Pieball White-tailed Deer
Every now and then nature comes up with a rare or unusual condition. I ran across one of these recently and had a chance to spend some time photographing it. A young White-tailed deer with a genic condition called piebald. Piebaldism is a rare genetic abnormality which can express in a wide variety of deformities. The most common of these deformities is a white coat or more specifically, patches of white on what would normally be a brown deer. A severe case of piebaldism can also involve shortening of the legs and bowing of the legs. In addition the hooves are often deformed and the spine can be severely arched. Many of the most severe cases don’t survive very long after birth. Individuals who have moderate condition can live several years. Those with just the white patches can live a full long life and even reproduce. Less than 2 percent of the White-tailed Deer population have the piebald condition. Piebaldism is caused by a set of recessive genes that is believed to come from both parents. Or at least both parents need to carry the gene, even if it isn’t expressed (visible) in the parents. What is even more interesting, about 25 percent of White-tailed Deer females that produce twins or even triplets, the young don’t have the same genetic father. This is why when twins are born, often only one shows the symptoms of piebaldism and the other doesn’t. Females with a mild form of piebaldism can reproduce normal fawns if she mates with a male who doesn’t carry the gene. By the way, the word piebald (pi-bold) is an adjective that describes a different set of colors, especially spotted or blotched with black and white color. The word originates from a combination of words. The first is “pie” from magpie and “bald” meaning white patch or spot. It refers to the black and white plumage of the magpie bird. Typically the word is used to describe horses with irregular patches of two colors, typically black and white. This is also works for White-tailed deer but of course they are brown and white. Some of these animals also exhibit issues with their eyes. Often times a piebald deer has light blue eyes. They also sometimes have pink noses and ears. Piebaldism shouldn’t be confused with albinism or leucism. Albinism is a total lack of pigment throughout the entire body of the animal. They have pink eyes, ear and any exposed skin along with white fur. Leucism is a reduction of pigmentation by limiting the production of melanin and other pigments from being deposited in a birds feathers or a animals fur. The results are patches of white. I’ve always been fascinated with the rule breakers in nature. You know, the critters who either look or act different, so it’s always fun to see and document these kinds of animals. Over the decades I’ve had many opportunities to photograph and study pure white deer. In my experience and estimation there are more pure white deer than piebald. Perhaps it’s because the severe cases of piebald the animal doesn’t live long. So the next time you are out and about it’s fun to look for these kinds of differences in our wildlife. Until next time… Stan Tekiela is an author / naturalist and wildlife photographer who travels the U.S. to study and photograph wildlife. He can be followed on www.facebook.com and twitter.com. He can be contacted via his web page at www.naturesmart.com.
Bighorn Sheep
Every December near the holidays, I take a trip to Wyoming to film and study Bighorn Sheep (Ovis Canadensis). It’s always a fun adventure and this year was no different. Bighorns are a member of the mountain sheep group consisting of three species, the Bighorn Sheep, Dall Sheep and Stone Sheep. There is one other member of this group, the Siberian Snow Sheep but it’s not found in North America. Wild Sheep crossed the Bering Land Bridge from Siberia into Alaska about a million years ago. They have spread throughout the western half of the country ranging as far south as the Baja of California. These ancient wild sheep diverged into the modern day Dall Sheep and Stone Sheep that lives in Alaska and northwestern Canada and the Bighorn which thrives in the Rocky Mountains all the way to Mexico. I’m always amazed by the size of these sheep. You might think they look really large but when you get up close to them I’m always struck by how short. They are only about 35 inches tall at the shoulder. That is just under 3 feet. Which makes sense. The Bighorns scamper across snow and ice covered mountain cliffs in search of food and to escape predators, so having a low center of gravity is essential. They may be short but they sure are stocky. An adult male can weight over 400 pounds. Some really big boys can weigh up to 500 pounds. Both the males, called rams, and the females, called ewe, have horns with the males being much larger than the females. The males horns constantly grow to form a tight circle. At about 5 or 6 years of age the male’s horns are often large enough to complete the circle. At this point the ram is referred to as a full-curl ram. You can actually see the growth rings on the horns. There are many thin lines indicating growth, much like a tree. But there are also larger, thicker lines which mark each year. So you can quickly count the thicker rings to estimate the age of a ram. A ram’s horns can weigh up to 30 pounds. Remember these are not antlers but rather true horns and don’t fall off each season. They have a boney core with an exterior that continues to grow. It’s the horns that give them their common name and is also at the center of males elaborate mating ritual. The horns play such an important role in a rams life that at full size the horns can weight about the same as all the bones combined in a males body. Just about everyone knows about