Eastern Bluebird Nesting
Every now and then I come across something in nature that really grabs my attention. Recently I have been concentrating on photographing birds feeding their young while they chicks are still in the nest. I have spent countless hours waiting (covered in camouflage and hiding as to not disturb the family and also to catch natural behavior) at several nests. Of course in the recent heat I can say this is not my favorite thing to do but it did prove very interesting last week. As you may recall from my last column, I was photographing an American Goldfinch nest and in the process learned a lot about the extremely nutritious food that they feed their babies. The mixture of partially digested and regurgitated seed pabulum the parents feed their young means the babies need to be feed only once every 2 hours as compared to similar songbird species who feed their chicks insects once every 20 minutes or less. Last week, while working with one of my favorite species of bird, the Eastern Bluebirds, I photographed something very unusual. For days I watched as both bluebird parents came to the nest cavity with all sorts of insects–crickets, katydids, caterpillars of many species of moth and butterfly, spiders and much more. Each trip the parents stuffed the insects, large and small, into the gapping mouths of their hungry nestlings. Nothing too unusual here. Then one afternoon I saw the adult male bring in something fairly large. I wasn’t able to see at first what it was. As the male Bluebird entered the nest cavity I took a series of pictures and he departed to gather up more food. I didn’t think much of it. Just another mouthful of protein rich, six-legged goodness I thought. Shortly afterwards the male Bluebird came in again carrying another large food item. Again he entered the nest box to feed his youngsters and again I took a series of 8 to 10 images. Off he went again in search of more food. By the way, male bluebirds do most of the feeding of their young. Females also feed their babies but only at a rate of about half that of the male. I quickly removed the flash card from my camera and placed it into my computer to take a quick look at the images and make sure my focus was accurate and exposure was correct. To my astonishment there on my laptop screen was the male bluebird feeding an adult Western Chorus Frog to his babies. Not just once but twice in less than two hours. As I sat there with my jaw hanging open, many things raced through my head. This means that the bluebird had to first find the frogs. If you have ever tried to find a Western Chorus Frogs you will know what I mean. They are small frogs that don’t move around a lot during the day and they blend into the surroundings so well, that I have been within 2 feet of them and still couldn’t see them. So after locating the frog the bluebird needed to catch it, another difficult prospect, and then dispatch it. Larger birds wouldn’t have much trouble killing a frog of this size but frankly the Eastern Bluebird is not well equipped for such a task. I have watched bluebirds kill caterpillars and large insects thousands of times. They simply whack the prey item against a branch until dead. Somehow, I had troubles imagining these sweet bluebirds beating the stuffing out of this frog, but apparently it did because here it was and the frog was not kicking. My mind then jumped to wondering about how the baby bird’s digestive system was going to handle the bones of the frog. Most birds of prey for instance are unable to digest bones of the animals they eat. They regurgitate the undigested bones up several hours after eating. As far as I know regurgitating is not something that bluebirds are capable of doing. Later after returning to the office I did some research. The only documentation I could come up with was some reports of bluebirds feeding their young frogs and salamanders back in the 1940’s. This would have been before the nation-wide population decline of the Eastern Bluebird. So if you have any unusual sightings of bluebirds eating strange things, why don’t you give me a shout. Just about the time I think I know something about nature she seems to throw me a curve ball. In this case it was a curve ball in a frog’s skin. Until next time…
Stan is now on Twitter
I want to personally invite everyone to follow me on twitter at twitter.com/stantekiela. I will be tweeting from the field on during my photographic adventures.
