2023 Archives - Page 2 of 3

Costa Rica is a wildlife photographers paradise. I just returned from 2 weeks of trekking through the hot and humid lowland tropical jungles and hiking high up in the cold cloud forest mountains, over 8,000-foot elevation, all in search of a wide variety of birds and mammals.

But for anyone who travels to this Central American country, there is one species of bird that everyone wants and desires to see and photograph. It is the Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno). This is a magnificent green bird that lives only in southern Mexico and parts of Central America in the high elevations of the cloud forests.

My group of intrepid photographers made the full day drive up to the cloud forests of Costa Rica. After settling in for the night at a local lodge with individual rooms/cabin perched on the edge of bluffs and ridges of the mountain side, we tried to get some sleep because early in the morning we were heading out in search of the Resplendent Quetzal.

The morning brought lots of clouds, which shouldn’t be a surprise because after all we were in a cloud forest habitat. It was chilly and I was happy that I brought along my fleece jacket as well as a rain jacket. We all stood around in the pre-dawn waiting for a local guide and a van to pick us up. Everyone was hopeful and excited at the possibility of seeing and capturing some images of this amazing bird.

We arrived at a location where several of the birds have been reported. The Quetzal is well known for feeding on wild avocados. So, after a short hike on a muddy trail, we set up near a large avocado tree. The surrounding area was beautiful and there were several perches the bird might use that would allow the possibility of some great images.

We stood there in the light rain, everyone hopeful for the arrival of the Resplendent Quetzal. Meanwhile our local guide was on the phone checking with other guides in the area to see if any of these birds were being seen. Bad news, no one was reporting any sightings this morning. Several hours passed and still nothing, but then our local guides phone rang, and in half English and half Spanish he said pack it up let’s go quickly to another location.

Off we went down the trail and back into the van and we went off down a narrow winding road until we stopped at another location. Again, we piled out of the van and trekked across several open fields to the edge of the jungle where another avocado tree stood. We were told the bird was just there but flew off just before our arrival. Again, we set up and had great hopes of capturing some images. We waited and waited. The rain stopped for a few minutes and the sun came out and warmed us up.

After a while it was decided that the bird wasn’t coming back to this location, and everyone was getting hungry. Our amazing guide suggested that he call back to our lodge and see if they could make breakfast for everyone and deliver the food to our next location.

The next location had a long steep muddy trail up to the avocado tree. Again, we set up our cameras just when our breakfast arrived. Everyone was hungry and needed some hot coffee. After eating we waited a little longer and still no bird. We headed back down the steep trail doing our best not to slip and slide down the hill.

We gathered for lunch and made a plan to return to the last location where we ate breakfast to wait out the afternoon to see if we can capture some images of the Quetzal. When we returned everyone was wet from the rain and had muddy boots. In these conditions we needed rain gear for our cameras and ourselves. Again, the waiting game started. One hour passed, then another. The sun set was around 5 pm and it was getting towards 4 pm with very light rain falling. Suddenly a flash of bright iridescent green shot past the group and landed in the avocado tree. After the initial gasp of delight, everyone fell silent and concentrated on capturing some images of this unbelievably beautiful bird.

The bird moved around the tree and three times came out into the open allowing everyone a good chance to see and capture stunning images. Later that evening back at the lodge we all raised a glass in toast to the most gratifying day it was and the amazing images this bird provided. Until next time…

Stan Tekiela is an author / naturalist and wildlife photographer who travels the world 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.

At this time of year, stalking through the forest with my camera in hand in search of White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) is one of my favorite activities. The crunching of leaves under my boots, the crisp cold air and the smell of the decomposing leaves are all part of the autumn white-tailed experience.

The White-tailed Deer, also known as just white-tails or Virginia Deer is one of the most successful animals to roam the Americas. Found across most of the states and much of Canada and southern Yukon, they are also found in Mexico, Central and South America. There are just a few southwestern states that don’t have a healthy population of White-tailed Deer otherwise the rest of us see plenty of deer. They are a habitat generalist, occupying a wide range of habitats from mixed deciduous forests to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, deserts, river valleys, wetlands, suburbs, small and big cities.