how male Bighorns of similar size will challenger each other to a head butting contest. I’ve seen it many times and I still smile every time. One male will walk up to another male and bump his body up against the other male. If the advancing male doesn’t get any response he will use one of his front legs to kick the belly or worst yet the private parts of the other male to illicit a response. This might go on for several minutes and many kicks. Often the other male will kick the challenger back. They exchange front leg kicks for a couple minutes before one backs up and stand and stares at the other. Their eyes get all buggy and they rear up and charge towards each other. One holds their head to the left and the other to the right as they charge. How they decide who turns which way is not known. Suddenly they crack their heads together which sounds like a gun shot and echoes off the mountain walls. The impact is often so forceful that it knocks them off their hind feet. Usually right after the impact they need to shake their heads as if to shake off the impact. Usually they don’t bang heads together for at least a few minutes afterwards. Usually these head butting challenges are only between equally matched rams. Only now and then does a big boy go head to head with a smaller ram. Bighorns live in herds comprised mainly of the females and their offspring. During the rut, the males move around from herd to herd looking for females who are ready to mate. This is when the challenges happen and we see competing rams head butting. And this is always the opportunity I am looking to document. Until next time… Stan Tekiela is an author / naturalist and wildlife photographer who travels the US to study and photograph wildlife. He can be followed on www.facebook.com and twitter.com. He can be contacted via his web page at www.naturesmart.com
American Oyster Catcher
Slowing wading through a clear tidal pool, about knee deep, in coastal Florida, I was trying to move slow enough to not disturb a gorgeous American Oystercatcher that was napping on a small sandbar in the middle of the lagoon. Oystercatchers are amazing looking shorebirds with a black hood punctuated by a bright yellow eye surrounded by a striking orange ring. Matching the crazy looking eye is a very long, thick, orange to red bill that the bird uses for probing into the sand for aquatic insects. It has long sturdy legs and when resting they have the habit of tucking one leg up into its belly feathers and slipping their long bill under a wing to conserve warmth. This is a standard resting position for many shorebirds. I was slowly moving across the shallow lagoon, being careful to watch for alligators and water snakes. Each advancing step needs to be tested to make sure it’s not too deep, not too slippery and I am not stepping on any hidden aquatic critter. In addition when carrying 30K worth of camera gear, the last thing you want to do is slip and drop your camera gear in salt water. That would be a major disaster. I had the sun at my back and the lighting was perfect. It was just an hour or so before sunset and the harsh light of the mid-day had passed and now the shadows were nice and long making the light soft and warm. The air temperature was in the high 70’s and no wind. Absolutely perfect conditions for this kind of photography work. As I approached I could see the oystercatcher’s had his long orange bill tucked under his wing and he was sleeping. This got me thinking about shorebirds in general. Studies show that when shorebirds are resting they often gather in small flocks. They collect close together, often standing on one leg which helps them conserve heat. The birds that are located near the center of the flock will close both eyes and sleep. The birds on the edge of the flock will sleep with one eye close and the other open. In addition the open eye is usually the one pointing outside of the flock to watch for incoming predators. Birds have the ability “sleep” with one eye closed and one open. It is called unihemispheric, slow-wave sleep (USWS) and allows the birds to see approaching danger/predators while still being able to rest/sleep. If the right eye of the bird is close, the left side of the brain rests. And if the left eye is close the right side of the brain gets a well-deserved break. This ability to control sleep and wakefulness simultaneously is unique to birds but has also been observed in seals, manatees and dolphins. This allows these aquatic mammals to sleep underwater and still be able to rise to the surface to breathe without having to fully wake up every few minutes. When approaching the American Oystercatcher, who was all by himself, he quickly saw me coming with his one open eye. He untucked his bill from under his wing to watch me, but he was so comfortable with me that he never put down the leg that he had tucked into his belly feathers. Obviously I wasn’t a threat to him and he remained comfortable, allowing me to capture a few images before I turned and headed back to the other side of the lagoon. While walking back through the water I thought about the amazing adaptions that wildlife employs in their everyday life. These are the aspects of nature that are the least understood but are the things that fascinate me. It wasn’t until recently that USWS was first observed and studied. This kind of behavior was once thought (sleeping with one eye open) to be impossible but of course nature has been doing it for millions of years. We just hadn’t noticed it and certainly didn’t understand it. Perhaps this another wakeup call (pun intended) for us to learn from mother nature. Until next time… Stan Tekiela is an author / naturalist and wildlife photographer who travels the world to study and photograph