Nature at Night

Resources and observations.

Photo by Sonder Quest on Unsplash

Greetings Earthlings:

In this post, I return to the sort of prose I wrote years ago. I promise I have not abandoned poetry. A poem with voiceover is embedded in the post, but the prose muse is hollering to get out, and I feel compelled.

Being outdoors at night can terrify some people. Peaceful observation has become difficult due to the intensely bright flashlights some people carry. Those lights spotlight a few things and obscure the rest. Perhaps the owners are compensating for something. “Mine’s brighter than yours.” Perhaps this explains all the high-tech outdoor gadgets I see hyped on a certain video platform.

That said, I love exploring the nighttime world. Here are some resources I find helpful. Some of the information is focused on Tennessee.

A Literary Approach

Time spent outdoors in the dark presents numerous opportunities for inspiration. Could the night sky or a night-blooming flower inspire you to write a poem or story? Here is one of mine, inspired by a nocturnal animal.

Great Horned Owl

In Birds of America, their visage seems fierce.
In person, these birds can be much worse. 

I have heard them called the terror of the skies.
They eat anything that runs, swims, or flies.

When they move in, other owls get quiet.
They know they are on the horned owl’s diet. 

Neither eagle nor heron is safe from their grasp.
The owl eats their chicks, quick as an asp. 

These birds build no nests; they find a hollow tree, 
or take over another’s nest rent-free.

Through cold and snow, owl chicks grow fast. 
They fly in March, and the nesting is past. 

The skunk is among their items of prey.
You will want to avoid them the following day.

The poem "To Know the Dark" by Wendell Berry offers the insight that "the dark blooms and sings." You can read the text here: Poetry Chaikhana | Wendell Berry - To Know the Dark (poetry-chaikhana.com). Berry advises his readers to go without a light.

The British writer Chris Yates, who spends a lot of time writing about fishing, also spends the shortest night of the year, the Summer Solstice, walking. His book, Nightwalk: A Journey into the Heart of Nature, relates his experience on one extended walk. Nightwalk: A Journey to the Heart of Nature by Chris Yates | Goodreads

An Educational Approach

Brad Daniel and Clifford Knapp prepared an article on leading a night walk. Teachers and outdoor educators were their primary audience. Knapp, now deceased, was one of my mentors at Northern Illinois University. Read their safety tips, whether exploring the nighttime world on your own or as a leader or participant in outdoor group activities. Explore an area by daylight before making a nighttime foray. Nighttime Adventures - Green Schools National Network

Owls - An Observational Approach

Owls get our attention with their front-facing eyes. Their faces resemble ours, and the response is unavoidable. My own experiences with owls are memorable. This excerpt comes from my journal, a portion written while visiting Okefenokee Swamp several years ago:

“That evening, I led a short night hike and called the barred owls out of the swamp. One answered with its “Who cooks for you?” call. Then another, and another, and yet another answered. We were right on the edge of the territories of two pairs. They continued well into the night and generated comments that I should not call them the following night.” The entire story “Traveling Okefenokee” appears on Substack.

Audio recordings of barred owls appear on several websites, and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology has links to an extensive collection of recorded bird calls, including the Barred Owl https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Barred_Owl/sounds.

Barred Owls sometimes hunt in the daytime and are not shy. The naturalist in this short film gives a great introduction to barred owls. The Barred Owl - YouTube

The Barred Owl Fact Sheet from the National Audubon Society has another excellent introduction. 10 Fun Facts About the Barred Owl | Audubon

The All About Birds Website from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology is a good source of information about any bird found in the United States. This is their page about screech owls, the smallest of our common owls. Eastern Screech-Owl Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

The Great Horned Owl entry in the Audubon Field Guide online is a great place to learn about our largest owl here in Tennessee. Great Horned Owl | Audubon Field Guide

The Barn Owl is also found in Tennessee and is very different from other owls. It has its own family, Tytonidae, and has a nearly worldwide distribution. Barn Owl Overview, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Less common owls in Tennessee include the Short-Eared Owl, the Snowy Owl, the Long-Eared Owl, and the diminutive Northern Saw-Whet Owl. The saw-whet is only found at high altitudes in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Dr. Fred Alsop found a nesting pair of Northern Saw-Whet Owls in the Smokies. George Ellison wrote a lovely article about owls in the Great Smoky Mountains and included some information about Alsop’s research. Owls Remain Mysterious, Alluring: smokymountainnews.com.

Bats

Some people believe that bats are flying mice, but they are not rodents. Nevertheless, the idea inspired an operetta.

The Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency provides a Bats of Tennessee website. It has a photo of each of our many bat species. Click on an image to see a life history of the species. Mammals Bats | State of Tennessee, Wildlife Resources Agency tn.gov.

Gray Bats are endangered and appear in Tennessee. This video from a neighboring state tells their story. Gray Bats | This American Land - YouTube

Bat watching at Nickajack Cave in Marion County is a popular summer activity. This link takes you to a fact sheet about the cave’s bat population and a photo that shows the cave entrance. Thousands of endangered Gray Bats emerge on summer nights. It is a maternity cave, occupied by female bats and young of the year. I have visited a few times to take the short trail to the viewing platform and watch the bats come out. The Nickajack Cave Wildlife Refuge | Tennessee River Valley tennesseerivervalleygeotourism.org.

In this video, visitors take a Kayak trip to the entrance of Nickajack Cave.

This fact sheet on white-nose syndrome explains why bats are becoming less common. What Is White-nose Syndrome? (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)