Humpback whales in Tadoussac Quebec

Gray seal
(Tadoussac, Quebec Canada 8/12)

We squeezed in a short holiday to Quebec last week. Our main objective was to do some whale watching in Tadoussac along the Saint Lawrence River. Tadoussac is located about four hours drive Northeast from Quebec City, making it an 11 hour trip fo us. But the reward is a very different habitat both on land and in the water. Although the map says we are still a long way from the ocean, the ocean says otherwise. Whales, seals and porpoises can all be seen from land but a boat trip is required to really see them up close and personal.



John and Laura Van Niel
(Tadoussac, Quebec Canada 8/12)
Photo credit: Danika Van Niel

We chose a three-hour tour with Otis Expeditions, largely because they would accept online reservations and their boats are the smaller Zodiac-style ones that we prefer. Our tour started at 9:15 am and the weather was calm with no rain. There was some ground fog which made locating whales a bit of a challenge. There are no bags allowed on the boat, so I chose the 70-300mm lens and made do. Our first whale of the day was a humback, but not just any humpback. This was "Siam", the very furst humpback whale documented in the Tadoussac area when she first showed up in 1982. She was with one of her calves fom a previous year. Since that humble beginning 30 years ago, the population of humpbacks here has grown and they are now a common sight. We had three encounters with different pods.



Siam, humpback whale and her calf
(Tadoussac, Quebec Canada 8/12)

Look at the distinctively shaped dorsal fin that gives the humpback its name. Speaking of names, how did we know this one was Siam? Whales often have a distinctive pattern on thier bodies and for humpies, it is the pattern under the tail that gives them away. Think of those old ink-blot tests where the doctor asks the patient "What do you see here?" Siam got her name due to the cat-face shape she carries (and I never got a photo of her).

A few of my better fluke shots:

Humpback whale
(Taddousac, Quebec Canada 8/12)

Humpback whale
(Taddousac, Quebec Canada 8/12)

Just how close were we? THIS close...

Humpback whale
(Taddousac, Quebec Canada 8/12)

Here is a video Danika took of the whales near our boat:

We had a pair of whales surface immediately in front of our boat, traveling in the same direction as our boat. Here is the first photo I took. Notice that the nostrils or blowholes are dialated as this whale has just exhaled. In fact, the spray is visible in the air.

Surfacing humpback whale
(Tadoussac, Quebec Canada 8/12)

The second photo in this series shows the dorsal fin.

Surfacing humpback whale
(Tadoussac, Quebec Canada 8/12

Our last whale encounter was at a much greater distance but the behaviors we observed were amazing. Tirst, check out the way this whale is on its side at the surface and thrashing or rolling about. Keep in mind as you look at this photo that you are looking at one whale here. The head is to the right. This is the stuff of sea monster legends.

Rolling humpback whale
(Tadoussac, Quebec Canada 8/12)

Can you tell what this is? It is a fin alright, but which one? You are looking at the fluke or tail fin tilted 90 degrees from how it is normally held.

Now compare the photo above with the one below. It is more common to see a pectoral fin raised above the surface. This one was literally waving back and forth.

Overall, it was an amazing adventure. For Danika and her friend, it made the long drive worth it....

(right to left) Danika, Lexi and harbor porpoise
(Tadoussac, Quebec Canada 8/12)

The very lucky safari family or "Not a good day to be a porcupine."

I wanted to write something special for my 100^th post and have had my heart set on telling our African porcupine saga. It isn’t that I have any shortage of things to write about. We have just finished our Conservation Field Camp and I have more I can post from that. The Cuddeback Attack in out half-hedgerow has been getting some nice displaying woodcock video. And I am currently writing this entry while in the Chicago airport waiting to meet family in Yellowstone National Park. But all of that will have to wait…

M'tanganika (center) our guide in Tanzania
(8/11, Tanzania)

Last August, our family vacation was a photo safari to Kenya and Tanzania. As I have mentioned in previous posts, we travelled through African Servalcat Safari and have nothing but great things to say about their service. Every detail was arranged for us. Our guide in Kenya was William and over the course of the ten days we spent with him he became a part of our extended family. So it was an emotional departure at the border between Kenya and Tanzania. William handed us over to M’tanganika with a handshake and some instructions. “John likes to look at the birds and Laura wants to see a leopard in a tree.” M’tanganika said he would do his best!
Guides from Kenya are not allowed to work in Tanzania (and vice versa) so we spent our final leg of the safari with M’tanganika with Leopard Tours. I am not sure if ALL the guides in this part of the world are as capable and friendly as our two were or if we were just lucky. Our experience in Tanzania was every bit as flawless as our time in Kenya. And it was in Serengeti National Park that we had our most dramatic encounter. Four species of mammal and two species of birds played a role in the drama that unfolded. In addition, the entire story occured with no other visitors present! In the midst of one of the busiest national parks in the world, we found solitude. And that made the experience all the more enjoyable.

