My-oh-my how times have changed. Over the last 35 plus years I have witnessed a few amazing changes in nature. Normally I don’t think it would be possible to make these kinds of claims. After all in nature it usually takes hundreds if not thousands of years to effect changes. But when you throw in the affects of humans, everything seems to be accelerated.

Recently I have been spending a lot of time photographing a Trumpeter Swan nest with cygnets. When I first started in this career of studying / photographing and writing about nature there were no Trumpeter Swans around. They were locally extinct, a term called extirpated. Like a lot of species we (humans) did a great job at eliminating so many. They were wiped out of nearly all regions in the lower 48 states.

From the time of settlement until very recently, Trumpeter Swans were hunted for their meat and feathers. They are a large bird and fairly easy to shoot and provided the hunter a healthy meal. So these birds were targeted and were quickly killed off in much of the country before 1900.

The same thing happened to so many other species such as Eastern Turkey and Whooping Crane. Many more suffered the same fate but from different reasons. Loons, Bald Eagles, Osprey and others were also nearly wiped out due to chemicals (DDT) in the environment and loss of habitat.

However with the birth of the environmental movement in the 1970’s things started to turn around. Laws were passed to protect these birds. At the same time, reintroduction programs were launched and many of these species have responded very quickly.

To restore the Trumpeter Swan, eggs were taken from a wild population of swans that still existed in Alaska and northern Canada. These eggs were hatched and the chicks raised to adulthood. The adults were kept to become the “seed” stock for future swans. Slowly over many years, enough adult birds were available to be released into the wild. All of these introduced birds had large neck collars with identification numbers.

I recall very clearly leading a bird watching / photo tour in the early 1990’s when I spotted my first Trumpeter Swan in the wild. Up until this point it wasn’t possible to see a Trumpeter Swan in the wild in the upper Midwest so you can imagine just how excited my participants were to see this amazing bird.

Now a days the birds seem so common in many parts of the country. I was photographing a pair of swans with their cygnets the other day at a small park. A family with two young children and a dog were walking by and stopped to see what I was doing. Even though the pair of swans and 6 cygnets were about 100 feet away with my camera pointing right at the birds they didn’t see what I was photographing until I told them what I was filming.

I am no longer stunned by these lacks of observation skills, but what really amazes me is that I mentioned to the family that at one point in the not so distant past, these birds were extinct in this region and needed to be reintroduced. That means the occurrence of the swans nesting in this park is fairly noteworthy. However the response I got from the family was they had no idea and thought that the swans were always there.

I guess, on one hand, it is good that people think the swans are “normal”. But on the other hand if we don’t understand our past or have knowledge of our history, it’s going to be a problem. You know what they say about history. If you don’t know or understand your history you are doomed to repeat it. Let’s hope not. 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 reached at 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.