The other day while walking through the woods in search of a rutting buck, I was fortunate enough to come across a fairly decent 11-point buck. He was clearly rutting and had other things on his mind. The rut is a term used to describe the time in late Oct and early Nov when the females enter estrus and are receptive to breeding. The declining photo period, or the amount of sunlight from sunrise to sunset is what triggers the maturation of the females. The females, called does, may be as young as 6 months, but usually more like 18 months old when they first breed.

I started following the rutting buck. It was clear and obvious he was just following his nose. In other words, he was sniffing the ground and the air and letting his nose take him to the female deer in the area. This meant that I had to keep up a good pace through the woods to keep up with the buck. Occasionally he would stop and look around. These were the times that I could catch up and try to get out in front of him to capture some images of something other than his butt as he was in pursuit of the females.

One of the most remarkable aspects of the rut are the very odiferous scents that the bucks produce. A buck has four sets of major glands located around his body. Each of these glands produce a pungent and powerful scent. So, when the buck is rutting, he gives off a strong odor that I can easily smell at up to 50 yards if the wind is right.

Bucks produce a scrape or scent post, on the ground, to advertise his presents to the female deer. He uses his front hooves to scrape the ground clean of leaves and branches, exposing the soil. While doing this, glands between the toes, called the interdigital glands, emit a yellow waxy substants with a strong odor. At the same time the buck will urinate onto the freshly exposed ground. While urinating, some of the urine will run down its hind legs and over the tarsal glands, picking up more scent to be deposited on the ground. Most scrapes have a low hanging branch, sometimes called the licking stick, directly above the scrape where the buck arches his back and reaches up to rub his forehead on the stick. He has more scent glands between the antlers and near the eyes which he rubs on the licking stick. These are the sudoriferous glands which also produce a strong scent.

While out stalking the woods, I found 6 very fresh scrapes. As always, I get down on the ground and smell the exposed dirt. Experiencing these olfactory events helps to complete the understanding of the White-tailed Deer rutting experience.

Female white-tails will visit these scrapes. I’ve watched as does will stop and take several minutes to smell around the scrape site. It’s believed that the males scent post will help push the female into estrus or make her more receptive to the particular buck when he comes calling.

Bucks will also use their antlers to make a rub. A rub is when he chooses a small tree and uses his antlers to rub and scrape the bark from the trunk. I’ve watched and filmed this process many times and they usually tear up the tree. During this process they also deposit scent from the scent glands between their antlers. This acts as a visual and olfactory scent post to let the does in the area know he is around and ready to breed.

I will no doubt be out many more times this season to stalk the autumn woods in search of the elusive White -tailed Deer. Until next time…

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

When is a duck not a duck? The answer is…. when it is a merganser. So, what is a merganser? The mergansers are fish eating ducks with many different adaptations that make them very different from ducks, yet they are considered in the duck group. So, let’s take a look at the Common Merganser (Mergus merganser).

The Common Merganser is a wide-ranging species in the northern hemisphere around the world. They are considered seaducks, but Common Mergansers prefer fresh water. They can be found in Europe, Asia and North America. Here in America, they are often seen on large freshwater lakes and larger rivers such as the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.

The Common Merganser is a large body bird that rides low in the water and looks superficially like a duck. The male has a large, sleek, and round green head and white body. Its wings are dark. They are over 2 feet long with a wingspan just over 3 feet. Males are larger than females with a male weighing in at nearly 5 pounds and females closer to 3 pounds. Females look remarkably different from the males. Females have a rusty red head with a white chin. They both have a long, narrow, orange bill.

One of the big differences from other ducks is mergansers are fish eaters which is called piscivorous. But catching fish underwater isn’t an easy task. Consider the fact that they need to swim fast enough underwater to catch a fish. Once they have caught up to the fish, they need to be able to grab it and hang onto the slippery prey. To do this, Common Mergansers have serrated edges to their bills. Remember birds don’t have teeth so in order to hang onto a very slippery fish underwater they needed something similar to teeth (see photo). The serrated bill makes mergansers very unique in the bird world. Their bill has also given them another common name the “sawbill”. In addition to fish, they also eat other aquatic prey such as crayfish, aquatic insects, and amphibians.

