Fall Leaf Color
Each autumn the soothing greens of summer explode into the brilliant colors of fall. Summer leaves are green because they contain the pigment chlorophyll. Autumn’s yellows and reds are produced in two distinct processes, but both are related to the fading of chlorophyll. Chlorophyll looks green because it reflects green light. It absorbs all other wavelengths of light. Chlorophyll’s ability to absorb color is more powerful than the ability of other pigments to reflect it. But in fact, leaves do contain other pigments. These include yellow and orange pigments called carotenoid (ker’o-ten-oid) pigments. At summer’s end, a plant stops producing chlorophyll and begins to die. The yellow carotenoid pigments are more stable than chlorophyll and they don’t break down as quickly, remaining in the aging leaf after the chlorophyll fades. With the chlorophyll gone, the carotenoid pigments get a chance to show off. They give leaves a vibrant yellow appearance in autumn. A different process causes the passionate reds of maples and oaks. Their color comes from the brilliant red pigment anthocyanin (an’tho-si-e-nin). Unlike the carotenoid pigments, anthocyanin is not present in summer leaves. Leaves don’t make this pigment until after they lose their chlorophyll. When the leaves start to die, sugar is trapped within the leaves. The cycle of warm days and cool nights triggers a chemical reaction with the sugars, which produces anthocyanin and the blazing fall reds. Whether a leaf turns yellow or red, its last color is a crisp brown caused by tannin. Tannin is produced by plants throughout the year. It is stored in leaves and in the bark of trees. Tannin gives some leaves a bitter taste, which discourages animals from eating them and so extends the life of the leaves.
Autumn Leaf Colors
This autumn has been dry and warm so it’s not a great combo for viewing autumn colors. I am sure with more moisture and cooler nighttime temperatures the display would be so much more than what we have now. So why do these leaves change color and put on such an eye-popping show? First of all, leaves are green because of a green pigment known as chlorophyll that is responsible for the absorption of sunlight to provide energy for photosynthesis. When the chlorophyll is healthy and happy it dominates any other pigment found in the leaf and we see green leaves. But chlorophyll doesn’t just give leaves their color; they are vital in the life of the tree. Chlorophyll cells capture the sun’s energy and combines it with water that is taken up by the tree roots and carbon dioxide which it takes from the air, to produce the trees food—simple sugars. The byproduct is oxygen and of course we breathe oxygen. So we are the direct beneficiaries of what the trees do naturally. During summer, chlorophyll is constantly breaking down and is replaced by the tree so the leaves remain green all season. But as autumn approaches the trees react to the reduce daylight and starts to get ready for winter by shutting down the flow of nutrients to the leaves. In addition, the leaves are starting to wear out from a season of hard work producing food for the plant, so the tree is ready to shed the old leaves. At the base of the leaf stalk (where the leaf attaches to the tree) a thin layer called an abscission layer starts to close off, reducing the flow to and from the leaves. As this happens, the food manufacturing chlorophyll starts to die off making it no longer the dominant compound in the leaves. Other pigments such as carotenoids give off the a yellow or orange color, and all the shades in between start to become visible. Another group of pigment cells called anthocyanins, which are not found in the leaf during summer start to develop. These pigments, common in maple trees, give us the reds and purples of autumn. Unlike the carotenoids, the anthocyanins develop in late summer in the sap and have a complex reaction inside the leaf when in the presents of bright sunlight and a chemical phosphate. During summer, phosphates break down the sugars manufactured by the chlorophyll, but in autumn the amount of phosphates decrease and start to move out of the leaves and into the tree. When this happens the sugar breakdown decreases. The brighter the light during this period the greater the production of anthocyanins and the brighter red the leaves become. If the tree is under drought stress, like we are having in my area this year, or has poor health from a fungal or viral infections the colors won’t be as bright. Also, if autumn is dark and cloudy or dry and warm the brightest colors won’t develop. When conditions of temperatures, moisture and sunlight are all in the right amounts we will have a bright and colorful autumn. Soon the abscission layer will completely close off and the leaf will die and fall from the tree. Since leaves are expendable it really isn’t a big deal for the trees to drop their leaves. Besides the breakdown of the leaves on the forest floor feeds nutrients back into the soil where the tree’s roots can reabsorb them and help to produce the new leaves the following spring. While in my area we may be experiencing a drought, and the autumn leaves may not look their absolute best, it is still enjoyable to see the fall colors and understanding exactly why it happens makes it even better for me and I hope it helps you also. Until next time… Stan Tekiela is an author / naturalist and wildlife photographer who travels extensively to study and capture images of wildlife. He can be followed at www.instagram.com and www.facebook.com. He can be contacted via his website at www.naturesmart.com