Bears
On a recent trip to the far reaches of northern Minnesota for Black Bears I had a chance to photograph bears in their end of summer feeding frenzy. They were so intent upon feeding the challenge was not finding them it was getting them to lift up their heads long enough for a good picture. There are three species of bear in North American. The Polar Bear, Grizzly Bear and the Black Bear. The Black Bear (Ursus Americans) is the most common and is the widest spread bear in North America. It ranges across the northern states and Canada from coast to coast with their range reaching like fingers down the Appalachian Mountains as far south as Florida and down the Rocky Mountains down to Mexico. In addition there are pockets of bears found in many southern states. Over all the population of Black Bears is growing all across the nation. Black Bears are found only in North America. They inhabit forested regions but can also be found in mountainous regions, open tundra and more and more in suburban areas. There is an estimated 750,000 Black Bears in the US. Each spring Black Bears emerge from their winter dens and begin to feed. They have lost so much weight over winter that it is very important for the bears to find enough food to regain their strength and energy in preparation for mating. Mating season starts in late May and extends into early July. Summer is a good time of year for bears. Mating is over and living is good. Foraging for food and milling around their home range takes up much of their time. Insects are plentiful and their favorite food, green grasses and sedges are everywhere. Plants make up 80 percent of their diet. Starting in late August, a Black Bear’s hormones kick into high gear which in turn starts the bears on a feeding frenzy. In order for a bear to survive 5 to 6 months of winter dormancy it needs to have a sufficient layer of fat from which the body draws its energy. Without enough fat stored the bear may not make it to the following spring. In addition the amount of fat and the quality of the fat will determine if and how many cubs a mother bear will have during the coming winter. Although bears mate in June the prospective mother will not actually become pregnant until November. This is called delayed implantation and is fairly common in large mammals such as bears. So if a mother bear is healthy and has an adequate fat layer going into winter dormancy she will give birth to several (usually 2) cubs in January or early February. If she is not carrying enough fat see will not have any cubs. So in preparation of the coming winter all bears at this time of year are in a hyperactive eating mode which is called hyperphagia. This leads to bears feeding for up to 20 hours a day, taking in huge amounts of calories. Most of the food stuff is in the form of plants but they also eat as many insects, berries and nuts as they can find. Years with droughts which result in few berries and nuts are tough on the bears and forces them to find alternative food sources such as breaking into cabins, tearing down birdfeeders and raiding garbage cans. The bears are so single-minded on eating at this time of year they sleep only a couple hours each day. The rest of the time is devoted to foraging for food. Some bears may travel hundreds of miles in search of a rich food supply. Until next time…
Yellowstone
This week’s column finds me photographing wildlife in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem. Words hardly do this place justus. Even my camera seems inadequate at capturing the immensity and beauty of this place. For those not fortunate enough to have spent some time visiting Yellowstone here is a little background. It was first dedicated as our nation’s first National Park in 1872. Interesting it was photographs by William Henry Jackson’s that helped persuade Congress to create this park. Now here I am over 100 years later trying to capture some of the same grandeur. I personally have visited Yellowstone dozens of times starting when I was just a boy and continue to this day. Each time is a new and exciting adventure. But Yellowstone’s history goes back much furthers than 100 years. About 2 million years ago, then 1.3 million years ago, and again about 640,000 years ago, huge volcanic eruptions formed much of what we see today. Nearly 240 cubic miles of ash, rock and other debris were spewed across the area from several volcanoes. In addition a 35-45 square mile circle collapsed to form a caldera or shallow basin. Located within this basin are much of the present day geysers, hot springs and mudpots. Nowhere in the world are there as many geysers as Yellowstone. While the geological features of this area are a great draw for millions of tourist, it is the wildlife living in their natural environment that most people come to see. Hundreds of bison roam the hills and valleys just as they did thousands of years ago. Herds of elk fill the mountain meadows while Bighorn Sheep climb the steep mountain cliffs. Black Bear share the mountains and valleys with Grizzly Bear. I am having many exciting encounters with the area wildlife. Just two days ago I hiked up Mount Washburn, a three mile hike up to 10,240 feet, to photograph Bighorn sheep. On the way back down I was enjoying the peace and solitude. The trail is an old gravel road that winds it way around cliffs and across open mountain meadows and interspersed with small tracks of conifer trees. While passing through one of the wooded areas I heard a snap of a twig. I turned my head to the left to see a large grizzly bear tearing apart a log only 50 feet away. As a photographic opportunity this was a great one. However