for fermentation to produce wine. The study and cultivation of grapevines is called viticulture. The leaves of the grape vine itself are considered edible and are used in the production of dolmades (stuffed vegetable dishes).

Jupiter/Moon - These two celestial bodies appear together at sunset and into the night on September 9th.

September 2 - Hurricane Eye

Hurricane Eye - Hurricanes start over the oceans as a collection of storms in the tropics. The deepening low-pressure center takes in moist air and thermal energy from the ocean surface, convection lifts the air, and high pressure higher in the atmosphere pushes it outward. Rotation of the wind currents tends to spin the clouds into a tight curl; as the winds reach gale force, the depression becomes a tropical storm. The mature hurricane is nearly circularly symmetrical, and its influence often extends over an area 500 miles in diameter. As a result of the extremely low central pressure surface air spirals inward cyclonically (counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere), converging on a circle of about 20 miles diameter that surrounds the hurricane's “eye.” The circumference of this circle defines the eye wall, where the inward-spiraling, moisture-laden air is forced aloft; after reaching altitudes of tens of thousands of feet above the surface, this air is finally expelled toward the storm's periphery and eventually creates the spiral bands of clouds easily identifiable in satellite photographs. Because the outward increase in pressure is greatest there, the eye wall is also the region of maximum wind speed. By contrast, the hurricane eye is almost calm, experiences little or no precipitation, and is often exposed to blue sky.

This satellite image shows the progression of the hurricane as it moves from the Atlantic ocean across the Gulf of Mexico. The warm waters of the Gulf increase the power and size of the hurricane. Notice the size and clarity of the hurricane's eye increase from the category 4 hurricane in the Atlantic to the category 5 in the Gulf.