White-tailed Deer buck Tekiela
I was walking through the woods, moving very slowly, making sure not to step on a stick or twig that might snap and make a loud noise. Each footstep was carefully placed after visually checking the ground. Thankfully, it had rained a little bit the day before, making the leaves nice and wet, which dampened the sounds of my footsteps. I was traveling in near silence. Almost all the leaves have already fallen from the trees making it easy to see long distances within the woodland. In my hands I carried a large 500 mm lens and camera body. I was on the hunt for White-tailed Deer. This year the rut seemed to start right on time, and I was eager to get out and see what I could find and perhaps capture some images of an elusive big buck. Moving through the woodland, I came across several female deer, but this wasn’t why I was there. I was searching for the big antlered male deer, often referred to as bucks. Moving along, I must have covered 2 miles before I found my first small buck. But based on my years of experience, I know that the small bucks often follow the large ones. The big boys follow their nose through the woods searching for does that are ready to breed. The big bucks are constantly on the move until they find a “hot” female that is nearing her peak of reproduction. The buck will follow her around waiting for her to accept him. He will often spend time feeding when she is feeding or laying down and resting when she is laying down and resting. White-tailed Deer are mostly found in the eastern half of the country. However, they range as far southwest as Arizona and up into the Pacific Northwest and the shores of the Pacific Ocean. Depending upon who you talk to, there are many varieties or subspecies of White-tailed Deer. Subspecies are usually determined by general morphological differences within a species. For example, a subspecies can be determined by the size or shape of the body, tail or ears. A good example of this is the Key Deer, a subspecies of the White-tail that lives only on Florida’s key islands. This subspecies looks just like all other White-tails except it’s one-quarter of the size of a regular White-tailed Deer. An adult male Key Deer weighs only 50 pounds. This is a clear and obvious difference but not all subspecies are this clear cut. White-tailed Deer follow the Bergmann’s Rule, which is a biological rule that states within a species, the further north latitude you live the larger you are and the easier for you to stay warm. The further south you live the smaller you are and it’s easier to shed heat and stay cool. White-tail deer in northern states and Canada are much larger than those in southern states. The Key Deer is a perfect example of this biological rule. After several miles of hiking, I was able to locate a large buck. At first, I saw the flash of his bright white antlers in the thick brush. If his antlers weren’t so bright, I might have missed him. As I approached, I caught a whiff of this rutting buck. The smell is a sweet pungent smell that is unmistakable. When the bucks are looking for females, scent glands located on the male’s hind legs produce a sweet yet pungent smell. If you get close enough and the wind is in your direction, it’s easy to pick up this scent. As soon as I caught the scent of the buck, I saw him standing in a tangle of branches and vines. His thick winter coat and tall multi-branched antlers made him blend in so well it was hard to see him. I waited a while to give this buck a chance to move out of the tangled vegetation and into a spot where I could capture a few images. Over the next 30 minutes, I could see the female he was attending and watched her move from one thicket of vegetation to another. She was clearly keeping to the heavy cover of the forest to avoid the large buck. I could hear from behind me some rustling of leaves. I turned my head to see another large buck approaching. No doubt having another buck around will make things interesting. The big buck saw the approaching smaller buck and immediately headed straight for him. When he got close enough the big buck lowered his head and started running towards the smaller buck. The smaller one quickly turned and ran away. The chase lasted less than 75 feet, but it was enough to send the message. I wasn’t able to capture any of the chase, but I did capture some decent images of the big boy buck. I was thrilled. I turned and started the long hike back to my truck. Until next time… Stan Tekiela is an author / naturalist and wildlife photographer. He 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.