wildlife. He can be followed on www.facebook.com and twitter.com. He can be contacted via his web page at www.naturesmart.com. There are many differences between Bison and Buffalo. For one, Bison are adapted to harsh cold winters with lots of snow. Neither the Water Buffalo nor Cape Buffalo could survive these wintery conditions. Bison have huge heads with thick fur a mop top and full beards, where Buffalo are beardless and don’t have much fur. Another defining characteristic is, Bison have a large hump at their shoulder, which Buffalo don’t. The hump is a mass of muscle that moves the gigantic head of the Bison. The muscle is used when males fight for dominance in the breeding season. Males will spar by striking their massive heads and horns together and pushing against one another. The bigger and heavier male is usually the winner. They also use the large shoulder muscle to power the head to act like a snowplow in winter. They sweep their head back and forth moving several feet of snow to the sides to expose dried grass below. During winter all their food is covered in a thick blanket of snow and the only way they can gain access is to push the snow to the sides. The horns are another difference between Buffalo and Bison. The horns of Buffalo are much longer (upwards of several feet) than the horns of the Bison. The Bison’s horns are shorter, point pointed and often curved upwards. I was thinking about all of this recently while leading a photo tour to Yellowstone in winter. By far the most common animal we saw while touring the back country of Americas first National Park was the American Bison. Many herds inhabit the park and we where treated to many opportunities to capture some amazing images of this
American Oyster Catcher
Slowing wading through a clear tidal pool, about knee deep, in coastal Florida, I was trying to move slow enough to not disturb a gorgeous American Oystercatcher that was napping on a small sandbar in the middle of the lagoon. Oystercatchers are amazing looking shorebirds with a black hood punctuated by a bright yellow eye surrounded by a striking orange ring. Matching the crazy looking eye is a very long, thick, orange to red bill that the bird uses for probing into the sand for aquatic insects. It has long sturdy legs and when resting they have the habit of tucking one leg up into its belly feathers and slipping their long bill under a wing to conserve warmth. This is a standard resting position for many shorebirds. I was slowly moving across the shallow lagoon, being careful to watch for alligators and water snakes. Each advancing step needs to be tested to make sure it’s not too deep, not too slippery and I am not stepping on any hidden aquatic critter. In addition when carrying 30K worth of camera gear, the last thing you want to do is slip and drop your camera gear in salt water. That would be a major disaster. I had the sun at my back and the lighting was perfect. It was just an hour or so before sunset and the harsh light of the mid-day had passed and now the shadows were nice and long making the light soft and warm. The air temperature was in the high 70’s and no wind. Absolutely perfect conditions for this kind of photography work. As I approached I could see the oystercatcher’s had his long orange bill tucked under his wing and he was sleeping. This got me thinking about shorebirds in general. Studies show that when shorebirds are resting they often gather in small flocks. They collect close together, often standing on one leg which helps them conserve heat. The birds that are located near the center of the flock will close both eyes and sleep. The birds on the edge of the flock will sleep with one eye close and the other open. In addition the open eye is usually the one pointing outside of the flock to watch for incoming predators. Birds have the ability “sleep” with one eye closed and one open. It is called unihemispheric, slow-wave sleep (USWS) and allows the birds to see approaching danger/predators while still being able to rest/sleep. If the right eye of the bird is close, the left side of the brain rests. And if the left eye is close the right side of the brain gets a well-deserved break. This ability to control sleep and wakefulness simultaneously is unique to birds but has also been observed in seals, manatees and dolphins. This allows these aquatic mammals to sleep underwater and still be able to rise to the surface to breathe without having to fully wake up every few minutes. When approaching the American Oystercatcher, who was all by himself, he quickly saw me coming with his one open eye. He untucked his bill from under his wing to watch me, but he was so comfortable with me that he never put down the leg that he had tucked into his belly feathers. Obviously I wasn’t a threat to him and he remained comfortable, allowing me to capture a few images before I turned and headed back to the other side of the lagoon. While walking back through the water I thought about the amazing adaptions that wildlife employs in their everyday life. These are the aspects of nature that are the least understood but are the things that fascinate me. It wasn’t until recently that USWS was first observed and studied. This kind of behavior was once thought (sleeping with one eye open) to be impossible but of course nature has been doing it for millions of years. We just hadn’t noticed it and certainly didn’t understand it. Perhaps this another wakeup call (pun intended) for us to learn from mother nature. Until next time… Stan Tekiela is an author / naturalist and wildlife photographer who travels the world to study and photograph wildlife. He can be followed on www.facebook.com and twitter.com. He can be contacted via his web page at www.naturesmart.com.
