Read on to learn more about the inspiration nature provides for Taylor, and why she feels it’s important that we take care of the planet. When you’re done, you can find out about this year’s Conservation Achievement Award honorees, including former EPA Administrator William Reilly and NBC News’ Chief Environmental Affairs correspondent Anne Thompson.

Finally, when you’re finished, tell us about the ways nature inspires you!

Tell us about your favorite animal (or plant)?

There are so many mighty and noble animals with whom we share this beautiful planet.  I love them all. What is not to love?  The fur, the scales, the feathers!  But my heart beats especially for a bivalve that lives in the sands of the ocean floor;  the quahog, the hard shelled clam.  Why do I love this creature of the sea so much, it’s relatively small, it doesn’t move, it lives and grows and reproduces in the same spot it was born?

Quahog from the Narragansett Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. Flickr photo by NOAA.

Oh, and I love bees.  Oh wait, then there are the hummingbirds and the elephants.  And the wolves.

My favorite plant?  How do you pick a favorite plant?  You love them, they love you back.  Maybe I’d say a redwood tree was my favorite plant if I were to get to see one.

What’s a natural place you’ve always wanted to visit?

Yes, I would love to go to a redwood forest.  I would love to go to the Russian tiaga.

Redwood grove in California’s Humboldt Redwoods State Park. Flickr photo by Michael Balint.

What’s your favorite childhood memory of nature?

My brothers and I had many happy hours in the woods and by the creek near the house where we grew up.  We spent all seasons with these trees, and this gentle rushing water was our playground.  And we’d go to the sea sometimes, and we were light-hearted by the shore.

Sandpipers along Fire Island National Seashore. Flickr photo by Andrew Mace.

Has nature ever inspired any of your music?

It’s my most favorite thing to sing about.

Why do you think it’s important for us to take care of the earth?

We’ve got one home planet.  It is beautiful and generous.  We are surrounded by life.  It is what sustains us.  It is what makes it possible for us to nurture this body we’ve been given to live in, to grow in and to realize our spirit with. What a gift. Why would you want to mess that up?  This is a moral issue.

Whether or not you plan to attend the 2013 Green Inaugural Ball, we want you to be a part of this celebration. We want to start President Obama’s next term with positive wishes and ideas for the future. And so, we’re collecting your Green Wishes.

What #GreenWish do you have for the future?

We’re asking you to send us your wishes for the president, our country and for your community using the hashtag #GreenWish on Twitter or leaving comments on this post. Please keep it positive—let’s unite around what we want to see in the future to protect our public lands, wildlife and great waters, and also what kind of clean, sustainable solutions we want from the president.

What will we do with your wishes?

Before you take the plunge and start thinking about your wish, we should probably tell you that we’ll be showcasing these green wishes on the many displays in the Newseum the night of the ball. We’ll be taking full advantage of the Newseum’s latest technology and live broadcasting your green wishes throughout the venue. Don’t have a Twitter account? We invite you to sign up for one here.

We’re looking forward to hearing your thoughts and wishes for President Obama’s second term. See you on Sunday!

Looking for ideas? Here are some sample wishes:

• “My #greenwish is to spend more time enjoying our country’s great outdoors!”
• “My #greenwish is to take my kids fishing on cleaner waters in Ohio.”
• “My #greenwish is for reforms to hard rock mining pollution laws.”
• “My #greenwish is for the U.S. to embrace more clean renewable energy!”

Tickets Still Available for the Green Ball

We still have a few general admission and VIP tickets available. Come join the celebration!

Purchase tickets to the Green Inaugural Ball >>

Heading to the ball? Tweet using the #GreenBall2013 hashtag, and don’t forget to include your #GreenWish.

Each time you use the hashtag #Hoot2Give on Twitter, Craig will donate $1 to National Wildlife Federation (up to $5,000) to support our efforts to help owls and other wildlife.

So join us in having a bit of fun appreciating owls. Tweet your favorite photos or videos, share stories, articles or your best owl pun, and help honor owls this holiday season.

Craig tweeted his own kickoff to the fundraiser:

If you #hoot2give, I’ll give $1 to @nwf this holiday season: bit.ly/W0S0zg

— craignewmark (@craignewmark) December 13, 2012

Here are just a few fun owl photos and facts that are ready-made to tweet!

