Deer Antler
Hopefully you have survived another holiday season and now snow blankets the woods and farms throughout most of the country. Winter is here and the White-tailed breeding season, called the rut, has come to an end for another year. However, the big White-tailed bucks are still wondering the woods lugging around their antlers like old worn out trophies. For whatever reason, people are fascinated with antlers. I understand this, I have many deer antlers in my office. But just exactly what are antlers? Antlers are actually very simple. They are made of solid bone. Only members of the deer family, Cervidae, grown antlers. Except for Caribou (Reindeer), only male deer have antlers, with the odd exception of a rare female with a hormonal imbalance which sometimes grows a set of small antlers. Antlers are the fastest growing bone in the natural world and depending upon the species can grow as large as four to five feet long and weigh several pounds. All antlers start from a small swelling on a male deer’s head called a pedicel or antler bud. These first appear as a tiny twist of hairs on a young male fawn’s head and are visible from nearly the time they are born. It’s the pedicel that is the key to a large antler. For example, young male deer with poor nutrition or are deficient in testosterone have small pedicels and therefore small antlers. Males with more testosterone will develop larger pedicels and larger antlers. The size of a deer’s antlers depends upon age, nutrition and inherited traits. Antlers start to grow in early spring. The growth is triggered by the length of daylight which kicks off hormones in the deer’s body. From the beginning the newly growing antlers are covered with a network of blood vessels and nerve endings that is called “velvet” because it looks and feels like velvet or suede. The rapidly growing antlers, upwards of an inch per day, receive blood through the velvety skin and also through an inner core vessel. The velvet is very fragile and tender and bruises easily and bleeds if it is damaged and even suffers frostbite if frozen. So, a buck must remain careful during the growth period of several months. This means no sparring with other bucks or running into tree branches. If an anther is seriously damaged during growth it will be deformed in the place of injury. What is really amazing are antlers will also “remember” an injury from the past year and going forward the antlers will also be deformed as long as the buck lives. As amazing antlers are, what is more amazing is how the antler grows. Researchers have proven that a buck must borrow large amounts of calcium in the formation of the antler. Calcium is the chief component of antlers, and it must get it from somewhere. And the place where this calcium comes from is the ribs and sternum. So much calcium is taken from the ribs that the ribs become brittle and often break during the critical antler growing period. However, the research also shows that a healthy buck takes this in stride and fractures heal smoothly and with minimal discomfort. This movement of calcium from the buck’s bones to the antlers is amazing. In fact, it’s so amazing that researchers are looking at antler growth as a way to give us insight into issues that effect humans such as osteosarcoma (bone cancer) and also osteoporosis (a serious bone disease of older women). If we could figure out a few things we might be able to solve a lot of bone issues in humans. Very recent research indicates that the rapid annual growth of antlers is caused by a combination of cancer-linked genes and the strict regulation of this growth by a cancer suppressing genes. This discovery my open a new way to treat cancer growth in humans. The researchers found the growth of antlers was more like bone cancer than normal bone growth. However, the difference was bone cancer grows unchecked while antler growth appears to be tightly regulated. The genes involved in the regulation were related to a well-known tumor suppressor gene. The tumor-suppressing genes may help protect deer against getting cancer. In fact, deer are 5x less likely to get cancer than other mammals, suggests the geneticist who published this results. Either way, it seems to me that we have so much to learn from nature. Until next time… 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 contacted via his web page at www.naturesmart.com.