Just like Wood Ducks the Common Merganser nests in tree cavities. The size of the Common Merganser makes finding a large enough tree cavity a little challenging. They will take advantage of a large wooden human made nest box if it has a big enough entrance hole. Like other mergansers, the Common Merganser will form creches. This is when one female will watch over her ducklings but also babysit other female’s ducklings. One female has been seen with over 70 baby mergansers at one time.

Females lay upwards of 12 eggs and usually only has one brood per season. Incubation takes a little more than one month, and the young mergansers are well developed upon hatching and are ready to leave the nest within 24 hours of hatching.

Along with Common Loons, the Common Merganser is one of the few birds that can live on both fresh and salt water. This might not be something you think is interesting but the ability to switch from fresh to salt water is very unique. Most birds are specialists and will be adapted to either fresh or salt water, but not both.

They can dive underwater for upwards of 2 minutes, but most dives are less than 30 seconds. It all really depends upon the abundance of fish. The more fish the less time underwater and the fewer fish the longer they need to be underwater hunting.

Just like other duck species, the male abandons the female once she starts to incubate the eggs. The female will incubate and care for the ducklings on her own. Nests can be located upwards of 100 feet high in a tree and over a mile from any body of water. The young will follow the female once they jump from the nest.

I find the Common Merganser and the other mergansers to be absolutely amazing. I like how they are a duck yet very different from other ducks. I guess I just like the rule breakers in 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 www.instagram.com. He can be contacted via his web page at www.naturesmart.com.

In my last column, I posed a question that went something like this, “when is a duck not a duck”. The answer is when it is a merganser. Then I wrote about the Common Merganser, which is a member of the duck family but doesn’t look or act like a duck. In this column I would like to look at another merganser that has moved through the states this spring on their way up into Canada and Alaska. It is the Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator).

The Red-breasted Merganser is found all around the world in the Northern Hemisphere. In spring, it is an early migrant that follows the melting ice on northern lakes as it hop-scotches up North America on its way to Northern Canada and Alaska where it will nest.

The male Red-breasted Merganser is a large bird measuring just over 2 feet long from tip of bill to tail and a wingspan of 3 feet. Males are upwards of 3 pounds. Females are smaller and lighter. Males have a dull green head with raggedy feathers sticking out from the back of his large head. It has a white neck ring and as its name implies, a red breast.

Females look remarkably similar to female Common Mergansers, with a reddish head and gray body. Both male and female have long narrow orange bills with a serrated or saw-toothed edge. In fact, their species name “serrator” is Latin for sawyer, ultimately meaning saw-like and is referring to the edge of its bill.

This is another species of duck that must swim extremely fast underwater in order to catch small fish. They use their serrated bill to hold onto the slippery prey. Their legs and feet are located on the backside of the body. Their feet are large and webbed allowing them to paddle with great force, propelling them through the water very quickly. They don’t use their wings underwater and keep the wings close to their bodies when swimming. Because their legs are so far back, they don’t walk very well on land.

In addition to swimming quickly underwater, they are also very fast flyers. Just like the Common Merganser, the Red-breasted Merganser is quick on the wing. They can reach 80 mph in straight level flight. A lot of birds can reach these kinds of speeds but that is usually when diving down from high heights. These birds can do it on flat and level flight. The Common Merganser is also one of the fastest flying birds reaching similar speeds as the Red-breasted Merganser. According to a couple reports I’ve read, the Red-breasted Merganser has attained airspeed of 100 mph while being chased by an airplane. I am not sure how that works out but it’s an interesting note.

Unlike many of the other merganser species which nest in cavities, the Red-breasted Merganser nests on the ground in sheltered places, and near rivers. The female makes a depression on the ground forming a shallow bowl. She fills this with down feathers plucked from her breast to help keep the eggs warm. Unlike other species of birds, the Red-breasted Merganser doesn’t defend a territory and tends to be social year-round. In the non-breeding season, groups of over 100 individuals occur regularly on freshwater lakes and large rivers.

Recently this spring, hundreds of Red-breasted Mergansers were migrating through the area near my house which allowed me to get out and capture a few fun and interesting images of these amazing fish-eating ducks. The males were constantly displaying for the females. The males shake their heads from side to side to get the females attention, then he suddenly lifts his head high, arches his back and then tips forward until his rear-end is up and out of the water. It reminds me of a rocking horse in action. If she likes him, she will poke him with her bill. After she is done laying all of the eggs, the male abandons her, as do all duck species, and she is on her own to incubate the eggs and raise the young.