Manatee
Continuing with my exploration of the wonders of Florida by taking a closer look at the Florida Manatee. Also known as the West Indian Manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris) or the Sea Cow, the manatee was one of the original 78 species that were included on the Endangered Species list when the Endangered Species Preservation Act was first passed into law in 1966. Manatees appear in the fossil record around 50-60 million years ago. This is much older than most of our modern bird species by many millions of years. So these are animals that have been around for a very long time. There are many fossilized remains found in the Native American rubbish piles that pre-date the arrival of the early Spaniards. Manatees range from Brazil, Mexico, southeastern U.S. and the Caribbean islands. The Florida Manatee is one of two sub species of the West Indian Manatee. The other subspecies is the Antillean Manatee which occurs from Brazil to Mexico. The Florida Manatee is found along the Atlantic coast from the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida and also in the Gulf of Mexico from Florida to Texas. However the main concentration is found in and around Florida. Manatees are large marine mammals, with adults weighting on average 1,000 pounds with some as much as 1,500 lbs. They have an average length of 12 to 14 feet. Like elephants, they continue to grow throughout their lives with the largest manatee ever recorded at 13 feet 4 inches and weighed over 3,200 lbs. When you first see one of these animals in person, up close, you realize just how massive they are. These large aquatic mammals are gray and sparsely covered with hair. They have large forelimbs which are better described as flippers and have no hind limbs. They do have a large wide tail used for swimming and when you see them swimming they look like they are in extreme slow motion. They have tiny eyes but can see very well and although they don’t have any external ear openings they do hear very well. They have flat valves that cover their nostrils when underwater. Being air breathing animals, manatees need to surface every 3-5 minutes to breath but they can remain submerged for up to 15 minutes if necessary. They are gentle giants spending most of their day sleeping and feeding on aquatic plants. They consume about 150 pounds of vegetation each day. They use their eyesight to find the food. Female manatees become sexually mature at 4-5 years of age. Mothers give birth to a single calf once every two to five years. Only rarely do they have twins. Calves weigh about 75 to 90 pounds upon birth and are over 6 feet long. Since these are marine mammals, the calves suckle milk from their mothers for the first 5-6 months and start eating aquatic vegetation at 3-5 months. Most calves stay with their mothers for up to 2 years before moving out on their own. During this time the calves learn what kinds of plants are good to eat, where the warm water refuges are located and the migratory route from their mothers. Today there are about 6,300 manatees in Florida. This is up from a low of about 1,200 about 25 years ago. They are still on the endangered species list but due to improved protection and reduction in direct threats to their habitat they are now recommended to be moved to the Threatened Species list. I’m always drawn to writing stories about endangered species. And I have always felt that education is the key to helping to saving wildlife from extinction. I have dedicated my entire career, over 30 years, to environmental education in the hopes that as our society becomes educated about wildlife so we can make better decisions to save our planet and all the wildlife that it holds. It warms my heart to see such a magnificent animal doing much better than the first time I saw a manatee back in the 1970’s. If you are ever in Florida it would be well worth your time and effort to see these magnificence marine mammals. Until next time… Stan Tekiela is an author / naturalist and wildlife photographer who lives in Victoria, MN. He can be contacted via his web page at www.naturesmart.com