I can still hear M’tanganika’s voice in my head as I remember him telling us how the day would unfold. With our agreement, we would load into the Land Rover with our camera gear, binoculars and boxed lunches, turn off the radio and “disappear into the bush”. This style of searching for wildlife was a point of pride for him. He made a point to tell us more than once that there were many guides out there that would merely listen to the CB radio chatter among the guides in order to find game. We would have our own adventure and feel that sense of accomplishment that comes with earning your rewards. We all liked that idea. So much so that Danika took to calling the other guides “vultures” for feeding on the information left-overs…

Crested porcupine
(8/11, Serengeti National Park)

The rules of the Park say that vehicles must stay on the existing tire tracks  worn into the ground. There were plenty of those tracks to choose from. And it seemed everywhere we went, there was wildlife. We found a pride of lionesses and cubs that totaled 21 in all. We saw all three species of jackal. We saw a leopard – in a tree of course. And we saw birds. We were all having a fantastic time. As we rounded a bend I saw a shape ahead of us that my mind kept telling me was a bear cub . I knew I was wrong and convinced myself that I was SO wrong that it wasn't even an animal at all. But as we got closer it moved and I knew what it was: a crested porcupine.  This is a vastly different species than the porcupine of North America. For more info on "our" porcupine, view this entry from Bearly Alyssa

Hyena and crested porcupine
(8/11, Serengeti National Park)

We were so excited to see this animal out and about in daylight. Our guide said this was only the third one he had ever seen in his entire life and the other two had each been dawn sightings. We were so excited by our find that we never thought to ask "Why?" -- as in "Why WAS this porcupine out of bed in the middle of the day. We snapped a few photos and continued on our way. We progressed about 10 minutes down the road when M'tanganika suggested we turn around and try another route. That suggestion made all the difference in our safari! As we reapproached the porcupine, I could see that it had retreated into the bushes and a spotted hyena was very close by. I assumed the hyena was harassing the porcupine but as we got closer, I could see the hyena was eating something.

Spotted hyena eating crested porcupine
(8/11, Serengeti National Park)

At first, we thought the hyena was eating young porcupines. I did not know that more than one porcupine adult would be found in a den, so it was a logical (if incorrect) conclusion. In addition, the size of the item the hyena was eating was small.  In the photo to the right you can see a few quills sticking out of the hyena's mouth.

Spotted hyena trying to remove porcupine
quills (8/11, Serengeti National Park)

The story was beginning to unfold. We knew that the hyena had killed a porcupine (still thinking it was a juvenile) but we had yet to meet all of the players. As I was taking photos, my daughter Danika was taking video. This first clip is about two minutes long and shows some interesting behavior. In the photo on the left you can see the hyena trying to work some quills loose from its mouth. In the video, I call this tool use and I stand by that assessment here. Using a woody branch or forb to remove quills from its mouth, the hyena was utilizing an object in a novel way. There is no one definition of "tool" so there is no consensus on what constitutes tool use. This hyena never modified the vegetation so that it performed the required task better, so perhaps this is akin to an animal rubbing against a tree to relieve an itch. Comments welcomed!





Here is the first segment of video shot by my daughter Danika Van Niel:

The bat in the video turned out to be an Egyptian slit-faced bat. They are known to live in porcupine burrows and as this video shows, that includes active ones. There turned out to be two bats present and we watched them fly in and out of the den several times. I have one nice photo of a bat here:

Egyptian slit-faced bat
(8/11, Serengeti National Park)

In addition to this photo of a perched bat, Danika was able to snap a picture of one in flight:

Egyptian slit-faced bat in flight
Photo credit: Danika Van Niel
(8/11, Serengati National Park)

Spotted hyena carries crested porcupine carcass
(8/11: Serengeti National Park)

But back to the hyena.... At the end of the video clip, the hyena was cleaning its mouth of quills. Apparently, it had gleaned all the meat it could from that meal and was ready for more. We watched as it entered the porcupine den and since we were still under the impression that it had killed a young porcupine, we thought it was going for another. After a few short minutes, the hyena reemerged with its actual kill, the mate of the live porcupine. What a sight! The hyena could barely lift its head high enough to keep the carcass from dragging on the ground. Our guide kept telling us that we were a very lucky safari family to be seeing such sights. We agreed.