Bird Feathers
Winter poses several challenges for birds. Scarce food supplies and limited water are just a few obvious challenges to winter survival for nearly all birds. Extremely cold temperatures, strong winds, driving snow, freezing rain are another set of problems that birds must overcome. Add to this, long and dark nights that seem to go on forever can be deadly for birds. So just how do birds survive the rigors of winter? As you can imagine, birds have many adaptations to help survive extreme winter weather. One of these adaptations is more common than you think. Feathers are the first and best line of defense and are critical to a bird’s survival. But what do you really know about a bird’s feathers? Many of our wintering birds such as the American Goldfinch and Black-capped Chickadee add additional feathers in preparation for winter. A goldfinch or chickadee is coved with approximately 1,100 feathers during summer and but increases to over 2,500 in winter. That is about a 45 percent increase in feather density. However, if you look at the bird it really doesn’t look like it has so many more feathers. That is because the outer contour feathers overlap each other and lay flat. The other increase in feathers are in small fluffy down feathers which occur under the outer feathers, so you won’t see these at all. Not only do birds that live in cold climates have more feathers than birds in warm climates, aquatic birds such as ducks and geese have more feathers than terrestrial species of a similar size. Undoubtably due to the rapid loss of heat when a bird is exposed to water. To demonstrate just how important feathers are for birds, all you need to do is look at how much feathers weigh. This might be a little confusing at first but listen to this. For a bird to fly, they need to be as lightweight as possible. So nearly every part of a bird’s body is modified to make it as light weight as possible. For example, birds don’t have teeth because a full set of teeth are very heavy. Instead they have a lightweight bill or beak. Birds also have mostly hollow bones as opposed to solid bones, which are extremely heavy. So…. feathers need to be light. Who hasn’t heard of the saying “light as a feather”? Individual feathers are light but when you put all the feathers together, they have considerable weight. In fact, in most bird species, the feathers are usually two to three times heavier than the bird’s entire skeletal system. Obviously, feathers keep the birds warm. During very cold days, and nights, birds fluff up their feathers, reducing the amount of heat loss by up to 30 percent compared to when their feathers are not fluffed up. Bird feathers also help keep birds dry in wet weather. We have always thought that a bird expresses oil from a gland near the base of their tail, called the urpygial gland, to make their feathers waterproof. Turns out this isn’t totally correct. While the oil might help with water repellent, it’s not essential. The microstructure of the feathers barbs and barbules which make up the feather, provide an evenly spaced ridges with narrow gaps that sheds water quickly and efficiently, gives the feather the waterproofness without the oil. The oil is there to keep the feather lubricated and from becoming brittle and breaking prematurely. As you can see, there is more to a bird’s feather than meets the eye. Until next time… 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 contacted via his web page at www.naturesmart.com.
Bird Feathers
Winter poses several challenges for birds. Scarce food supplies and limited water are just a few obvious challenges to winter survival for nearly all birds. Extremely cold temperatures, strong winds, driving snow, freezing rain are another set of problems that birds must overcome. Add to this, long and dark nights that seem to go on forever can be deadly for birds. So just how do birds survive the rigors of winter? As you can imagine, birds have many adaptations to help survive extreme winter weather. One of these adaptations is more common than you think. Feathers are the first and best line of defense and are critical to a bird’s survival. But what do you really know about a bird’s feathers? Many of our wintering birds such as the American Goldfinch and Black-capped Chickadee add additional feathers in preparation for winter. A goldfinch or chickadee is coved with approximately 1,100 feathers during summer and but increases to over 2,500 in winter. That is about a 45 percent increase in feather density. However, if you look at the bird it really doesn’t look like it has so many more feathers. That is because the outer contour feathers overlap each other and lay flat. The other increase in feathers are in small fluffy down feathers which occur under the outer feathers, so you won’t see these at all. Not only do birds that live in cold climates have more feathers than birds in warm climates, aquatic birds such as ducks and geese have more feathers than terrestrial species of a similar size. Undoubtably due to the rapid loss of heat when a bird is exposed to water. To demonstrate just how important feathers are for birds, all you need to do is look at how much feathers weigh. This might be a little confusing at first but listen to this. For a bird to fly, they need to be as lightweight as possible. So nearly every part of a bird’s body is modified to make it as light weight as possible. For example, birds don’t have teeth because a full set of teeth are very heavy. Instead they have a lightweight bill or beak. Birds also have mostly hollow bones as opposed to solid bones, which are extremely heavy. So…. feathers need to be light. Who hasn’t heard of the saying “light as a feather”? Individual feathers are light but when you put all the feathers together, they have considerable weight. In fact, in most bird species, the feathers are usually two to three times heavier than the bird’s entire skeletal system. Obviously, feathers keep the birds warm. During very cold days, and nights, birds fluff up their feathers, reducing the amount of heat loss by up to 30 percent compared to when their feathers are not fluffed up. Bird feathers also help keep birds dry in wet weather. We have always thought that a bird expresses oil from a gland near the base of their tail, called the urpygial gland, to make their feathers waterproof. Turns out this isn’t totally correct. While the oil might help with water repellent, it’s not essential. The microstructure of the feathers barbs and barbules which make up the feather, provide an evenly spaced ridges with narrow gaps that sheds water quickly and efficiently, gives the feather the waterproofness without the oil. The oil is there to keep the feather lubricated and from becoming brittle and breaking prematurely. As you can see, there is more to a bird’s feather than meets the eye. Until next time… 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 contacted via his web page at www.naturesmart.com.