Pumpkin Tekiela
I would like to tell you about something so common and ubiquitous in our American culture that I am sure you don’t think about it as being very special. It is something that has been around for a long time and you see these things every year. And no doubt you might even eat these things or at least taste the flavor, especially at this time of year. I am talking about pumpkins. Simply put, pumpkins are a type of winter squash. Winter squash is an annual fruit within the genus Cucurbita. They are typically a warm season plant which means they aren’t planted until early summer when the ground temperature is warm and the fruit ripens in October. They grow on a vine that creeps across the ground and has very large edible flowers. The fruit develops quickly and comes in all sizes and shapes and colors. The name pumpkin refers to any roundish, orange-colored kind of squash. The use of the word “pumpkin” came from “peopon” which is Greek for large melon. The French word “pompon” and later in English “pumpion”. All of this was applied to pumpkins in New England in settlement times when people were first introduced to the pumpkin. European settlers had never seen such large orange fruits and didn’t know what to call them, so the word pumpkin was used to describe it. You see, pumpkins are one of the oldest cultivated plants for food, dating back around 10,000 years ago. Pumpkins were originally grown by native peoples of Mexico and southwestern United States. In other words, pumpkins were a source of food long before European settlers came to North America. The oldest evidence of the pumpkin being used for food comes from fragments of pumpkin stems found in caves in Mexico and date back 7,000 BC. Not only were pumpkins developed and cultivated by native people, so were corn and beans. It wasn’t long after European settlers came to America that pumpkins started showing up in Europe and they took off from there. Pumpkins are now a worldwide food. As a food, pumpkins are very good to eat and are very healthy. A 3.5 oz amount of raw pumpkin provides 20 percent of your daily Provitamin A beta-carotene. It also has vitamin C. and is low in carbohydrates and nearly zero fat. Pumpkin seeds are also very good to eat. A one-ounce amount of pumpkin seeds are a good source of protein, zinc and magnesium. It wasn’t until the Mid-1800’s did pumpkins become associated with Halloween and people started to carve pumpkins to make a jack-o-lantern. Carving pumpkins came about when Irish and Scottish immigrants, who use to carve turnips to make lanterns. The pumpkin was larger and more readily available to these immigrants to carry on their traditions from the home country. Today pumpkins are found worldwide and grown in just about every country on the planet. They are frequently associated with Halloween in North America. So, this year, take a moment to reflect on the rich history and the origins of one of the oldest food crops on the planet, the pumpkin. Until next time… Stan Tekiela is an author / naturalist and wildlife photographer who travels extensively to capture images and study wildlife. He can be followed at www.instagram.com and www.facebook.com. He can be contacted via his website at www.naturesmart.com.
