This spring I had a wonderful opportunity to film a pair of Whooping Cranes (Grus americana) that had set up shop and was nesting in a small cattail wetland on private property. When I arrived I was able to quickly ascertain the best vantage point of the nest from a nearby grassy hill overlooking the wetland. I set up my longest lens on a tripod and hid myself in the tall grass with a great vantage point to observe the coming and going of the pair of cranes.

In wildlife photography it is important to remain at a respectful distance if you want to capture nature behaviors and not disturb their normal daily activities. So I settled in for a long wait in hopes of capturing some images of this pair of endangered birds. The Whooping Crane is a five foot tall bird with snow white plumage and a deep red cap and black wing tips. It is the tallest bird in North America and also one of the rarest birds in North America.

Due to over hunting and lack of regulations (laws) Whooping Cranes were nearly driven into extinction with only about 20 individual birds left in the 1940’s. This is another classic example of how people have gone too far and also their misunderstanding of nature. But thanks to strong laws enacted to protect and preserve these birds along with a captive breeding program combined with a unique program to teach the young cranes to migrate by following a human-powered ultra-light aircraft we now have about 250 Whooping Cranes in the wild in the eastern half of the country. Another 250 or so Whoopers are also found in the western half of the country. 

While capturing some images and high definition video of the Whooping Cranes, I was entertained by all the wildlife in the wetland. As one point, one of the cranes had flown off and was gone for a while. When it returned it first landed a fair distance from the nest and started to slowly walk back towards the nest. As it moved across the wetland, something amazing happened. All of the Red-winged Blackbirds that are also nesting in the wetland started to dive bomb the crane.

Filming the attacks of the red-wings made me laugh. Here is the tallest most stately and rare bird in North America being picked on by a pesky tiny common bird. The Red-wings would land on the back of the crane and peck at its feathers. The crane would make some evasive maneuvers but nothing seemed to stop the attacks. When the crane had walked far enough to get out of one Red-wings territory the neighboring Red-wing would take over and continue the assault. Meanwhile all I could hear in my head was the old comedian Rodney Dangerfield’s saying “I don’t get no respect”. This is what I imagine the crane was thinking as it endured the onslaught of blackbirds.

I also started thinking of the black-birds as bullies. When you think of a bully, a large dim-witted person comes to mind. Someone with more brawn and brains. Or perhaps these days’ cyber bullies seem to be more common. Someone who hides behind their computer screen and keyboard and lashes out at people in a pathetic attempt to make themselves feel better about their own failures.

However there really aren’t any bullies in the natural world. To look at the Blackbirds attacking the Whooping Cranes as a bully isn’t correct. The Black-birds aren’t doing this to inflict needless pain or suffering as a bully would do. They are actually trying to protect their young babies by driving off the Whooper. You see, the Whooping Crane, along with Sandhill Cranes, Great Blue Herons and other large birds will take Red-winged Blackbird eggs and babies right out of their nest and eat them. So there is a very real threat represented by the crane towards the Red-wings. So it is in the Red-wings best interest to help the crane to move along when walking through the wetland.

Unfortunately the Whooping Crane eggs were taken by a Raccoon thus ending the nesting. This is more than just a tragic ending for these birds but it’s a real setback for the overall population of the cranes in the eastern half of the country. Every failed nesting attempt by the Whooping Cranes strikes at the heart of the recovery of our tallest bird in North America. 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.

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.