Wolf Moon rises over Shelter Island

The first full moon of 2025 rose through clouds over Bug Light Tuesday evening.
January’s full moon is known as the Wolf Moon, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, for several reasons, the most common being that wolves’ voices are heard vividly as they howl in the clear, cold air of deepest winter.
The wolves aren’t howling from hunger, The Almanac says, but more “to define territory, locate pack members, reinforce social bonds, and coordinate hunting.”
The almanac lists other names for January’s full moon, including Native American designations such as “Cold Moon(Cree), Freeze Up Moon (Algonquin), and Hard Moon (Dakota).”
As for the wolves, besides all the practical reasons given above for baying in broken choruses at the January sky, it also must feel good to just let it all out in the moonlight.