Great Horned Owl
At this time of year, I get a lot of emails and texts from people reporting they are hearing an owl hooting outside their windows at night. While many enjoy the sound, others complain they can’t get to sleep. Either way, the chances are, a Great Horned Owl is the culprit. The Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) is the most common owl in North America, ranging from coast to coast and well into Canada and Alaska and south down through Mexico and into Central America. Great horns are the largest owl In America that has ear tufts. The tall and puffy ear tufts are a collection of feathers located just above each eye that appear like ears or horns, hence its common name. The feather tufts don’t function to help with hearing but rather are thought to be a decoration or ornamentation. Some argue that the tufts help the owl to blend into the environment during the day, so they are not bothered by daytime birds such as crows. Great horned owls are usually a warm shade of brown, to tan with some gray thrown in as highlights. Sometimes they can be a bright shade of gray to nearly white. They have large, bright yellow eyes and a characteristic white, V-shaped marking on their throat, which looks like a necklace or a bowtie. Females and males are identical in plumage however, females are noticeably larger than males. On average they are 2 feet tall and have a wingspan of nearly 4 feet. For all their size, Great Horned Owls only weight between 2.5 and 3.5 pounds. Even though they are large and powerful raptors, they are still not large enough to carry away a dog or cat that weighs more than 10 pounds. January and February is mating time for the Great Horned Owls. They are the earliest nesting bird in most of America. They are also out choosing a nest site. Great horns don’t build a nest. Instead they take over a hawk, eagle or crow nest. Since these birds usually don’t nest until much later the owls just move in and take over. Sometimes they will not use a nest at all but settles for a slight depression or cavity in a tree for nesting. Shortly after mating the female lays two round white eggs. Incubation of the eggs takes about 26-30 days. The first chick hatches about 24-48 hours before the second. The mother will continue to sit upon the chicks for another month while the father brings food for the entire family. Fathers will brood, or sit on the young, for a short period of time each night to allow the female to go out and stretch her wings and defecate. Owls in general have some amazing and unique characteristics. First, their large yellow eyes are fixed into their sockets unlike yours and mine. They make up for the lack of eye movement by having extra vertebrae in their necks that allow them to swivel their heads up to 270 degrees. We have seven vertebrae in our necks and owls have 14. Of course, they cannot turn their heads all the way around. All owls have unique flight feathers that give them silent flight. The edges of the flight feathers are ragged compared to the straight feather edge other birds. The ragged edges disturb the air in micro swirls thus reducing any sound. Kind of like a silencer. This silent flight has always been mistakenly believed to allow the owl to sneak up on its prey. However, it is believed now that since the owl usually locates its prey by hear alone, it must continue to use its hearing to follow the prey even while in flight. This means if it didn’t have silent flight, it would not be able to track prey during the approach flight. So, if an owl is hooting in your backyard this year, try to enjoy it with the knowledge that you have one of the coolest birds nesting nearby. Until next time… 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 contacted via his web page at www.naturesmart.com.