Populations of the Red-breasted Merganser are stable for now according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey with only a modest decline in populations since the 1960’s. This is definitely a species worth going out to see in early spring and late in summer when they are migrating through our areas. I hope you get a chance to see these cool birds. 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.instagram.com and www.facebook.com. He can be contacted via his website at www.naturesmart.com.

Recently while leading a photo tour to northern Minnesota, I was once again reminded about the rigors of nature. It is a basic tenant of nature, only the strongest will survive to carry on and pass on their genes to the next generation.

I had a small group of 6 photographers as we went for a three-day workshop to capture images of the American Black Bear, Ursus americanus, also known as the Black Bear. Its official name, American Black Bear indicates that this bear is found only in the America’s. The term for this is “endemic” to North America.

The Black Bear is one of three species of bear found in North America. The other two are Brown Bears and Polar bears. Before you reach for your keyboard to fire off an email to me saying that I forgot the Grizzly Bear, you should know that the Grizzly Bear is a subspecies of the Brown Bear.

Our Black Bear is not closely related to our Brown Bears (Ursus arctos) or Polar Bears (Ursus maritimus). Funny thing is, the Brown Bear and Polar Bear are closely related and have been known to breed together where their ranges overlap.

The Black Bear is widespread across North America and when this happens within a species it leads to many subspecies. In fact, there are some sixteen subspecies to the American Black Bear. Subspecies is the way that biologists categorize, or sort out, the slight differences that occur within a species over a large geographical range. For example, the Florida Black Bear is much smaller and tends to have a white blaze on its chest, compared to the Eastern Black Bear which is larger and usually doesn’t have the white blaze on its chest.

There are so many interesting facets to bears in general. For example, bears have a unique mating and reproductive system. Mating for Black Bears takes place in early summer, June and July. Females will be pursued by several males over many weeks. She can make with many males during this time. After mating, the egg and the sperm are joined but the newly fertilized egg doesn’t implant into the female’s uterine wall until late in the fall, several months after mating. Depending upon the over-all health of the female, along with her age and percentage of body fat, anywhere from one to five or six fertilized eggs will attach and start growing.

This brings us back to my photo workshop for Black Bears. On our second day of looking for Black Bears we saw a female with 4 tiny cubs that were born this spring. Since young cubs will stay with their mom for 2 years, we call the newly born cubs “spring cubs”. Because they were born this spring. We were thrilled to see these tiny cubs because they make the cutest pictures. And who doesn’t love a tiny cute Black Bear.

The four cubs all looked different. One cub was the traditional black color, two were medium brown or cinnamon color and one was very light brown. While it is not unusual for Black Bears to come in a variety of colors, seeing all the different colors amongst siblings was interesting to witness. Three of the cubs were the same size and one was noticeably smaller. By my estimation, it looked nearly half the size of the other cubs.

This is a good example of how siblings can be from different fathers. Remember I mentioned earlier in this article that the female can be pursued by multiple males? It is very possible that each of these cubs could have different fathers, although unlikely, it definitely could be two could be from one father and two from another or any combination of these.

The smallest cub, was definitely slower and couldn’t climb trees as fast or as agile as the other cubs. Over the next several hours we watched and captured images of these little cubs and it became obvious that the smallest cub definitely was at a disadvantage. I was explaining to my group that it’s not out of the question that this smallest cub might not make it. Approximately 25 to 50 percent of young bears won’t make it until one year of age. This is usually due to the rigors of nature and the harshness of life in the wild. It is a sad truth, but it is also what makes nature strong by allowing only the strong to survive. Until next time…

Stan Tekiela is an author / naturalist and wildlife photographer who travels throughout the U.S. 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.

I’ve been leading photo tours to capture stunning images of Common Loons (Gavia immer) for over ten years now. Each time I take a group of photographers out it’s feels like a new and fun adventure. Each tour I fully expect to see some interesting behaviors of the loons along with many other species of birds and the birds never fail to amaze me in so many ways.

The Common Loon is the main target, but I often take time to capture images of other species of birds such as American White Pelican, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Marsh Wren and everyone’s favorite, Red-necked Grebe.