on the other hand standing alone on the side of a mountain with a full grown grizzly bear just feet away and no where to hide can be a little unsettling. Even now while sitting in my RV writing this story I am still amazed. While standing there, I quickly went through the rules of traveling in grizzly country in my head. First, always carry bear spray. Ok, got that handy. I was just hoping not to use it. Second, always make noise to let the bears know you are there and not surprise them. Too late for that! I took up a position behind a tree and surveyed the surrounding trees for a suitable tree to climb. While it is not true that grizzly’s can’t climb trees it was the only option I had. After only a minute or so I started talking really loud to let the bear know I was there. The last thing I wanted was a surprised bear. Surprised bears often react by charging and attacking. Even my best efforts at talking very loud didn’t seem to detour this bear from eating. He would only casually look up from his foraging to look at me now and then. Over the next few minutes my trembling and shaking subsided and I was able to breathe normally again. I also became aware of what the bear was eating. Now and them he would pop up his head to look around and there would be a pine cone held between his teeth. He would crush the cone in order to eat the large and very nutritious seeds within. After dining on what seemed like dozens of pine cones and lots of plant roots and insects he turned around several times in a tight circle, much like my dog does just before laying down, and the bear plopped down on his side. He gave three deep huffs and promptly fell asleep. I took this opportunity to safely head down the mountain. Just another day of wildlife photography in Yellowstone National Park.
Bobcat encounter
I am proud to announce the release of my new book titled; A Year in Nature with Stan Tekiela. See below.
Wolves in Yellowstone
My wildlife encounters continued in Yellowstone National Park. This week finds me on the side of a mountain (Mt Washburn) looking down into a very large and open valley. Below me are seven wolves, four black and three gray, which are busy doing wolf things such as sleeping, playing, chasing each other, hunting and so forth. After two decades of legal challenges and opposition from local ranchers, wolves were reintroduced into the Yellowstone ecosystem in January of 1995. Twenty nine wild wolves’ were trapped in Alberta Canada and transported back to Wyoming and Idaho. Fifteen of the wolves were released immediately in central Idaho while the remaining fourteen wolves were held in holding pens in Yellowstone National Park. They were later released in March. The wolves that were released in Idaho stayed in the intended area and one year later, three females had formed their own packs and were thriving in their intended area. After the release of the Yellowstone wolves only one was illegally killed. The rest stayed very close to their release site and settled into their new home ranges. No livestock were killed as was predicted and the wolves started to reproduce, producing nine pups in the first year. By all accounts the reintroducing of wolves into the Yellowstone ecosystem was a huge success. For nearly 100 years wolves had been absent from park and now the ecosystem is intact and supports the full array of predators and prey animals. This brings us back to me standing on the side of the mountain with a pack of wolves in front of me. As a naturalist / biologist and wildlife photographer I couldn’t be happier. It is not often that I get to see a complete ecosystem functioning the way its suppose to. For the next 6 hours I stand, sit, stretch, and just about every other on you can imagine while I watch and photograph the wolves. For the most part they are sleeping or at least I assume they are sleeping. Many times they lay down in the grass and all I can see is the tips of their ears. Now and then they will stand up, stretch and lay back down again–just like your family dog might do. Then I notice a black wolf trotting towards the group from the other side of the valley. One by one the sleeping pack starts to stir. The approaching wolf is getting closer and the pack is all standing and looking at the approaching wolf. I have no idea if this is an interloper or a family member. Only time will tell. When the approaching wolf is close enough, several of the smaller black wolves trot out to great the approaching wolf. What takes place next could have been in any wildlife documentary film. The greeting wolves start to run faster towards the approaching wolf with their tails tucked between their hind legs and when they come together it is obvious they are family. With tails wagging and playful prancing the group of wolves greet each other enthusiastically with much mussel licking and submissive behavior. It’s now obvious that the incoming wolf is an adult who was out hunting and the greeters are youngsters who are begging for food or just greeting an elder. Off to the side a large gray wolf that was sleeping in the middle of a bison wallow (exposed dirt) slowly gets up and stretches. With its tail held high, it’s obvious this is the alpha (leader of the pack) male or female. All attention of the pack turns towards this large gray wolf. The greeting party and the incoming wolf join the rest of the pack and all trot over towards the large gray wolf. The group swarms over the slumbering gray wolf in what can only be described as a dog pile. Suddenly the large gray wolf breaks free from the pack and starts to run off with the rest of the pack in tow. There is much playing and pouncing