Yellowstone wolves in Winter
Late in the day, all of our searching and listening had finally paid off. Up on a low rolling, snow covered ridge, just out of sight, a pack of wolves had made a kill earlier in the day. What the pack killed was unknown but with all of the ravens flying around it was obvious what had transpired. On another snowy ridge top a short distance away, lay 14 wolves. Through my binoculars I could see they were just laying around, some of the wolves where sleeping while others chewing chunk of built-up ice out from between their toes. A few of the pack members where actually romping and playing. It was obvious they were happy and content, but they were also much too far away to capture a quality image. I just returned from nearly 3 weeks in Yellowstone National Park leading several wildlife photo tours. The first group of 10 photographers had arrived and I was busy taking them all around the area searching for wildlife. We were able to capture images of Bighorn Sheep, Elk, and Pronghorn in just the first couple of days. Now we were lucky enough to locate this pack of wolves. For anyone to come to Yellowstone in winter, the ultimate wildlife encounter is with wolves. This iconic apex predator is very secretive and hard to see, let alone photographic. My group was fortunate to see the pack up high on the ridge top but we were hoping they would come down and return to the kill to feed again so we walked a short distance to a location where we would be able to see the wolves coming down a ridge line, if they decided to return to the kill site. We were standing in knee deep snow with a cold wind to our backs. The air temperatures where in the low 20’s so it was relatively comfortable. The sun was near to sliding behind a distant mountain range. A wide flat valley bottom stretched out for many miles off to our right side. The valley was completely surrounded by jagged top, snow covered mountains. It was a picture perfect late afternoon. We stood around in the deep snow for an hour or more when suddenly a black wolf poked its head over the lower ridge right in front of us. Our cameras strained to focus on the head and short round ears of the black wolf who was looking down at us. A few minutes later the black wolf came closer to the ridge and revealed himself. He sat up and stretched in the typical dog fashion and then stood there looking across the valley. What a magnificent animal. The black wolf was joined by a second gray colored wolf and then a third gray wolf. It seemed these three wolves where going to descend the ridge line, just as we had hoped. My group of photographers couldn’t believe we were getting so lucky. However, luck is just a small part of it. Knowing and understanding wildlife and their behavior is a big part of being a successful wildlife photographer. We had positioned ourselves in just the right spot to capture some images of a short line of wolves walking down the ridge line. The sunshine and blue sky made the scene pop. While looking through the view finder of my camera I got a chill watching these magnificent animals. It is such an honor to be witness to the inter-workings of an intact ecosystem and its apex predators. The four wolves walked down the ridge line and disappeared from sight. Within seconds a coyote and a red fox suddenly appeared over the ridge running for their lives. Apparently, they didn’t see the wolves coming and when they did, they took off running through the snow away from the wolves. The much larger wolves don’t take kindly to other predators taking advantage of their hard work. A flock of ravens sprang to flight as soon as the wolves arrived at the kill site. The wolves like to chase the ravens, but rarely do they catch one. Now that the wolves where out of site, my group was celebrating by looking at the images they just captured on the back of their cameras. Everyone had huge smiles and where now basking in the glow of accomplishment. We waited another hour or so and the sun dropped behind the mountains. The sky turned red and just before we were going to pack it up for the night a single wolf walked up on the ridge line. It’s black silhouette against the orange sunset was the icing on the cake. Wow, what an adventure. Until next time… 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 contacted via his web page at www.naturesmart.com.
American Bison
The American Bison (Bison bison) is an incredibly interesting critter. Sometimes called, Buffalo, this name is a misnomer and suggests that the American Bison is somehow related to the Buffalo of the Old World. So you might say, contrary to the song “Home on the Range” buffalo don’t roam around in North America. Instead, Buffalo are indigenous to places such as South Asia (Water Buffalo) and Africa (Cape Buffalo). Bison are found in North America and parts of Europe. 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 gigantic animal. My personal favorite is when the bison get close to the hot springs or geysers and become encrusted in snow and ice. A similar condition occurs when it snows. The bison get covered with snow. They are so well insulated that the snow doesn’t melt, so if they don’t shake it off, they walk around covered in a blanket of snow. One day, deep in the interior of the park, we came across a small herd of Bison. Several large males where with a group of females. This is fairly unusual because during the non-breeding season the males are often off by themselves or in small bachelor herds. More so, the herd seemed like they were a bit gitty or happy. The entire group looked like they had springs in their feet. They would jump and bounce around then start running. My group of photographers got into position to capture some images while the herd of bison started moving our way. It is always amazing to watch these kinds of animals and their behaviors through a long lens because it looks like you are right in the thick of things. Suddenly the herd looked like they started to frolic in the snow, jumping and trotting. Several of them would turn sideways while running. In all honesty it looked like they were having so much fun. Normally you see the Bison in a real-life struggle for life. Most of the time they are just plowing through the snow to get to the grass beneath. Everyone was capturing some amazing images when the Bison got to close, and we had to retreat to the safety of our gigantic big wheel trucks. The Bison herd passed us, and we all celebrated the satisfaction of obtaining some amazing images of the American Bison in winter. Until next time… 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 contacted via his web page at www.naturesmart.com.
