Autumn is a wonderful time of year. It keeps a wildlife photographer and nature nut like myself very busy. Our extra mild fall weather has extended my wildlife photography season in addition it has made it so much more comfortable to be outside. With the election behind us, I am really looking forward to spending some time with my family this coming Thanksgiving.  So it makes perfect sense that at this time of year I can’t help but to think about Wild Turkeys.

The Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) is our larges native game bird in North America. This is the species that our domestic white turkey was bred. It was not known to Europeans before coming to the Americas. This is uniquely an American bird and it’s fitting that it is at the center of our yearly tradition of giving thanks for this great nation of ours. 

Because it was such a plentiful and easy source for food, it was nearly eliminated by over hunting from many parts of the country early on in our history. In the 1930’s this bird was close to extinction. But thankfully major efforts were made to reintroduced the turkey across the US, starting in the early 1960’s with limited success. It wasn’t until the 1980’s did populations take hold and populations start to grow. There was an estimated 30,000 turkeys in the early 1900’s scattered throughout the US. Now there is an estimated 7 million birds and growing. In fact turkeys are now inhabiting areas though not possible for these large birds in the past. It just goes to show you that given a chance, Mother Nature can do some amazing things.

There are five subspecies of turkey: Eastern (eastern half of country), Osceola (Florida), Rio Grande (Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado), Merriam’s (western), and Gould’s (Mexico, and New Mexico and Arizona). They all have slightly different coloration especially in the tail.

Turkeys have excellent vision as most birds do. Color vision is important for all birds. This is why many birds are brightly colored. In the case of the turkey, not only are the feathers colored, so is the exposed skin on the head, especially the males. Individual adult birds have between 5,000 and 6,000 feathers covering their body. While they appear over-all brown, individual feathers have a metallic iridescence showing varying amounts of green, copper, bronze and gold depending upon the intensity of the sunlight.

Sometimes it may be difficult to distinguish males from females. The males are noticeably larger and have a sharp spur on the back of their legs. Although the spurs may be hard to see from a distance, they are sharp and up to two inches long and curve downward. They use the spurs while fighting with other males during breeding season. The males also have a beard, which is a collection of long thin feathers (filaments) resembling hair, clustered in the center of the breast and hang down like a beard. An adult male can have a beard up to a foot long, but most are only nine or ten inches. Interestingly about 10-20 percent of hens also have a beard.

At this time of year you see turkeys in self segregated groups. Young males in one group, adult males in another. Females, young and old, stick together along with the young from this past spring. The groups hang together until the breeding season in spring when they will break up for nesting. I think we have a lot to be thankful in this country and our wild birds. 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 Twitter or Facebook.com. or he can be contacted via his web page at www.naturesmart.com.

I am writing this just after eating Thanksgiving dinner with my family and I am wondering just how many people have given any thought to the turkey they just ate? What I mean is, does anyone think about why there is white meat and dark meat in a turkey?

            It’s all a matter of muscle and fibers. When we eat a turkey, or chicken for that matter, we are eating the bird’s muscles and fibers. Different muscles do different jobs such as walking and flying. Since turkeys are mainly ground dwelling birds they spend a lot of time walking. They need large strong leg muscles that won’t fatigue quickly and will be able to carry their heavy body weight over long distances and for an extended period of time. So the muscles in the legs contain a lot of red fibers (dark meat) that are efficient at aerobic metabolism (requiring a lot of oxygen to get some work done). The dark meat muscles are high in fat and sugar which is the fuel for the muscle when the bird is walking or running.

            Small songbirds such as an oriole or tanager which migrate long distances have mainly red fiber muscle (dark meat). These muscles can sustain long periods of activity using the stored fats and sugars to fly great distances.

            Since turkeys spend most of their time on the ground walking and sometimes running at high rates of speed to escape predators, they have a lot of well developed tasty dark meat not only in their legs but in the muscle that support the legs. Dark meat is my personal favorite.

            White meat is a different story. The large breast muscles in turkeys and chickens are white meat.  This muscle is made up of fibers that are light in color. Breast muscle is used only for flight.