as the group moves off to a stand of trees and I loose sight of the pack. Slowly I pack up my camera and think to myself how good it is to have the wolves back in Yellowstone. Until next time… I think most people consider December as being part of winter. And you would be mostly right if you thought this since the meteorological first day of winter is December 1st. This is different from the solstice. It’s the day that most meteorologists consider the start of winter or at least the winter weather season. I say, good enough for me. Getting back to the solstice. The solstice is an astronomical event that occurs twice a year. Once in the spring and once in the fall. Every day the earth is tilting on its axis either towards the North Pole or towards the South Pole depending upon the time of year. The axis is the imaginary line drawn through the earth from the North Pole to the South Pole. At this time of year the earth tilts on its axis moving the northern hemisphere (us) away from the sun and exposing the southern hemisphere more to the sun. The furthest the earth tilts is 23.5 degrees north or south of the equator, or about a quarter angle to the sun. When we reach the end of our movement north or south the tilting comes to a stand still, which is called the solstice. The name solstice comes from the Latin, sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still). Believe it or not, just that small amount of tilting away from the sun is enough to give us winter or summer. What makes it more mind boggling is the earth revolves around the sun in an elliptical pattern and during winter we actually move closer to the sun by over 2 million miles than we are in summer. So even though we are closer to the sun in winter the angle
Christmas Tree
Are you like me? Each holiday season I ponder the whole fake tree, real tree conundrum? Which one is better for the environment? I recently read a story written by Gretel Schueller, in Audubon magazine. It shed some light on this subject for me so I though it would be worth paraphrasing some of the article for you. The first Christmas tree lot opened on the streets of New York in 1851 when Mark Carr hauled two ox sleds loaded with trees from the Catskill Mountains to town. Today about a half a million acres of land are used by 22,000 Christmas tree growers, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. These tree farmers produce over 32 million trees each holiday season. So the question remains, is cutting down a tree for temporary use in your home during the holidays good or bad for the environment? Lets first look at some facts about artificial trees which apparently they are now called “permanent trees”. About 9.3 million artificial trees are made and sold each year. About 80 percent of these are made in China. The cost to the environment in terms of how much petroleum is used to manufacture these trees, packaging the trees in cardboard boxes and transporting the trees half way around the world is extremely high. Consider this, the life span of the average artificial tree in the U.S. is only 6 years but the lifespan of this same tree in a landfill is an eternity. Before 1950, most fresh Christmas trees where cut from the wild. Obviously cutting from the wild would be a problem if it continued today but now 98 percent of all fresh trees are grown on tree farms. Proponent’s pint out that farm trees offer many environmental benefits. They provide oxygen and remove carbon dioxide and other pollutants from the air while the tree is growing. They help stabilize soils, help reduce flooding and provide nesting habitat for many species of birds. And because Christmas trees are often grown on land retired from other uses, generally fallow fields and cow pastures, they’re not supplanting older forests. Also when trees are planted next to natural woodland, a stand of Christmas trees creates an “edge effect” that increases wildlife diversity. Birds such as Goldfinch and Cedar Waxwings and small mammals such as rabbits and mice find these habitats very beneficial. Bird counts have actually increased on farms that start to grow Christmas trees. But there is a darker side to the fresh Christmas tree story. Not all Christmas trees are perfectly green as they appear. In order to produce the ideally shaped and colored tree, farmers often use large amounts of chemicals. Insecticides, herbicides and fungicides are used when growing Christmas trees. These chemicals are highly toxic to birds, fish and mammals, often counter-acting the benefits of growing the trees. In addition many farmers will spray the tree with a green dye to make the tree look greener and hold the needles longer. When we buy a Christmas tree we don’t think about the liberal amounts of chemicals that were applied to the tree and are now sitting in our living rooms. Off gassing of the chemicals is a real concern not to mention the effects this will have on our pets who sometimes chew the fallen needles. Fortunately I think there are a few things we can do as a consumer. If you are purchasing a fresh tree this season ask some questions of the grower. Inquire about the growing practices. Encourage your local grower to use fewer chemicals. Most importantly don’t expect and demand a perfectly shaped and colored tree. My family has chosen a fresh tree for our holiday tree. In the next Nature Smart column I think we will take a look at what benefits a fresh tree can be after the holiday lights have been turned off and the presents have been unwrapped. Until next time…
Sundogs
On a recent trip to Yellowstone to photograph wolves and foxes, the air temperature one morning hit 43 degrees below zero.