1. A snowy owl will attack any predators, including wolves, that threaten its ground nest.

Tweet #hoot2give

Snowy Owl Photo by Marcia Bromley

2. Burrowing owls collect mammal waste to attract dung beetles, one of their favorite foods.

Tweet #hoot2give

Burrowing Owl Photo by Bill Dodsworth

3. A Northern saw-whet is named for one of its calls that sounds like a saw being whetted.

Tweet #hoot2give

Northern Saw-whet Photo by John Kirchner

4. Barred owls have a call that sounds like, “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you allll?”
(Listen and watch one here>>)

Tweet #hoot2give

Barred Owl Photo by Amy Marques

5. Snowy owls have lots of names: ghost owls, tundra ghosts, Arctic owls and great white owls.

Tweet #hoot2give

Snowy Owl Photo by Kevin McCarthy

6. Barn owls will swallow their prey whole and locate their prey on sound alone.

Tweet #hoot2give

Barn Owl Photo by Marie Aufderheide

7. Burrowing owls will sometimes use abandoned burrows of prairie dogs, armadillos, skunks or pocket gophers.

Tweet #hoot2give

Burrowing Owl Photo by Amy Marques

8.  A group of owls is called a parliament.

Tweet #hoot2give

Great Horned Owlets by Lois Settlemeyer

9. Owls are silent fliers and nocturnal hunters making them very effective predators.

Tweet #hoot2give

Barred Owl by Laura Kalina

10. Great grey owls are very reclusive. Plunge marks in the snow are usually the only evidence for its presence.

Tweet #hoot2give

Great Grey Owl by Kameron Perensovich

1. Emperor Tamarin Monkey: It is rumored that the emperor tamarin was named for how it resembled the German emperor Wilhelm II, due to the characteristics of its mustache.

2. Mountain Lion Cubs: Besides being a fierce predator, mountain lions are fantastic for sporting fur mustaches.

3.  Northern Flicker: This male yellow-shafted flicker is distinguishable from his western relative because he has a black malar instead of a red one.

4. Mustached Bats: Bats from the family Mormoopidae are nicknamed mustached bats, but as you can see, they aren’t kidding. This Antillean Ghost-faced Bat’s face depicts quite the ‘stache! The other bats sporting mustaches aren’t quite as lucky. Unfortunately a sign of a bat that suffered from white nose syndrome is a white fungus around the nose. Learn how you can help bats with bad mustaches here. 

5.  Moustached Treeswift: While much is unknown about the size of this bird’s population, we can definitely say they show off one awesome mustache.

6. Catfish: This diverse group of fish are named for their barbels that resemble cat whiskers. But they aren’t the only fish to sport mustache look-a-likes: the male molly fish in Mexico actually attracts females with his mustache.

7.  Inca Tern: This bird eats anchovies and breeds on the coast of Peru and Chile—clearly an example of elegance and class!

8. Robber Fly: While we don’t take the time to look this closely at many of the insects near us, we wanted to show that up close, insects like this robber fly, dragon flies and even butterflies will demonstrate mustaches.

9. Walrus: The grizzly whiskers on this walrus impressed us. These animals are only aggressive during mating season– but still it may be best to not look this animal in the eye…

10. Tentacled Snake: These snakes are new to the Smithsonian National Zoo and have a fascinating “mustache”. Their facial feature serves as sensory mechanisms that allow them to pick up vibrations from prey.

This Photo courtesy of Brittany Steff, Smithsonian’s National Zoo.

Will you never tire of animals with mustaches? Visit this hilarious Tumblr for some fun (and less realistic) animal mustaches.

Happy mustaches everyone!

Music of Nature’s Website

Here are a few resources that I’ve found myself using–but please, if you know of others, share them in the comments!

Bird Songs

• eNature has a section on the site called “Bird Audio” that allows you to select different calls to play. They also offer various free bird call ring tones. Once you’ve studied all these it may be fun to take their bird call quiz… I’m too chicken (ha!).
• Birdjam not only offers up free songs to listen to, but also has playlists for certain habitats, as well as apps you can download for a small fee. I love the idea of bird call playlists by habitat!
• The Cornell Lab of Ornithology offers free bird call noises and downloads with an exchange of an email address. They are always sending helpful information, so it’s a worthy trade.

for wildlife?