Contrary to what many think, turkeys and chickens can fly short distances. Turkeys have been clocked up to 55 miles per hour in flight. These birds are adapted for powerful short distant flight that is used to escape predators. These birds literally burst into a very powerful flight from a standing position but fatigue quickly and must glide to a stop and rest.

The white meat breast muscle operates on anaerobic metabolism (operating without the need of oxygen). White meat doesn’t have as much fat and sugar stored and so it looks, acts and of course tastes different.

Ducks and geese are long distance fliers which mean their breast meat consists of dark meat that is very high in fat and sugar content. So basically the birds with the most sustained flight have the darkest breast meat. In fact, hummingbirds have some of the darkest of breast meat.

Just a few things to think about the next time you are enjoying a meal of turkey or chicken. Until next time…

 Stan Tekiela is an author / naturalist and wildlife photographer who travels the US to study and photograph wildlife. He can be contacted via his web page at www.naturesmart.com

The overall population of ground nesting birds is steadily going down. Here in North America, we have hundreds of bird species who nest directly on the ground. Prairie birds such as Eastern and Western Meadowlarks are a good example. If you are older than 50 you most likely remember hearing meadowlarks growing up but today, you don’t, because of the population of meadowlarks has dramatically declined. Meadowlarks are a ground nesting bird.

Other ground nesting prairie birds such as Bobolinks and Dickcissels are also on the decrease. These birds were once very common and abundant, however our current day agricultural practices, which in an attempt to squeeze every dollar from every inch of land, has led to a dramatic decline in their populations.

So, with this in mind, I was thrilled to have a friend tell me he had found a particular ground nesting bird that I had only once before had a chance to study and capture some images. This ground nesting bird is the Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris). The Horned Lark is a member of the lark family and is found around the world in the northern hemisphere. It is our only true “lark” species in North America.

By all reports, the Horned Lark is classified as a “common bird in steep decline” just like all other ground nesting birds. The decline is attributed to loss of habitat, agricultural pesticides, early mowing or haying fields and roadside ditches, urbanization, human encroachment, and worst of all collisions with wind turbines. The Horned Lark is one of the species that has been impacted the most by the proliferation of wind turbines.

The name “horned” comes from a set of black feathers on the sides of the birds head that look like horns. The female also has them, but they are much less pronounced. Both the male and female are overall pale brown and grey with the male having a bold black and yellow face. The female is much duller. They have a black tail that really helps when you are trying to identify this bird when it is flying away from you.

The female builds the nest by first making a shallow depression in the ground. She then uses dried grass to weave a soft nest. After mating the female will lay 2-5 brown eggs with dark spots. They are one of the earliest ground nesting birds in the northern states. It is not uncommon for the pair to be done with their first brood by the end of April. This means sometimes the female gets covered in snow while incubating her eggs in some years.

So, when my friend told me about the Horned Lark nest, I jumped at the opportunity to capture some images and video. We picked a day when the sky was cloudy to give us even light on the subject. It is very important to not disturb nesting birds or to draw unwanted attention to the nest sight. Using camouflage covering to conceal ourselves and camera gear also helps.

So, when we approached the nest, I made sure we stayed far away and used my longest lens. Using a long lens is important to be able to capture natural behaviors and not disturb the birds. The parents were busy gathering insects in the surrounding fields. While the adults are out looking for insects the babies are perfectly camouflaged and remain motionless in the nest.

However, when one of the adults returns to the nest, in a blink of an eye, the babies pop up their heads, open their mouths wide, and start begging to be fed. It was amazing to spend some quality time with this nesting pair of Horned Larks and watch as they gather several insects in their bills and fly near the nest. They would carefully look around making sure there was no danger and slowly the parents would approach the nest on foot. As soon as the adults arrived at the edge of the nest the babies would again all pop up simultaneously to be fed.

After hatching, the young stay in the nest only 8 or so days before they leave the nest and start to walk around. The adults follow the young around and continue to feed them until they are able to fly. Even after they fly the male will continue to feed while the female builds a new nest, and the entire process starts over. 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 at his website www.naturesmart.com.