Each morning starts well before sunrise. The objective is to get on the water in my custom-built pontoon boat and get into position when the sun first peaks over the eastern horizon. I position the boat near a family of loons with the sun directly on the opposite side, then we wait. With the fires in Canada sending smoke in the upper atmosphere, each sunrise has been a fiery red color. This makes for some amazing settings to capture images of loon families in the morning sunrise. But these early mornings mean I am up at 4 am every morning and we are out late each evening. So, I am averaging 4 hours of sleep each night. This might explain why this article is a bit rambling in nature.

After thirty minutes of capturing images of the sunrise with the loons, I maneuver the boat around to have the sun at our backs and start to capture images in the traditional way. I slowly move the boat around the lake in search of other birds. Using my binoculars to scan the immediate area and trying to anticipate the birds that might be in the particular habitat. Now and then we get lucky and see a muskrat or otter but mostly we concentrate on capturing images of birds.

At this time of year, most birds are nesting and are busy tending to either building nests, incubating eggs or feeding young. Each species is on its own timeline. Some are just getting ready to start nesting while other birds such as the Common Loon have their chicks already. That is the thing about nature, each species has found its own way to accomplish the same thing, reproduction. While nesting is relatively similar, each species tweaks the process to fit the species particular needs.

Every now and then we are surprised by a new and interesting bird. I often spend extra time in or near cattail marshes. Nearly every time we visit these areas, I can hear a small and secretive bird. It is often buried deep in the cattails with no chance of seeing it. It gives a soft and regular call lasting only one or two seconds. Its call sounds like someone knocking on a wooden door. “knock, knock, knock, knock”. While it is not unusual to hear this bird, seeing them just about never happens. It is the Least Bittern (Lxobrychus exilis).

So recently, after telling everyone a bit about their natural history, and especially noting that we never see them due to their secretive nature, we had two of them jump out of the cattails and started flying around, right out in the open. Several of the participants were able to capture some images of the birds in flight and everyone got a real good look at these uncommon birds.

The Least Bittern is the smallest member of the heron family in North America and perhaps the third smallest heron in the world, standing only 11 inches tall. It only weights about 2 to 3.5 ounces, not pounds. This makes them one of the lightest of all the herons.

The Least Bittern spends most of its time walking around in the cattails. The problem is, the cattails are in water, so the bittern uses its long toes to grab the stalks of the cattails, often straddling the stems in the splits position. It does this to move about the cattail marsh, to hunt for food and to find a mate and make a nest.

After seeing the two birds flying around everyone was so happy. We had a brief celebration then started to motor out of the area. While reaching the outer edge of the marsh, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Perched at the base of some cattails, was a Least Bittern right out in the open. We were able to capture some of the best images I have of this bird, thus proving you never know what you will see when you go out into nature. Until next time…

However, there are some species who don’t follow the early nesting playbook for reproduction. The American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) is a great example of this alternate nesting behavior. Weeks after most young birds have left the nest and the adults are chasing after the young to feed them, the American Goldfinch is just starting to work on building a nest and laying eggs.

I was fortunate enough to recently find an American Goldfinch nest that was in a location to observe and capture a few images while not disturbing their natural nesting behavior safely and respectfully. Located along a driveway and down a small hill, the nest was slightly below eye-level when I parked my truck. This allowed me to stay inside my vehicle and use a very long lens to watch, learn and capture natural nesting behaviors.

It is not known why American Goldfinch nests so late in the season. It may be related to the ripening of thistle seed, which makes up a large portion of their diet. The extra food makes feeding themselves and their offspring much easier and perhaps leads to more babies leaving the nest. In addition to the abundant food, they also use the soft silky downy material attached to the thistle seed to line the inner cup of their nest. They also use silky material from Milkweed and Cattail. Again, an abundant nesting material makes it easier to construct the nest.

Male Goldfinch set up a territory and begin to make elaborate courtship flights while singing a loud clear song. His flight is often described as a roller coaster ride because his flight goes up and down in an undulating pattern. Closer to the ground he often flies in a zig-zag pattern from tree to tree to attract a female.

It is the female who constructs the nest often on the thin branches of a small tree or shrub. It takes her less than a week to fully construct the nest. Some males will bring construction material to the female, but she does all the work. She will lay four to six eggs over the next week before she sits down and starts to incubate.