Red Fox
Each winter I make a pilgrimage to my favorite winter wonderland, Yellowstone National Park. I look forward to being immersed in the wild and surrounded by an intact ecosystem. Everything from the tiniest critters to the largest predators inhabit the park making it one of the few places with a complete ecosystem. I go in winter especially for the predators, both large and small. One of these predators is the Red Fox. They are the smallest of the canids (dog family) in the park. About half the size of a coyote and just a fraction of the size of a wolf, the Red Fox still manages to find a place to eeek out a living. Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) is one of the most widely distributed members of the canids. They can be found throughout the Northern Hemisphere (North America) from the Arctic Circle to North Africa (nearly all of Europe) and Eurasia. The Red Fox has been associated with humans for thousands of years which has led to it being introduced to many parts of the world where it hasn’t existed before. Most recently to the continent of Australia where it is now considered an invasive species. Even though they are called Red Fox they come in a wide variety of colors. They range from the classic rusty red to nearly all black. When dark they are often called a Cross Fox. They can also be blond to nearly white. But no matter what color they are, each color phase has one thing in common. They all have a white tip of the tail. In fact this is the best way to tell a Red Fox from a Gray Fox. The Red Fox has a white tip of the tail and the Gray Fox has a black tip. The male and female fox are similar in size with the male being about 10-15 percent larger. This is often not enough to notice the size different. An adult fox weights between 10-25 pounds. This is much smaller than your average domestic dog. Red Foxes are not large enough to represent any threat to people and rarely do they interact with family pets unlike coyote who seem to target domestic dogs and cats. Red Fox has excellent eyesight and keen hearing, not to mention their amazing ability to smell. They usually hunt small mammals such as mice, voles and shrews. Typically a fox will hunt by walking along watching for any movement. They keep their head down scanning back and forth. At the same time they are using their ears to listen. If they find something they stop and cock their head from side to side, pinpointing the exact location of the prey under the snow. When they have locked onto the sound their hind legs coil up like a spring and they launch themselves into the air following an arch shape coming down with their front paws and nose hitting the surface of the snow first plowing through the snow to reach the hidden critter below. It is really a sight to be seen. After nearly a week of searching high and low I was able to locate a Red Fox near a narrow rock canyon. He was walking/trotting along scanning the ground in front in hope of an easy meal. I moved to get out in front of the fox to capture images of him coming towards me. Images of animals going away are not as pleasing. At one point the fox walked in front of a large bull bison. The giant bison raised it head and watched the fox trot on by. The fox represents no threat at all to the bison but it was fun to watch the interaction between the two. I tracked the fox for a long distance while it entered a tall rock wall canyon. I was trying to capture some different images when it came across an old elk carcass that the wolves have killed a couple weeks before. The fox chewed on the old bones for a short time before moving over to a large rock and sat down for a rest. Eventually it curled up and took a nap. This was my clue to move on and let the little guy rest. I was happy with the images I captured and the experience I had with this wonderful Red Fox. Until next time… Stan Tekiela is an author / naturalist and wildlife photographer who travels the U.S. to study and film wildlife. He can be followed on www.facebook.com and twitter.com. He can be contacted via his web page at www.naturesmart.com.