Signs of Spring
At this time of year there are so many signs of spring. Even though the calendar says it’s still winter, and many parts of the country are still covered with a thick blanket of snow, there are signs of spring all over the place. Let’s start by looking at the birds. They are often the first glimmer of hope that spring is coming. The Black-capped Chickadee, a tiny happy-go-lucky, black and white bird is singing its springtime call. It’s often a two and sometimes a three-note song that once you hear it you will never forget it. The two note call sounds like the bird is saying “spring-time”. These small songbirds will often nest early and so the males are singing their songs to attract a mate. The Red-bellied Woodpecker has become a very common woodpecker throughout the eastern half of the country in recent years. This large, nearly 10-inch-tall bird sits in the higher branches of trees and sounds off with a loud “churr-churr” call. This is how the male Red-belly claims his territory and attracts a mate. The king of early spring bird song is the Northern Cardinal. Even when the ground is blanketed with snow and everything is frozen solid, the cardinal can be found perched at the top of a tree on a bright sunny winter morning, singing its heart out. What’s interesting about the Northern Cardinal song is, both the male and female will sing. Here in North America, overwhelmingly the males are the songsters and females are silent. However, in other places such as the tropics, just as many female’s sing as do males. Why this is the case, no one seems to know. Not only birds are exhibiting spring like behaviors, some mammals are also. Gray Squirrels are often seen engaged in high speed chases across the ground, streaking up tree trunks and zipping across thin branches. This is another sure sign of spring. This chasing behavior is classic mating behavior with multi males chasing females for a mating opportunity. The smaller feistier Red Squirrel are also doing the same spring mating behavior, although Red Squirrels are known for giving chase even outside the mating season. Migration is often the hallmark of spring. Horned Larks, a medium size bird of open country, are some of the first migrating birds to return in spring. Drive along any rural road at this time of year and you can see flocks of these birds. They are looking for seeds and early flying insects along the roads where the ground is exposed. This is definitely a sure sign of spring no mater where you live. February is the breeding season for foxes, coyote and wolves. So, for these species spring has already sprung, and the mating season is winding down and coming to a close. The females will be heading for dens which in many parts of the country needed to be dug last fall because the ground is still frozen solid. In many parts of the country, Bald Eagles are already sitting on eggs in their nests. However not all Bald Eagles get early starts. Some will only be mating in March and won’t lay eggs until April. The earliest nesting bird in the U.S. is the Great Horned Owl. All over the country they are choosing a mate in December and January and are usually sitting on eggs in February. They sit on their eggs for 30 days and will hatch anywhere from one to three or sometimes four young owlets. One last sure sign of spring is the sap is running in the maple trees. March is the time to tap your sugar maple, silver maple and other members of the maple family for the sap. The sap runs when the nighttime temperatures falls below freezing and the daytime temperatures rise above freezing. The clear, water-like sap is collected and boiled down to the tasty maple syrup. It takes about 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. Until next time… 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 at www.facebook.com and twitter.com. He can be contacted via his web page at www.naturesmart.com.
Black Vulture
It seems that a lot of people are only interested in the glamorous or top-tier species of mammals and birds. For example, no one seems to be interested in mice, voles or shrews. You don’t see television documentary shows on these tiny critters. But it’s a different story when it comes to wolves, bears or moose. Everyone wants to see or photograph these large megafaunas. The same can be said for birds. Everyone seems love hawks and eagles. These high-flying birds are on the top of many photographers and bird watchers list. And nothing stirs up the emotions like the owls. This group of birds seems to attract more attention than any other birds. But I am often drawn to the lesser known, or less glamorous species. I was reminded of this while leading a bird photo tour to southern Florida this past week. While visiting a wetland that was developed for birding and bird photography, I saw a pair of Black Vultures (Coragyps atratus) that were hanging out near the road. Most photographers would just pass them by and not give them a second thought. But I don’t feel the same. Let’s take a closer look at this cool and not so popular bird. The Black Vulture is a New World bird. This means it’s unique to the America’s and is not related to the vultures of the Old World of Europe, Asia and Africa. Black Vultures are in a group of their own and are the only vulture in its genus. In other words, they don’t have any close relatives. You most likely are familiar with the much more common Turkey Vulture, which has a huge range, breeding as far north as central Canada and as far south as Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of South America. Turkey Vultures are larger and inhabits a wide variety of habitats from deserts to shrublands and forests. The Black Vulture has a much smaller range. The Turkey Vulture hunts by eyesight and a strong sense of smell. It flies low enough to detect the gasses produced by the decaying process of animals. The Black Vulture is also a scavenger and finds its food by eyesight alone or by simply following Turkey Vultures. So, the big difference between these two New World Vultures