Frog Calls

These suckers are a little tricky to track down. I’ve found it useful to search your area for “frog calls” based on state or region and not just the generic search. This works with bird calls too… Also—if you’re already interested in frog calls and identification, I highly recommend getting involved with Frog Call USA (if you’re in the U.S., that is).

• Cleveland Museum of Natural History has Ohio’s frogs and toads
• U.S. Geological Survey’s Midwest Region has downloadable calls
• The Western Soundscape Archive has one of the most comprehensive lists of amphibians.
• The Cornell Lab of Ornithology also has an impressive amphibian downloadable list for what it’s worth.
• I heavily rely on Virginia Herpetological Society’s amazing website for ID/calls so finding your local chapter may be the way to go!

Insects Noises

• Music of Nature – Master species insect list. (Hat tip to About Insects for reminding me of this.)
• Nature Songs has a few of the generic songs.
• Bug bytes by the USDA would be a bit of a better resource if it was more user friendly.

While I haven’t tried a “frog call channel” on Pandora, I will say there are a few albums of nature sounds on Spotify if you look hard enough. A few of the compilations worth searching for on Spotify are:

• “Sounds of North American Frogs” (keeping in mind this collection came together in 1958 so the scientific names are sadly incorrect in a few cases)
• “Wild Tones Bird Calls”
• “Song birds: Parks and Gardens” – or another variation 

I have been unable to locate insects songs on Spotify, but hopefully some will be available soon. I’ve also been silly and made animal playlists by themes (one of my favorites is “Reptiles and Amphibians”) with songs that include a species in their title.

Do you listen to wildlife sounds? What sites do you use?

The new Oh, Ranger! ParkFinder™ app is your free virtual guidebook to every U.S. federal and state park as well as more than 50,000 local parks. It’s a quick an easy way to find parks near you with the activities you want to do.

Help Wildlife When You Download

What’s even better? For every app downloaded now through Labor Day, Ford Motor Company will make a donation to one of four non-profit organizations, one being National Wildlife Federation!

Discover parks with hidden campgrounds, the best fishing spots, scenic overlooks or bird-watching paradises. Oh, Ranger! ParkFinder makes it easy to find great places for a scenic drives, to discover historic sites, go camping and so much more.

Simply select your favorite activities or where you want to go (or both), and this unique mobile app will instantly generate a personalized list of recommendations.

New features of the app include the ability to:

• Check in to parks;
• Add comments and pictures;
• Post to Facebook and Twitter; and
• Share your experiences at any park you visit.

Oh, Ranger! ParkFinder is available for both Apple and Android devices, and all the same information is available at OhRanger.com.

Scan this QR code or visit OhRanger.com to download the app. The app is available for your iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch or Android device.

After you download the app, vote for National Wildlife Federation and Ford Motor Company will make a donation to help NWF protect wildlife.

Craig Newmark's love for squirrels inspired me to draw him one!

That’s why I got so excited when I learned that Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist and lover of squirrels, wanted to donate $1 to National Wildlife Federation for every mention of #squirrels4good. What a perfect example of celebrating wildlife that both amuses us and keeps us company in life!

So if squirrels inspire Craig, what inspires you?

We’re encouraging you to tweet what animals you love seeing in the wild while using the hashtag #squirrels4good!

Attracting backyard visitors that you love

Part of the reason why many of us garden for wildlife and celebrate Garden for Wildlife Month is because it increases the chances we’ll see those animals that bring joy to our backyards and balconies.  Whether you’re trying to see more hummingbirds, bats or butterflies, many species use the habitats we create for them and will coexist peacefully when allow them some room.

So please tell us the wildlife you love seeing by doing one of the following things:

• Share Facebook photos or stories about your favorite wildlife on our Facebook wall (using #squirrels4good).
• Tweet photos or stories about your favorite wildlife (using #squirrels4good).
• Draw, write or paint something in honor of your nature visitors.

#Squirrels4Good are everywhere – can you help me help @nwf reach 10K mentions & I’ll give $10K? youtube.com/watch?v=IUqP8T…

— craignewmark (@craignewmark) May 1, 2012

Craig’s Pledge:

“Here’s the deal, for each time someone uses the hashtag, #Squirrels4Good on Twitter or on my Facebook page  or NWF’s facebook page, I’ll give $1 to the National Wildlife Federation up to $5K. I will also donate $1 for each new follower I get over the next couple of weeks.”