Lewiss Woodpecker Tekiela
I’ve spent a lifetime and a full career of over 40 years writing about and taking photos of all sorts of wildlife, and birds in particular. So, it would be natural to think that I’ve seen all the birds or all the wildlife. Nothing could be further from the truth. You might also be surprised to learn that I don’t keep a life list. So, what the heck is a life list? A life list is a simple check list of all the birds you have seen over one’s lifetime. When you see a bird for the first time you put it on your life list, indicating you have seen this bird in your lifetime. Let me remind you that there are over 11,000 species of birds so the average bird watcher never gets to see them all. There are a small handful of birders who have over 9,000 on their personal life list but this is very rare indeed. I will never fall into these categories. I don’t keep a life list of anything. The closest I come would be the catalog of all my wildlife images in my photo management software. I have over a half a million images, representing thousands of bird, mammal, reptile, amphibian and insects. All of this came to mind the other day while I was editing some images from a trip I took this past summer to Arizona. I had the chance to photograph a number of bird species such as California Condor and Elegant Trogon but really what stood out from all the images was a few image captures of a Lewis’s Woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis). I have always wanted to photograph this woodpecker. The Lewis’s Woodpecker is one of the largest woodpeckers in America (11 inches tall) and was named after the famous explorer Meriweather Lewis, who first surveyed the area known as the Louisiana Purchase by the United States and was the first person to describe this woodpecker. Over the years I’ve taken several trips specifically to capture some images of this unusual woodpecker. In fact, I was supposed to go to Montana this spring specifically to look for a Lewis’s Woodpecker, but it never worked out. You can imagine I was very happy to find several of these woodpeckers in northern Arizona. The Lewis’s Woodpecker is definitely a type of woodpecker but it doesn’t seem to follow the woodpecker rules. Unlike other woodpeckers, it catches insects the same way that flycatchers do. The Lewis’s Woodpecker perches on a branch and waits for a large insect to fly by then it dashes out to grab the bug in midair before returning to the branch to eat and wait for another bug to fly by. This type of hunting is called “hawking”. In addition, if you see one of these woodpeckers flying you would swear it was an American Crow. Woodpeckers have a very characteristic flight pattern, which consists of several strong flaps which cause the woodpecker to rise up then it tucks its wings and glides which causes the woodpecker to lose altitude. This alternating flapping and non-flapping make the woodpecker look like it is on a roller coaster ride when in flight. The Lewis’s Woodpecker flaps constantly producing a straight flight pattern. Unlike other woodpeckers the Lewis’s usually doesn’t excavate their own nesting cavity. If they do, it is usually the male that does all the work. Otherwise, they take over the cavities of other woodpeckers or use a natural cavity for nesting. And they often reuse the same nest cavity for several years in a row. All of this is very different from other woodpecker species. Lastly, most woodpeckers are a standard black and white. Not the Lewis’s Woodpecker. It is a strange combination of a greenish-black back and a pinkish-red belly. They really don’t look like any other woodpecker. So, you can imagine how thrilled I was when I was in Arizona this summer and wasn’t even thinking about photographing Lewis’s Woodpecker and an opportunity arose. I couldn’t capture any super high-quality images, but I did manage to get a few so-so shots. This has sparked my interest in once again planning a couple trips specifically to study and capture some high-quality images of this amazing woodpecker. Until next time… Stan Tekiela is an author / naturalist and wildlife photographer who travels extensively to study and capture images of wildlife. He can be followed on www.instagram.com and www.facebook.com. He can be contacted via his website at www.naturesmart.com.
Javelina Tekiela
Often when I am leading a photo tour it is usually for a specific bird or mammal or perhaps a couple of species. For example, recently I was leading a tour to central New Mexico, and the highlighted species for this trip was large flocks of Snow Geese and Sandhill Cranes. Both of these birds spend the winter in this region in large numbers so it’s a good destination to capture images of these birds. But for me, it isn’t the iconic or most abundant species that often catches my attention. No, for me it is usually the species that isn’t common or well know. So, one morning while trying to find something interesting to photograph, I noticed some movement ahead of us on the right side of a one lane gravel road. I could see movement and it appeared to be more than just a single critter moving in a single file. Because I know the wildlife in this area, the only possibility of several larger mammals moving in a single file would have to be Javelinas (Dicotyles tajacu). (pronounced ha-vuh-lee-nuh). It is a Spanish word, so you pronounce the “J” as “Ha”. Don’t feel bad if you don’t recognize the name of this animal. Javelinas are also called Collared Peccaries. These mammals are pig-like ungulates, which means they are animals with hooves and look superficially like pigs. They use only the middle two digits on each foot to walk. The other toes are absent. They are NOT