is the ability to smell. The Turkey vulture detects the scent of ethyl mercaptan, a gas produce by the decaying flesh and the Black Vulture doesn’t. Black Vultures also lack a voice box, called a syrinx. This means the Black Vulture is usually silent and can make only grunts and hisses. They have a large wingspan of slightly over 5 feet. They use these large and broad wings to soar on thermals. They tend to have a series of quick flaps followed by gliding. Compared to the Turkey Vulture they flap more frequently during flight. Black Vultures weigh about 4.5 pounds, which is very similar to the Turkey Vulture. The common name, vulture is derived from the Latin word “vulturus” which means “to tear” or “tearer” and refers to its habit of tearing open flesh. The Black Vulture is a basal or base of the vulture lineage. They have been around for about 12 million years making it one of the oldest species of bird on the planet. Normally the Black Vulture feeds mainly on dead animals (carrion) but is well known for scavenging at garbage dumps or even taking eggs from other birds’ nests. Like other vultures, they play a very important role in the ecosystem by cleaning up dead and decaying carcasses which would otherwise be a place for deadly disease to thrive. Nature has a way of filling in all the nooks and corners of a complete ecosystem. Like other scavenging birds, the Black Vulture has a natural resistance to pathogenic microorganisms. They have anti-microbial agents that are secreted by the bird’s liver and stomach. Combined they allow the bird to eat rotting flesh that will sicken or kill other animals or birds. These are remarkable birds that really are the unsung heroes of the natural world and for that I find them fascinating. Until next time… Stan Tekiela is an author / naturalist who travels the U.S. to study and capture images of wildlife. He can be followed at www.facebook.com or twitter.com. He can be contacted via his web page at www.naturesmart.com.
Osprey
I find it interesting how we often think of nature as one specific way and only one way. No variations or exceptions. It is either this way or that way. Nothing in between. I have been traveling, studying and writing books about nature for over 30 years and the one thing that I have learned over and over again, is that nature is never the same. There are very few absolutes, very few definitive things in nature. There always seems to be a rule breaker that goes against everything ever written about it. And it’s these rule breakers that I find most interesting. I was reminded of this recently while leading a photography tour this past month in southern Florida to photograph birds. Arrangements had been made to take a couple boats out on a freshwater lake in Central Florida to photograph Osprey. The Osprey is a remarkable raptor that was first officially described by Carl Linnaeus, the famous taxonomist, back in the 18th century. The Osprey is a very unique raptor that can be found worldwide. It is the second most widely spread raptor species, after the Peregrine Falcon. Osprey are not related to any other raptors, leaving them as the only member in their family Pandionidea. The feet of Osprey are different from other diurnal (daytime) raptors. They have rounded talons, as compared to other raptors that have grooved talons. Plus, they have toes that are all equal length and one outer toe that is reversible, allowing them to have two toes pointing forward and two backwards. All other daytime raptors have three toes forward and only one towards the back. This really helps when it comes to gripping slippery fish, which is exactly what they do. They have a diet of exclusively fish. Typically, one pair of Osprey will take up residents in a territory. The size of a territory depends upon the how many lakes or rivers are in the area and how many fish are found in these bodies of water. This means there is one pair of Osprey every couple of miles. In many parts of the country, the Osprey only nests on man-made nesting platforms at the top of utility poles. If you read about them in books or look them up on the internet, this is the kind of information you will find. This is the standard and accepted description of how these kinds of bird’s hold territories and set up nesting. However, when my group of photographers boarded the boats to go out to photography Osprey in Florida, we experienced something completely different. Along just one side of the lake was a colony of nesting Osprey. In recent years the lake level had gone up and flooded a section of the forest along the banks of the lake. This left hundreds of Bald Cypress trees now growing in shallow water. These are perfect conditions for nesting Osprey. I could see that in some trees there was three and sometimes four nests. IN ONE TREE!!!! This was crazy. Many of the nests were just one tree away from another. There were dozens of nests in the first 100 yards of shoreline. When I inquired about how many nesting Osprey where on the lake, I was told that at last count, which was a couple years ago, there was at least 300 pairs of Osprey, all nesting in the same place. Many nesting just a few yards away from the next. This is clearing the behavior of a rule breaker. In this part of Florida was something that wasn’t happening in any other places. It goes against all that we know about this species and its behaviors. This is the kind of thing that I find most fascinating. I’ve made a living out of studying animal behavior and all I could do was smile, because, right in front of us was a clear example of a bird species that is doing exactly what it needs to survive and reproduce despite the books we write about them or the behaviors we assign to them. This is why I am so interested in nature. Mother nature sets its own agenda and follows its own rules and we are just observing and going along for the ride. Until next time… Stan Tekiela is an author and naturalist 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 contacted via his web page at www.naturesmart.com.