Chicks hatch 12-14 days after incubation starts. The young are hatched naked, with their eyes still sealed shut and are completely helpless. The adult male collects food and brings it to the female who in turn feeds the newly hatched young. One of the things that makes these Goldfinch unusual is the fact they feed their young mostly seeds and very few insects. Most springtime baby birds are fed a high protein diet of insects.

There is very little nest parasitism by Brown-headed Cowbirds because it is believed the Goldfinch nests are too late in the year for the cowbirds and the survival rate of the cowbird offspring is very low in the Goldfinch nest because of the mostly seed diet.

The American Goldfinch is one of the strictest vegetarians in the bird world. Which is to say they don’t eat the number of insects like most smaller birds. They are considered granivorous birds, who only occasionally eat insects. They concentrate their food gathering efforts on a narrow variety of plants, and often these are considered weedy plants such as thistle, dandelion, ragweed, and other less desirable plants. They also consume fresh tree buds along with a wide variety of ripened fruit. Watching the American Goldfinch feeding at this time of year is fun. It often hangs upside down from seedheads while popping seed after seed out and consumes right on the spot.

Sitting in my truck with my lens poked out the driver window, I see the male flying to the nest where the female sits on the newly hatched young. He is singing his loud clear song as he approaches, and the female immediately starts to quiver her wings and open her mouth even before he arrives at the edge of the nest. When he does, the male feeds the female regurgitated slurry of seeds. He departs and in turn she feeds the young baby birds with the freshly delivered food. This is an amazing and very different strategy in bird reproduction. 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.instagram.com, www.facebook.com. He can be contacted at his website www.naturesmart.com.

Every now and then I come across a bird that really piques my interest. If you know anything about me from reading this column, you know that I am interested in all wildlife, so if something really piques my interest you know it is a very special bird indeed.

The other day I was intently watching a pair of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks. I saw the male carrying some nesting material high up into an oak tree, but then I lost it in the thick tangle of leaves. Shortly after that I saw the female grosbeak doing the same thing. Again, I lost sight of it in the leaves. I vowed I would stand there until I got this figured out and find the actual nest. Not just the general location.

Suddenly, I could hear a Black-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus erythropthalmus) calling from a short distance away behind me. I noted the calling cuckoo but thought perhaps it was just one passing through the area and I went back to searching for the grosbeak nesting activity. Again, I could hear the cuckoo calling, this time it was from a slightly different location. Again, I went back to looking for the grosbeak nesting activity. About four different times I could hear the Black-billed Cuckoo calling.

The allure of the Black-billed Cuckoo became too much for me and I turned and started hiking over to the general location where I heard the bird the last time. Upon arrival in the area, I could see a single tall American Elm tree standing out in the open with no other trees around it. I used my binoculars to scan the tree’s branches in search for the elusive, Black-billed Cuckoo but I didn’t find it.

Several weeks ago, in the same area I saw and heard a Yellow-billed Cuckoo. I managed to capture a few, not so good, pictures of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo. So, I was determined to find this Black-billed Cuckoo and capture some decent images. From directly behind me I could hear the Black-billed Cuckoo calling again. I turned on my heels and marched back knowing that this may take a while to nail down the location of this bird.

I approached a small Green Ash tree that I thought contained the bird and again I could hear the cuckoo calling from my left side about 25 yards away. So again, I headed across the open field to another Green Ash tree and there it was. I was able to set up my longest lens and tripod and capture just 6 images of this magnificent bird before it flew off. I was thrilled.

The Black-billed Cuckoo is a New World species in the Cuculidae family. Its scientific name comes from the Ancient Greek and translates to “call like a Common Cuckoo”. Yep, that’s right, these birds are closely related to the Old-World Cuckoos that gave rise to the sound that comes from a Cuckoo Clock.

The Old-World Cuckoos are well known for laying their eggs in other bird’s nests, allowing the host birds to raise their young. Our New-World Cuckoos don’t practice this kind of reproductive behavior. They build their own nests in which they incubate and raise their own young.