related to farmyard pigs, even though everyone who sees a Javelina automatically assumes they are related. Javelina are New World animals that are found only in Central and South America and in parts of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Full grown adult Javelinas are 3 to 4 feet in length and weigh between 50-90 pounds. So right there you can see the Javelina is much smaller than the traditional farmyard pig which comes in at 500 or 600 pounds. Unlike farmyard pigs which have large floppy ears, Javelinas have small round ears. The tails of pigs are long and have a tassel of hair. The tails of Javelinas are very small and hard to see. And the Javelinas are covered in a thick coat of fur unlike pigs. Their stomachs are also different from pigs. It is not a ruminant, but instead has three chambered stomachs and has a foregut for fermentation. So, I won’t bore you to death, let’s just say that pigs are hindgut fermenters and assure you they are very different. The Javelina are social animals that live in small herds of 6 to 10. A group of Javelina are called a squadron. They are omnivores and will eat insects, seeds, fruit, roots, grasses and they especially like Prickly Pear cacti. They are also known to eat small mammals or scavenge other dead animals. When I spotted the Javelina in front of us, I had to get my group close enough for some pictures without scaring them and pushing them away. Fortunately, they were facing away from my group as we approached, and they weren’t looking behind, so we quickly moved up without the Javelina noticing. Three or four of them crossed the dirt road and quickly disappeared into the thick brush. We thought, dang, they didn’t stop long enough for anyone to capture a few images. I indicated to my group that we should just wait in silence to see what would happen. A few minutes later one of the adult Javelinas popped out of the thick brush on the other side of the road and paused, looking straight at us. We all raised our cameras, and we were able to capture some amazing images of this very unique animal. The moment didn’t last more than a minute or so and suddenly the Javelinas were gone. Now came the fun part. Explaining to my group of photographers what they just saw and helping educate them about the differences between the amazing Javelina and the farmyard pig. Until next time… Stan Tekiela is an author / naturalist and wildlife photographer who travels extensively to capture images of wildlife. He can be followed at www.instagram.com and www.facebook.com. He can be contacted via his website at www.naturesmart.com.
Great Gray Owl
Recently I was leading a couple groups to northern Minnesota to see winter finches and northern owls. On both trips we were successful in seeing a number of different winter specialty species such as Evening Grosbeak, Pine Siskins, Common Redpoll, and White-winged Crossbills. We were also in search of northern owl species such as Great Gray Owl (Strix nebulosa). On both trips we were successful at seeing at least one Great Gray Owl. The Great Gray Owl is the tallest or longest owl species but despite their overall height, they are not the heaviest or most powerful of the owls in North America. That award would go to the Snowy Owl and to the Great Horned Owl. Both of these owls have larger and more powerful feet / talons than the Great Gray. Despite their overall size, the Great Gray Owl only weighs 2.5 pounds compared to the Great Horned Owl at 3.5 pounds and the Snowy Owl at 4.5 pounds. One evening we watched a Great Gray Owl hunting just before sunset. It would perch on impossibly small twigs at the tops of trees. It would look down intently looking and listening. I took this opportunity to educate this group about what looks like a seemingly simple behavior of looking and listening for its prey. Great Gray Owls hunt small mammals such as mice and voles. But in the far reaches of northern Minnesota, snow covers the ground during winter. So, this simple act of looking and listening doesn’t seem like a big deal. So, let’s take a closer look (pun not intended) at the simple act of a Great Gray Owl hunting. The Great Gray Owl has the largest facial disk of all owls. The facial disk is hundreds of specialized feathers on the bird’s face that act like a parabolic dish and funnel sound to the birds’ ears. In many owl species, the ears are located below and behind the eyes. They have asymmetrical ear openings which means they have one ear opening that is located low and the other is higher. This allows incoming sound to reach each ear opening at two different times. What is more interesting is that the density of feathers increases the closer to the ear opening. This would seem counter intuitive because why would you want more obstacles in the pathway to your ear openings. The larger facial disks help to pick up low frequency sounds better than high frequency sounds. This helps the bird to locate the prey under snow. But here is where we can get into trouble when we assume a few things such as the owl hearing a vole under the snow. If you have ever been outside during or right after a large snow event you most likely have experienced how everything sounds different when the landscape is covered in snow. Recent experiments show that sound doesn’t pass through snow very well. Snow muffles sound and experiments show that low frequency sounds are less impacted than high frequency sounds when traveling through snow. The larger facial disks of the Great Gray Owl help pick up low frequency sounds making them better at finding prey under deeper snow. The problem with this is, sound doesn’t travel directly through the snow either. Sound is bent and shifts as it passes