When the sun goes down and humans are getting ready for bed, many seldom-seen animal neighbors are just getting up. Why are so many animals nocturnal? Does being active at night have advantages over being active during the day? Does it bring disadvantages? If so, how have nocturnal animals evolved to mitigate the disadvantages?

Midcoast Conservancy is hosting a workshop at its Hidden Valley Nature Center on critters of the night on Oct. 19, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Attendees will join Luanne and Dan Weekes, of Pollination Station in Alna, as they discuss these and other questions to build a new appreciation of Maine's nocturnal wildlife. This family-friendly powerpoint presentation will look at common nocturnal species including bats, owls, skunks, and a relative newcomer to Maine, the Virginia opossum.

The highlight will be a meet-and-greet with Willow, an Eastern Screech Owl who spent nearly six months at a Maryland raptor center recovering from an unfortunate impact with a car. Willow needed to have an eye surgically removed and although owls with one eye can successfully be released, Willow also had an injury involving an ear; because owls hunt by both sight and sound, the partial loss of these two senses deemed Willow unreleasable by her caretakers so she joined Pollination Station during the summer of 2015 and has become a popular wildlife ambassador in the local community.

There will be plenty of time for Q&A after the presentation. To learn more about the workshop, and to register, go to https://www.midcoastconservancy.org/events-list/naturalist-workshop-series-october19.