Christmas Tree Part 2
Continuing our look at Christmas trees. Last week we looked at what environmental impacts a fresh cut tree has compared to a permanent tree. This time we are going to look at what to do with your fresh cut tree now that the eggnog has been drunk and all the Christmas presents are unwrapped. First, hopefully you are not bagging up your tree and sending it off to the landfill. With that said let’s take a look at some options to help the environment with your tree. First, let’s look at what my family does with our tree. My wife and daughter love to make pine scented pillows as gifts for next year. So the first thing we do is cut several of the branches from the tree so we can strip the needles. This can be a fun activity especially if you have members of your family who just don’t want to let go of their holiday spirit right away. They gather the needled in paper bags and hit the sewing machine with small swatches of fabric and in no time they have a pile of pine scented pillows. Not everything you can do with your tree is so Martha’esk. A survey commissioned by the National Christmas Tree Association found that 93 percent of the people who bought a real tree recycled it in some way. Several organizations such as wildlife refuge have collected discarded trees to sink in their ponds and lakes to give fish some structure to hide and lay eggs. (Please note, do not do this unless on your own private property, leave the wildlife management on public land to the wildlife managers on staff.) Placing your tree in your backyard to provide shelter for birds and small mammals is not a new idea but it is a good idea that works well. You can also decorate your “yard tree” with edible treats for the birds. It can be adorned with strings of unsalted popcorn, dried fruit, and unshelled peanuts. You can also spread suet and or peanut butter on the branches and cones to provide a tasty snack to your wintering birds. Constructing a brush pile in your backyard is always a good way to help your local critters. I have had a brush pile in my yard for many years and I am constantly seeing our birds, squirrels, rabbits and lately an opossum coming and going from its many entrances. In fact I recently had a visit from a Cooper’s Hawk and the first place our birds scattered to was the safety of the brush pile. A recent study I read found that Cooper’s Hawks attacked birds in the open more often and were less successful when smaller birds had some kind of conifer tree to escape to. I am not sure how I feel about that because I really like these bird eating hawks and hate to see them go hungry. An Arizona State University researcher studied birds roosting in dense vegetation provided by evergreens during winter. They found that the dense vegetation reduced radiation heat loss (heat given off to the air from the birds bodies) reduced by 88 percent. That is a huge savings of energy when you consider every calorie helps to survive a winters night. I like my brush pile to not stick out like a sore thumb so I don’t just throw my tree on a big heap of tangled branches. I take out my trimmer and cut the branches from the trunk and lay the cut branches across the pile– like a roof over a house. Not only does it look better it helps the tree break down faster. The trunk is sectioned in to manageable sizes and burned as firewood. Breaking down and returning the nutrients in our Christmas tree to the soils are another benefit of using a fresh cut tree. No matter what you do with your tree this year, the mere fact that a fresh cut tree will break down in the environment (bio-degradable) is a huge advantage over a discarded artificial tree (used on average for only 6 years) which will remain in a landfill for centuries to come. With over 35 million fresh cut trees sold each year in the United States alone we can have your holiday tree and a healthy environment also. Until next time…
Florida Burrowing Owls
Stan Tekiela is proud to announce that Amazing Hummingbirds has been nominated for the winner of the Midwest Book Awards. Anouncement will be made May 11th. See below to order a copy.