through the snowpack, shifting the origins of the sound by as much as five degrees relative to the actual source of the sound. This is called an acoustic mirage. So, an owl that is perched at a distance wouldn’t be accurate in assessing the source of the sound. In order to compensate for this shift in sound, the Great Gray Owl has a unique hunting style or behavior. After it locates the prey location from its perch, it will fly off the perch in a low altitude approach to the apparent sound source. At the last moment the owl will swoop up directly above the location of the sound and briefly hover. Using its large facial disks, it once again listens before dropping down. Low frequency sounds passing directly up through the snowpack has less distortion or shifting of the sound allowing the bird to pinpoint the exact location before the bird plunges down through the snow reaching for the prey. So once again, something in nature which seems so simple turns out to be way more complicated once it is examined closer. This is just another example of the complexity of nature. Until next time… Stan Tekiela is an author / naturalist and wildlife photographer who travels extensively to study and photograph wildlife. He can be followed on www.instagram.com and www.facebook.com. He can be contacted via his website at www.naturesmart.com
Eastern Wild Turkey
Change in nature usually comes about in thousands or even millions of years, not in months or years. Quick and easy doesn’t seem to have a place when it comes to Mother Nature. Everything moves slowly and deliberately. But make no mistakes about it, nature does change. In fact, it is changing all the time, no matter if we notice it or not. So, I wanted to write about a change in nature that I have personally witnessed over the past 40 plus years and that change is the Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo). When I started out in the nature business back in the late 1970’s I never saw a turkey. I lived in areas where the turkey had been killed off and were nonexistent. Then while leading some birding tours in the late 1980’s and early 90’s I saw a small flock of turkeys along a highway in far Southeastern Minnesota. I was so excited to see these birds, I pulled the van over by the side of the road so my group of bird watchers could get out and see this rare bird. It was truly remarkable. A life list bird for everyone. That memory burns bright for me. It was estimated that turkeys numbered in the millions upon European arrival. They were found all across the United States in many different habitats. With the clearing of forests, and over hunting, the number of turkeys dropped to as low as 30,000 by the 1930’s and 40’s. At this point they were completely eliminated from Canada and only survived in localized pockets in the eastern United States. Early attempts to raise and release turkeys into the wild failed miserably. It wasn’t until efforts to trap and transplant wild turkey across the eastern half of the country did the numbers start to increase. By the 1970’s there were an estimated 1.3 million birds. In the upper Midwest, turkeys were reintroduced in the 1980’s. Small flocks of turkeys where trapped in areas that had healthy populations and released in areas that didn’t have turkeys and had suitable habitat. Over the next 30 years populations have increased dramatically and now they are stabilized. Even though turkeys are large and heavy birds, they are fast and powerful fliers. While most of the time they are seen on the ground and they walk almost everywhere they go, they fly up into trees each evening to roost for the night. In addition, they have the ability to fly at high speed, upwards of 50 mph in level flight, for upwards of a quarter of a mile, which would be plenty far and fast to out-pace a pursuing predator. Turkeys have excellent color eyesight, as do all birds, which they use to find food and watch out for predators. Their eyes are on the sides of their heads, so they have a wide view of their surroundings to watch for predators. There are 6 subspecies of turkey across the United States and Mexico. Subspecies are classified by subtle differences in plumage, coloring, habitat and behavior. It is important to stress that subspecies are defined by people for people and the birds really don’t play by our rules, if you know what I mean. The most dominant is the Eastern Wild Turkey which occurs in the eastern half of the country. The Osceola Wild Turkey also known as the Florida Wild Turkey, is only found in Florida. The Rio Grande Wild Turkey which ranges through Texas up into Colorado and west to northern California. The Merriam’s Wild Turkey which ranges through the Rocky Mountains and into South Dakota. The Gould’s Wild Turkey which is found in the mountains and valleys of Mexico and reach up into Arizona and New Mexico. The last is the South Mexican Wild Turkey and is found in southern Mexico and doesn’t range into the United States. As I write this column, I look out my office window into my wooded backyard. I have 4 large Tom turkeys and at least a dozen hens that visit two or three times a day. I really enjoy seeing them as they scratch the ground looking for insects or seeds. They are a daily occurrence in my yard, and it really feels like my relationship with the Wild Turkey has come full circle, from non-existent to first sightings, to occasionally seeing them to ultimately hanging around in my yard. Until next time… Stan Tekiela is an author / naturalist and wildlife photographer who travels extensively to study and capture images of wildlife. He can be followed at www.facebook.com and www.instagram.com. He can be contacted via his webpage at www.naturesmart.com.