Chorus Frog
I enjoy cracking my bedroom window at night to let some fresh air in and to cool down the room for sleeping. This means I hear a lot of things going on outside my home. In summer I can hear Barred Owls calling. A couple weeks ago I could hear Tundra Swans migrating (at night) on their way to Alaska and northern Canada. But at this time of year, what I hear most are frogs. Lots of frogs! Calling so loud that it’s hard to believe that all that sound is coming from such tiny animals. On any given night, where the temperatures is above freezing, the frogs are calling. The first frogs to call in spring are the Western Chorus Frogs (Pseudacris triseriata). There are 18 different kinds or subspecies of Chorus Frogs across North America. So, no matter where you are in this country, chances are you have a type of Chorus Frog. They range from southern Alaska, down the Pacific coast to the southern tip of California. They stretch from the west coast all the way to the Atlantic coast (east). These frogs are tiny. Adults are only about 1 inch long, slightly larger than your thumbnail. They can be highly variable in color, but often they are tan with a couple dark brown stripes or bands running down it’s back. The bands can be dark and obvious, or they can be light and hardly noticeable. Most have a dark line running from their snout back through the eye and down the sides. They are usually found around permanent, shallow bodies of water. So, any wetland usually holds a good population of these tiny but loud frogs. They are the first frogs to start calling in the spring, often with the first Chorus Frogs calling while there is still snow on the ground or ice on the lakes. So, what is the reason behind all the loud calling? The males gather in shallow bodies of water to call or advertise to the females. It tells the females where the males are located and that they are available for mating. This is why they are called Chorus Frogs because they gather in groups and sing or call in a large chorus. Only the male frogs give the calls. Recent studies of the Chorus Frog calls show that all 18 different types of the frogs fall into one of two categories, “dynamic” or “static”. Our local Chorus Frogs fall into the static group which means the individual males don’t have any variability in their calls, but they do have the ability to control the direction of their calls. It has always been theorized that the females could distinguish individual males by their calls. This new study calls into question this theory but shows us there is so much more to know. The Chorus Frogs with the dynamic calls will switch up their calls, but to our ears we don’t hear any difference. Only under close study of a recording of this call (sonogram) reveals the difference. Presumably the female frogs can hear the difference but much more investigation is needed. Worldwide, all amphibian, such as frogs, toads and salamanders, are on the decline. There are multiple reasons for the decline with a lot attributed to habitat loss, over harvesting of frogs for food and for the pet trade and competition from exotic invasive species. For example, the African Clawed Frog is a common frog in the pet trade. It is sold around the world. In addition, until the late 1970’s the African Clawed Frog was used in laboratories for pregnancy testing. This lead to the breeding of tens of thousands of these frogs worldwide. After modern pregnancy tests were developed, many of these frogs were released into the wild. Also, many of the pet trade frogs are released by the owners into the wild when they didn’t want to care for the “pet” anymore. On the surface this might seem like a harmless and humane act. BUT it is not! The African Clawed Frog carries a dangerous pathogen called Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis or Bd. The Bd lives on the skin of the African Clawed Frog and doesn’t harm the frog. However, all other frog species in the world that become infected with the Bd will die. The Bd infects the skin of the native frogs and interferes with the frog’s ability to breathe or take in water through their skin. For the Chorus Frog the mortality rate is about 80 percent. So, I urge you to not release any pet you might own into the wild. The ramifications are always much greater than you might think, mainly because there are things going on in the natural world that we just don’t know or understand. Until next time… 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 or twitter.com. He can be reached via his web page at www.naturesmart.com.