Black-billed Cuckoos eat mainly insects, especially caterpillars but they also eat berries from trees and shrubs. They are one of the few bird species that feed on Tent Caterpillars and the invasive Spongy Moth Caterpillars. Most other birds don’t eat these caterpillars because they are covered with a thick hair-like structures called setae. The Cuckoo is able to regurgitate up the accumulation of setae from their stomach, much in the same way an owl regurgitates up the un-digestible parts of a mouse.

Another very interesting aspect of this bird is their feet. The Black-billed Cuckoo has zygodactylous feet, which means it has two toes pointing forward and two facing backwards, just like an owl or parrot. Most birds have three toes forward and one toe back.

The majority of cuckoos are tropical, but the Yellow-billed and Black-billed Cuckoo migrate up from the tropics into the eastern half of the country in the northern states. And this is why I am very excited to see, hear and ultimately capture a few images of this fabulous bird. Until next time…

Stan Tekiela is an author / naturalist and wildlife photographer who travels the world to capture images of wildlife. He can be followed on www.instagram.com and www.facebook.com and can be contacted via his website www.naturesmart.com.

Standing on the open high plains of eastern Wyoming, I scan the horizon in all directions. To the west are some small rolling hills covered in dark green coniferous trees. To the south is an old homestead. Turning more to my left, facing east now, there is nothing but flat open land covered in sage brush and small tufts of grass. My eyes can look for miles in all directions with nothing to obstruct the view.

In the open plains of eastern Wyoming there are no trees to stop the wind so there is always a constant breeze. This vast open area is perfect habitat for a very special canid called the Swift Fox (Vulpes velox). The Swift Fox is the smallest native canid (in the dog family) in North America. They are a tiny fox weighing between 3 to 7 pounds. Males tend to be slightly larger than females. By comparison, they are about the size of a house cat but weigh much less. They are less than half the size of a Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes). They are mostly legs, tail and ears. And they are so darn cute.

The common name “Swift” comes from the fact that they are extremely fast runners. Their species name “velox” is Latin for “swift moving”. For a tiny fox they can reach speeds of 25 mph very quickly when running away or chasing a bird.

Originally the Swift Fox ranged all across the plains of western Canada down into Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas and as far south as Texas. They are a canid that was tightly associated with the short grass prairies of the American west. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s government sponsored programs to clear the landscape of predators such as wolves and coyotes, nearly drove this critter to extinction. By the 1930’s poisoning, trapping, and shooting along with clearing the land for farming and grazing cattle killed off the Fox in Canada along with much of its former range in the U.S.. Only a few small pockets remained by the 1980’s. They have been reintroduced to many parts of their former range and have been brought back from extinction in Canada. Today, the exact population estimates of the Swift Fox are not known but they seem to be doing much better.

I came to eastern Wyoming to meet up with a friend and see if we could locate some Swift Foxes. About a dozen years ago, I had an opportunity to see and interview the biologist that where working on the reintroduction of the Swift Fox in South Dakota. I took several trips and saw and photographed a few Swift Foxes and I fell in love with this tiny canid. Unfortunately, this population never took hold, and they died out a couple years later. So, this is why I am in Wyoming in search of this cool critter.

We obtained permission from the landowner and drove out to a large cattle ranch. Hundreds of thousands of acres of open land with cattle scattered across the landscape. The vegetation is sparse, so sparse in fact that there is a large network of open soil between the patches of sage and needle and thread grass. It is a very arid part of the country.

Using binoculars, we scanned the area looking for patches or small mounds of dirt where the foxes piled up loose soil when digging a den. The den has three to four openings and can extend 10 to 15 feet horizontally into the ground making a network of tunnels that they use to sleep, give birth to their pups, and stay cool during the heat of the day.

We located a number of dirt mounds but couldn’t see any foxes so we decided to wait and see. It was late in the day with only a couple hours of daylight remaining. The Swift Fox is similar to other foxes in that they are mostly nocturnal so waiting for sunset seems like a good idea. It didn’t take long before we spotted an adult female emerging from the den.

In this open area there is nothing to hide or conceal ourselves so we used the truck to hide our human form. Within a few minutes of the adult coming out of the den, five nearly adult size pups emerged also. Over the next 3 days we spent every morning and every evening capturing images and video along with studying the behavior of these super cool foxes.