Snow Geese
A magnificent natural event happens each spring along a very special river in South Central Nebraska. The Platte River starts out as two smaller branches, the northern branch originating in the mountains of Wyoming and the southern branch in the mountains of Colorado. Separately, these tributaries carry snowmelt from last winter’s storms, high up in the Rocky Mountains. On their own they are magnificent rivers but when they join together in western Nebraska to form “The Platte River” they become a river of life. A life force that supports millions. For at least ten thousand years, this river has hosted millions of migrating birds each spring. Back then the river was super wide and shallow. Well, it still is, just not like it was before. Early pioneers described the river as a mile wide and an inch deep. Today it’s nowhere near a mile wide. It is lucky if it’s a quarter mile wide in most places. But this is exactly why all of these birds stopped along this river. It provided food and the shallow water of the river provides a safe place to spend the night. Each spring, along a 60-90 mile stretch of the Platte River, over a half a million Sandhill Cranes and several million Snow Geese gather as they migrate northward to breeding grounds well north of Nebraska. The river serves as a resting and staging place. A place to eat, relax and fatten up in preparation for the long journey ahead. During the day the cranes and geese are in the surrounding country side feeding. At night the birds roost in the shallow water which provides a level of safety from land base predators such as coyote, bobcat and fox. For the past 30 years I have made my own migration of sorts, to the banks of the Platte River to commune with nature. To see, hear and feel millions of winged wonders as they move within the environment and do what they have been doing for thousands of years. Witnessing this really brings me a sense of primal fulfillment. This year (2018) I lead a group of intrepid birders and photographers to experience the migration. But this experience was slightly different. In the last two years (2016-17) there were record setting numbers of Sandhill Cranes. An astonishing 400,000 cranes were roosting along the river while I was there with my groups. I’ve never seen it with so many cranes. It was crazy. But something was missing and it didn’t feel right. There were no Snow Geese to be found! Normally, several million Snow Geese, would share the river with the cranes and countless ducks. But the last two years there were none. The cranes were amazing but the full experience was diminished by the lack geese. That was not the case this year. Over 4 days we saw more Snow Geese than we could count. Individual flocks were numbering over 10,000. Often we could see what looked like dark clouds on the horizon which of course were tens of thousands of Snow Geese flying. Seeing all of these geese was amazing but hearing them was even more thrilling. As you can imagine, a gathering of thousands of geese would be loud. Snow Geese come in two color plumages which are called morphs. I know the word morph seems like it means they change color but this is not true. They are one color their entire life, never changing. There is the white morph, which is pure white except for the black wing tips, and the gray or blue morph which have blue-ish gray plumage except for the white head, neck and tail. Both color phases have pink bills and orange to red legs and feet. The Snow Geese are migrating along the central flyway on their way northward to Canada and Alaska with a few jumping over the Bering Straits and making their way to Siberia after spending the winter in south Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and Mexico. Seeing and hearing this number of migrating birds is an amazing natural experience and until you are standing there with a cloud of geese or cranes filling all of your senses, it’s hard to explain. Hope you get a chance to see it yourself. Until next time… Stan Tekiela is an author / naturalist and wildlife photographer who travels the U.S. to study and document wildlife. He can be followed on www.facebook.com and twitter.com. He can be contacted via his web page at www.naturesmart.com.
Spring Wildflowers
Walking down the dirt foot path through an amazing forest filled with towering trees. I have to adjust my tripod and camera that I am carrying over my right shoulder. I’ve been carrying this heavy camera gear for 4 days in a row so the top of my shoulder is getting a little tender and sore. Stopping to take catch my breath and take in the view, my eyes fall on a particularly large tree. My eye follows up the long straight trunk of a massive tree. Most of these Tulip Trees are over 100 feet tall and have impressive crowns. In fact these are some of the tallest deciduous trees in American. You feel like you are walking amongst giants traveling in these forests. I’ve been working in and around the Great Smoky Mountains National Park recently on assignment to photograph the myriad of spring wildflowers for a new book that I am writing. While many of the northern states are still locked up in cold, snow and frozen lakes, spring has arrived with its sweet green leaves and amazing variety of colorful flowers. I am searching for some particular wildflowers. I have high hopes of finding a Painted Trillium and also a few orchids. The weather couldn’t be more perfect. A light cloud cover provides even-light to highlight the shape of the flowers. A light rain moistened up the forest floor and makes everything look saturated. Now I just have to find the flowers. Gray and Red Squirrels move about the forest floor. They scamper down fallen logs with a hickory nut that fell last autumn. Clear streams swollen with spring melt water are rushing down the mountain sides and creating a constant hum of soothing splashing sound. While walking I have to cross two tiny streams on my way to a special wildflower place deep in the woods. Along the trail are hundreds of the uncommon Catesby’s Trillium. This is a small white three petal flower that hangs down under a whorl of three leaves. It is a fascinating flower and a treasure to find but I am searching for the Painted Trillium. The large and showy, Yellow Trillium grows all over the mountain sides in the Smokey’s. At this time of