November 2018 – Wildlife In Nature

Short-eared Owls

Posted on November 20, 2018 by Gary R. Soper

Short-eared owl

November 17, 2018 – A small bird of prey sat perched on an old weathered fence post just before sunset near The Nature Conservancy’s Kankakee Sands restored prairies in Newton county Indiana. The small yellow eyed raptor, about the size of a crow, and sometimes referred to as “the ghost of the grasslands”, is a Short-eared owl. A number of Short-eared owls recently seen at the Kankakee Sands have found the perfect prairie habitat for food and shelter while they spend those cold, dusky winter months waiting for spring. These wintering owls can also be seen in the rural areas of Kankakee and Iroquois counties hunting at dusk or just before sunrise.

The Boss

Posted on November 13, 2018 by Gary R. Soper

Large 12 point White-tailed Buck with swollen neck.

November 12, 2018 – A large 12 point buck, photographed just west of Kankakee recently, displays those tell tale signs that the breeding season for White-tailed deer is occurring in our area. Also known as the “rut”, the mating season for the White-tails really gets in gear by the end of October and lasts through January. This burly buck with his huge swollen neck stands like a stone fence between the doe and the intruder. The explanation for the enlarged necks on White-tailed bucks this time of the year during rut is widely believed by wildlife biologists to be the affects of a surge of the testosterone hormone. The increase in hormones is also believed to cause the aggression and the lack of fear that is a well known behavior of the White-tailed buck during the rut.

Wild Tom Turkey

Posted on November 6, 2018 by Gary R. Soper

Tom Turkeys with their snoods relaxed and drooping down across the top of their bills.

November 5, 2018 – A close up look at those wonderful features of a wild tom turkey photographed in Kankakee county recently. In the photo, the snood is relaxed and drooping down across the top of the bill from just below the forehead, but at anytime that fleshy growth can be drawn in to stand straight up. Hanging from the neck of this celebrated bird is the dewlap, a flap of skin which loosely hangs down from below the chin continuing down the neck. The red fleshy bumps across the back and sides of the head are the minor caruncles. Down below the dewlap are major caruncles that will impress the hens during the spring mating season. The colors of these fleshy areas on the turkeys’ head and neck can change from bright red to all blue or white, depending on the birds’ stress levels. “Wild turkey gobblers have the ability to relax and contract small blood vessels in the skin of the head and neck causing changes in the color of the skin”, according Bob Eriksen a biologist for the National Wild Turkey Federation. Also noted by Eriksen was that the “blood vessels and muscles also control the lengthening and contractions of the snood.”