Spending time with these foxes reminded me of the importance of a diverse ecosystem that is complete with all its predators, small and large. Only when the circle is complete do we have a healthy environment. Until next time…

Stan Tekiela is an author / naturalist and wildlife photographer to travels the U.S. 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.

The vast majority of native bird nesting takes place in spring, right after the trees green up and the flowers start to bloom. The spring nesting season feels like a frantic rush to quickly build a nest, lay, and incubate eggs and feed the resulting chicks. Each species of bird approaches nesting slightly differently but ultimately with the same goal in the end, successfully passing on their genes within the fledging baby birds.

One of the most important parts of any forest ecosystem or ecology is the mighty oak tree. It is often a huge sprawling tree with thick heavy branches, large dark green leaves and a trunk covered with thick bark. There are approximately 500 species of oak tree found all around the world in the Northern Hemisphere. They grow from the cold temperate regions down to the tropical latitudes. They occur in Asia, Europe, North Africa and of course North America.

North America has the most oak species with approximately 90 distinct kinds of oak in the United States. Oak trees are one of my favorite trees but NOT at this time of year. More about my beef with oak trees shortly. They are an ancient group of trees. The oldest fossil record in North America dates to the Middle Eocene, around 44 million years ago, and was found in Oregon. In other parts of the world, the fossil record dates to 55 million years ago.

They are such an amazing and incredibly diverse group of trees. For example, most oaks are deciduous, which means they drop their leaves each fall and grow new leaves in the spring, but some oaks are evergreen, holding their leaves all year long just like evergreen trees. Not many tree species have this kind of diversity.

Oak trees can be broken down into 2 different categories or groups. The White Oak group and the Red Oak Group. The difference can be seen in the leaves. All the oaks in the White Oak group have round tips of their leaves. While all of the oaks in the Red Oak group have pointed tips. This is a quick and easy way to group the oaks.

In addition, White Oak trees produce flowers each spring. Yes, I know, you are probably thinking right now that you’ve never seen oak trees with flowers. That is because oaks have small green flowers that occur in early spring before the leaves start to grow. These flowers, after being pollinated, turn into acorns. White Oaks produce acorns every year. The Red Oaks also produce flowers in the spring, but the resulting acorns don’t mature and fall from the tree until the following year. Red Oaks produce acorns every other year. So, if you have an oak tree in your yard and you are only raking up acorns every other year you have a Red Oak type of tree. If you are raking up acorns every year, like I do, then you have a White Oak type of tree.

The acorn is how the oak tree reproduces itself. The word “acorn” comes from the combination of two words, “corn” and “oak-horn” which both refer to an important food source. By the 15^th and 16th centuries the words were combined to make the Old English word “acorn” which we use today.

Acorns are an extremely important food source for all sorts of wildlife. Everything from tiny mice all the way up to bears and moose eat acorns. Each autumn, White-tailed Deer eat large amounts of acorns. Some studies estimate 25 percent of a deer’s autumn diet is made up of acorns. Birds such as jays, turkeys and ducks also eat a high volume of acorn. Of course, it’s not surprising that woodpeckers eat a lot of acorns also.

The acorn is the oak trees’ way to reproduce and send new copies or versions of themselves out into the world. The problem is, no one wants their children growing at their feet or under their branches. Acorns are too large to be dispersed by or carried away by the wind, so they require other ways to spread out. They need a biological seed dispersal agent to carry or move their seeds away from the mother tree and into a suitable area with enough sunlight and soil nutrients to sprout and grow.

The main biological dispersal agents for the oaks are squirrels and jays. Both squirrels and jays are considered scatter-hoarders and will cache large amounts of acorns for later consumption. Even though squirrels and jays have remarkable abilities to remember where they have stored each nut, a small percentage are never recovered, and these forgotten acorns are the ones that germinate and produce new trees away from the mother tree.

Now for my love/hate relationship with oak trees. My house is located under many very large White Oak trees and this year I am being buried alive under a mountain of acorns that fall like rain when the wind blows. It is so bad that I can’t park my truck in the driveway for fear it will be completely covered by acorns by morning. Forget about walking down my driveway, because it is like walking on a thousand marbles, threatening to twist an ankle at any moment. I do my best to clear away the acorns but somedays it feels like I am fighting a loosing battle. Until next time…