year it is the dominant species of trillium and brings a smile to my face every time I look at one. It grows in small clumps up to 20 to 40 flowers or sometimes stands alone on the forest floor. This trail goes up and down the valley for over 2 miles. Near the end I spot a small clump of Yellow Lady Slipper Orchids. These large yellow flowers are spectacular and are one of the showiest flowers in the forest. The plant stands over a foot tall and has five large blooms. This is one of the most common wild orchid in the U.S. and is found in almost every state. After capturing a few images of the orchid I hoist my camera and tripod over my shoulder and head down the trail. Another mile or so to go. The path undulates up and down through the forest. I can hear Black-throated Green Warblers calling over my head along with a Carolina Wren that is calling in the distance. After a long uphill climb the trail turns and heads down into a narrow valley. I slowly work my way down the slipper path. At the bottom is a small flat area that is carpeted with thousands of wildflowers. It is perhaps the most spectacular display of wildflowers in one spot that I have ever seen. About a dozen different species of wildflower are all blooming at the same time. It is hard to figure out where to begin photographing or how to capture all of this beauty in just one image. I was looking around enjoying the flowers when I realized that I have a two hour walk back to my truck and there was only three hours of light left in the day. After capturing a few more images I hoisted my camera and tripod back up on my shoulder and turn and headed down the trail with a great sense of accomplishment. Until next time… Stan Tekiela is an author / naturalist and wildlife photographer who travels the U.S. to study and photograph wildlife. He can be followed on www.facebook.com and twitter.com. He can be contacted via his web page at www.naturesmart.com.
Turkey Verse Pheasant
It has been a very busy spring. I’ve been traveling extensively and giving numerous presentations to thousands of participants across 5 states. I really enjoy getting out to meet so many people who come to my presentations and enjoy nature as much as I do. My speaking engagements usually last just over an hour or so and are followed by a short question and answer period. I get all sorts of questions ranging from “What is my favorite bird” to how do I capture specific images. But recently I was asked a question that really set me back on my heels. I could almost not believe what I heard. The question started out more of an observation and went something like this. “I’ve been seeing more and more turkeys than I have ever seen before in my life. They seem to be over populating. And I am not seeing as many pheasants as I have in the past. I’ve heard that turkeys seek out pheasant nests and kill the eggs and baby pheasants. Why don’t we reduce the number of turkeys to help out the pheasants?” At first I was stunned and didn’t know what to say. There was just so many things wrong with this statement and question. All I could think about was that I had been a failure in my mission as an educator of all things wild. I managed to answer the question but not before apologizing that what I was going to as was not meant to offend or upset the person who asked the question. . Even now, while writing this column, I am having troubles figuring out where to start answering this type of question. So here it goes again….. Yes, you are seeing more wild turkey these days. In many states the Wild Turkey was completely killed off by 1900. It was an important food source for settlers and Native Americans alike. But because of this they were nearly driven into extinction at the hands of man. For decades we didn’t see turkeys in the wild. This left an ecological niche that needed to be filled. So the Ring-necked Pheasant, a non-native bird originally from Asia was introduced to the U.S. for hunting opportunities. The first attempts at introducing the pheasant occurred in the late 1770’s and again in the early 1800’s. These early attempts were not successful. It wasn’t until the mid-1900’s was enough pheasants released that pheasants started to populate on their own. Even now, hundreds of thousands of Pheasants are leased each year in many states for hunting opportunities which supplements the wild population dramatically. Some believe that without the constant release of captive breed birds the Pheasant population would decrease dramatically and perhaps the population wouldn’t be able to survive on their own. It is also said that these captive breed pheasants usually don’t live through their first year in the wild. Meanwhile the Wild Turkey, which is a native bird, was also reintroduced to many parts of the country. Slowly over time it has moved back into former range and now can be seen all over the place. This bird does well on its own and doesn’t need supplemental releases of birds. Since they are native and evolved to this habitat it is doing well all on its own. It is a complete myth that Wild Turkeys are hurting or killing pheasants. Extensive research by Pheasants Forever shows no effect on pheasant populations caused by Turkey’s. A single study out of Florida back in the 1930’s noted a single instance of turkey destroying quail eggs. However no biological study since then has documented turkeys damaging quail or pheasant eggs or chicks. Considering that hundreds of studies that have been done on Turkeys over the past 100 years, it is considered conclusive that Turkeys don’t influence pheasant populations. I think pheasants are marvelous birds and just like other birds. Just because a bird was introduced into North America, we shouldn’t be playing the native verses non-native card when trying to figure out if something is good or bad. I believe all birds are good and are deserving of our respect and admiration. The key to sustain any wildlife is first education along with strong conservation and large scale preservation of habitat. Without these key components we wouldn’t have either turkeys or pheasants. Until next time… Stan Tekiela is an author / naturalist and wildlife photographer who travels the U.S. to study and photo wildlife. He can be followed on www.facebook.com and twitter.com. He can be contacted via his web page at www.naturesmart.com.