American Black Bear
We could see it moving through the tall, dull green grass of late summer, and itis moving in our direction. I told the group that we better move back and get our cameras ready. It looks like it will be walking directly towards us, and it was a big one. Next, I told the group, “For this image to work, we will need to get down low and switch from horizontal to vertical format”. Only a minute later, my prediction was correct, it was walking straight at us. Using a very long lens so we could keep a distance, the group was able to capture some very impressive images of a male American Black Bear (Ursus americanus). This particular bear was well over 500 pounds and was getting ready for hibernation. The American Black Bear, usually just called Black Bear, are called “American” because they are endemic (found only) in North America. Of the three bear species found in North America, it is the smallest but the most widespreadbear species. The Black Bear evolved from another bear species around 4 to 5 million years ago. Since that time, based on fossil records,the Black Bear has become smaller. Historically, the American Black Bear roamed most of North America but today is restricted to most of the Northeast, going down the Appalachian Mountains, the northern states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. They are also found all across Canada and down the Rocky Mountains and down the west coast well into California. Adult male Black Bears average between 200-500 pounds. Adult females are smaller and are between 100-375 pounds. Black Bears found in northern states and Canada are larger than ones found in southern states. This is a good example of the Bergmann’s rule, which is a biological rule that states the larger the animal’sbody the easier it is to stay warm in the cold of winter and the smaller the animal’sbody the easier it is to keep cool in the heat of summer. I find Black Bears utterly fascinating. These critters are perfectly adapted to living in North America. Bears can do things that other animals can’t. For example,the Black Bear mating season was back in June (spring) and even now, at the end of summer, the females are still not pregnant. The bears reproductive system holds the egg and sperm in a suspended state of animation and won’t become implanted in the female’s uterine wall until Oct. It is the females over all health in autumn that determines how many fertilized eggs will go on to become cubs and will be born in Feb after only about 4 months gestation. At this time of year, bears are eating as much as they can to build up enough fat to last them through winter. Hibernation can only be described as amazing. Here in the northland a bear can hibernate for upwards of 7 months. During this time, the bears metabolic activities are suppressed and in some cases such as the digestive system, comes to a complete stop. Other systems such as thermal (body core temperature) only slow down. Respiration and heart rate also suppress and lower. Combined, when all of these systems are slowed down or stopped the bear saves enough energy to last until spring. Think of it as gasoline in your car, the more you conserve the longer it will last. I think many people envision a hibernating bear as being unconscious, mouth open, tongue hanging out and snoring loudly. The reality is bears are often awake and looking around and taking care of what needs to be done. They move around regularly, and the pregnant females give birth during hibernation. After the cubs are born, she takes care to keep them warm and willalso nurse the young. Also, during hibernation, bears who have any injuries often heal up nicely and by springtime are often well healed. In addition, if you and I were to lay down for 7 months, our muscles would atrophy (muscle loss) so bad that we would need to learn how to walk again. Bears lay down for the same amount of time and don’t have any issues with muscle loss. As you can see, bears are amazing creatures and have the ability to do things other mammals are unable to do. Until next time… Stan Tekiela is an author / naturalist and wildlife photographer who travels extensively to study and capture images and video of wildlife. He can be followed at www.instagram.com and www.facebook.com. He can be contacted via his website at www.naturesmart.com.