To celebrate #Squirrels4Good, here are a few things that make squirrels happy and set them free:

To Stop and Smell the Roses

A Nap in the Park

Ice Cream Cones

The Perfect Photo

The Last Cookie in the Cookie Jar

To Watch Funny Cat Videos

A Mid-Afternoon Stretch (and Snack)

To Squeak Up for What They Believe In!

How You Can Celebrate Squirrels

• Tweet using #Squirrels4Good or post about squirrels on NWF or Craig Newmark’s Facebook page.
• Share and re-pin your favorite squirrel photos on Pinterest
• Turn your garden into a squirrel-friendly Certified Wildlife Habitat with NWF

Mockingjay vs. Mockingbird

The Story of the Mockingjay

In Suzanne Collins’ book, The Hunger Games, the mockingjay bird is the evolutionary result of a failed government breeding experiment. The evil government of Panem first created the jabberjay to spy on enemies and rebels of the Capitol, as they could memorize and repeat entire human conversations. However, once the rebels realized their conversations were being transmitted, they used the jabberjays against the Capitol, sending back false information. The government then abandoned the birds to die off in the wild.

But, in an example of extraordinary wildlife almost never doing what we expect, male jabberjays bred with female mockingbirds, giving birth to the mockingjay, which could repeat both human melodies and birdsong and were thus better able to protect themselves (and the rebels of Panem) in the wild. The inability of the government to control these animals made them an inspiration and a symbol for the rebel cause.

Though the mockingjay is not a real species, the fascinating trait of mimicry is very real in the wild, as seen in the mockingbird and other animals.

The Breakdown: Mockingbird vs. Mockingjay

• Mockingjay - Fictional – It can repeat both human melodies and birdsong and plays a symbolic and thematic role in The Hunger Games.
• Mockingbird - Real – It can mimic a variety of noises such as car alarms, cats, crickets, etc.

There are about 17 species of mockingbirds around the world. Northern mockingbirds are the only species commonly found in North America. Their Latin name, Mimus polyglottos, means “many-tongued mimic,” because rather than singing their own songs, northern mockingbirds learn and repeat the songs of other species. An individual can learn up to 200 songs during its lifetime.

Both males and females sing, but males are louder and active more often throughout the year than females. Unpaired males sing 24 hours a day during the breeding season. Once a male has courted a mate by elaborately displaying his flight and singing capabilities, the pair may stay in a monogamous mating relationship over many breeding seasons, or else one male may mate with many females.

“You name it–other bird calls, sirens, bells, frogs, crickets, squirrels, a home alarm, rusty gate, the whirring and squeaks of a washing machine–and this extrovert of lawns and hedges will imitate the sound with grace and skill.” – excerpt from “Listen to the Mockingbird” in National Wildlife magazine.

But Wait, There’s More… 

There are many other birds that use mimicry,  such as burrowing owlets who mimic the sound of rattlesnakes to ward off potential predators. One of our favorites is the the lyre bird, who will shock and enthrall you (almost as much as The Hunger Games) with the variety of sounds they can mimic (chainsaws, cameras and more).

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Northern mockingbird is just one of 45 extra-ordinary wildlife species we’re celebrating during the 2012 National Wildlife Week. Find out more >>

Here are some ways you can celebrate International Polar Bear Day:

1) Take Action for Them – Take a few seconds to help speak up for polar bears.

2) Stink for the Arctic – Join the Facebook event by SpiritHoods is hoping to get 5,000 people to skip a shower for one day, in order to save 26,110 lbs of carbon dioxide emissions.

3) Get to know them – Do you know what a polar bear sounds like? While these animals are fairly common to see on websites and pamphlets- here are 13 things you may not know about them.

4) Turn down the heat: Bundle up for the polar bears – Our friends at Polar Bears International are asking people to turn the thermostat down a few degrees in honor of polar bears. Not only will it give you a taste of the colder conditions these animals live in- it will also reduce your impact on climate change, a huge threat to these animals.

More Polar Fun:

1) Send a Polar Bear eCard
2) Make “Cub”cakes
3) Tweet #Polarbearday
4) Watch polar bear videos
5) Adopt a Polar Bear

How are you celebrating polar bears this winter?