Stripped Skunk
Some animals command more attention than others. Large charismatic critters seem to grab all the headlines and attention while small unassuming critters go completely unnoticed. The Eastern Spotted Skunk (Spilogale putorius) is one of those small animals you’ve never seen or perhaps even heard of. No doubt most people are familiar with the Stripped Skunk (Mephitis mephitis). This is the common skunk that is seen throughout the entire country and well up into Canada. In the western states some may be familiar with the Western Spotted Skunk because it can be fairly common. But the Eastern Spotted Skunk remains a mystery to most people in the eastern half of the country. The spotted skunk is a tiny critter. It’s a fraction of the size of the more familiar Stripped Skunk. It weighs only 1 to 1.5 lbs. compared to the hefty 10-12 pounds of the Stripped Skunk. The Spotted Skunk is only 13-15 inches long, including tail. The Stripped Skunk is 20-30 inches including the tail. When you see a Spotted Skunk, one of the first things that pops into your mind is, “wow that’s a small skunk”. The second thing you might wonder is “is that a baby skunk?” Its common name comes from the four stripes on its back that are broken up into a spotted pattern giving it a “spotted” appearance. The tail on the Spotted Skunk is small and less fuzzy than the striped skunk. I’ve had a fair amount of experience with Western Spotted Skunks. Years ago I was working on several field guides for mammals and captured many Western Spotted Skunks. But the Eastern Spotted Skunk has remained elusive. In the early 1900’s the Eastern Spotted Skunk was fairly common and found throughout the eastern half of the country. They were so common that ten’s of thousands were trapped each season. This lasted until the 1950’ and 60’s when their population suddenly declined. By the 1970’s and 80’s they were all but gone. Some states such as Wisconsin and Minnesota were reporting less than 20 individual skunks despite intensive efforts to locate the little Spotted Skunk. By the 1990’s it was no longer found in most of the upper Midwest. Unfortunately the Spotted Skunk is declining in population all across the U.S. not just in the upper Midwest. The only place where it might be hanging on today is in southern FL. I spend lots of time in that part of Florida and I can honestly say that I’ve never seen a road kill Spotted Skunk or seen one running around in the wild. The Spotted Skunk is fairly social animal that doesn’t hold a specific territory. Instead they wonder around from place to place looking for shelter and something to eat. They move from den site to den site night after night. Being nocturnal they often go undetected by the average person. They are good at climbing trees and are shy and retreat from people. When threatened by a predator they do the most amazing thing. They do a hand stand with their back legs spread wide like a gymnast. This way they can both see and aim their bottom at the same time at a predator. Just like other skunks they give a warning before firing away. They have incredible accuracy and can hit their target upwards of 10 feet away with a stinky oil that smells very similar to the more familiar Stripped Skunk. This is usually enough to make any predator back off and stay away. In addition to doing handstands before spraying the skunks will also stomp their feet on the ground if it’s approached. This should be a clear sign to back off. The stamping can be hear from a good distance. So if you see one of these little guys look for these warning signs before investigating. Mothers give birth to young in the spring to early summer. They often have upwards of 5 young. The young need to be 10-12 weeks old before they are fully equipped to defend themselves with the stinky spray. It would be very special to see some of these little stinkers in the wild. Keep an eye out for them and contact your local wildlife authorities with your sightings. Stan Tekiela is an author / naturalist and wildlife photographer who travels the U.S. to study and capture images of wildlife. He can be followed on www.facebook.com and twitter.com. He can be reached at www.naturesmart.com