It is easy to cast the hyena in the roll of the villian. It is creepy looking. It laughs in an almost maniacal way. And we often have a soft spot for the underdog. But as the events unfolded, we began to feel sorry for the hyena too...

With the carcass removed, the remaining porcupine immediately headed for the protection of the burrow. Check out that foot in the second photo.

Watch another clip from Danika's video. It is a little over two minutes long and you get to hear the "laugh" of the hyena as it echoes from underground as well as our genuine reactions of suprise and amazement as the hyena emerges with the porcupine kill. As the video ends, we notice several other hyenas coming in to try for a bit of food.

I have some really graphic photos of the hyena tearing apart its meal, but I will leave those for class. Here, let me post one that is only sort of gross :)

Spotted hyena eating crested porcupine
(8/11, Serengeti National Park)

Within two minutes of this hyena bringing its kill to the surface, other scavengers took notice. First, it was a handful of hyenas. Our original hyena stood its ground!

Spotted hyena defending its kill
(8/11, Serengeti National Park)

In the end, the hyena had to relinquish some of his kill. He kept the biggest chunk for himself but lost out on some of the smaller pieces. It may be a better idea to loose a little to keep a lot and stay safe rather than try to have it all. Then the vultures arrived. I will have to consult my journal (not with me at the moment) to determine the species, but I do remember that there were two kinds. Here is a nice shot of the vultures soaring in. They never did get any of the meal...

At one point, Laura prophetically comments that it would be awesome if a lion came in and stole the kill. Well, a lioness saw the vultures decend and knew what that meant. M'tanganika was the first to spot her charging across the plains towards the scene laid out before us. In the photo below, you can make out a small dot in the upper center -- that is her.

African lion approaches hyena with kill
(8/11, Serengeti National Park)

As the hyenas notice the lion, they scatter. As she rushes into the scene, she is unable to locate the food. She trots from one hyena to the next trying to locate the food. When she didn't find anything, she went to see if the vultures had the food. That gave the hyenas the opportunity they needed. Two of them rushed to the carcass and each managed a small chunk of food before the lion rushed them and claimed the "lion's share" for herself.

The first thing the lion did was to lick the kill. I am not sure why. Maybe she had previous experience with porcupines and knew to smooth out the quills. Maybe she was licking off blood and getting some nutrition. Perhaps it was a way of replacing the hyena scent with her own. Maybe it was none of these. But it did make for a nice photo.

African lion claims crested porcupine carcass
(8/11, Serengeti National Park)

After only a few bites, she picked up her carcass and headed back in the direction she came. A few hyenas followed, hoping for some scraps. We watched her depart knowing that we had just witnessed something truly amazing. If I had to select a single photo from the entire African safari as my favorite, it would be the one below.

Notice the position of her ears. She is looking ahead but listening behind. The reason is evident in this photo:

African lion with trailing hyenas
(8/11, Serengati National Park)

An hour had passed since we started. We were hungry, hot and drained. Only one hyena remained; THE hyena, the one that started it all and made the original kill. It did not follow the other hyenas. He watched as the vultures flew off. When he was alone, he turned and headed to the porcupine burrow to procure another meal...

EPILOGUE: We waited for another hour. We had no idea what was happening underground -- whether the hyena would be able to repeat his feat or not. We waited. We decided to eat our box lunches. The smell of our food wafted into the porcupine burrow and out popped the hyena, seeing if he could get an easier meal. We of course, did not feed him. But as he stared at us intently, we could see the evidence that below our feet was a fight for life. Once the hyena concluded we were not a source of food, it headed back into the burrow. We left before the final chapter was written.

Right There in Black and White

Striped skunk (Seneca Falls, NY 3/11)

I checked my three camera traps today and got some nice skunk photos from last night. At 11:34, this skunk passed the camera and at 12:59, a DIFFERENT was photographed going in the other direction. As you can see we had some snow last night but it was melted by the time I checked the cameras. I have yet to have a bad experience with skunks. I have been way too close on several occasions, yet not sprayed. It really is a last-resort defense. Click on the photo above and check out the long front
claws typical of striped skunks.

Striped skunk (Seneca Falls, NY 3/11)

When Danika was little, we had a "Tag Along" bike for her. Picture a bike with no front tire, attached to my bike like a trailer and you have the idea. She could peddle or free wheel and we went everywhere. Once, we rode out to Montezuma with Laura and on the way back, with Danika and I far in the lead, we came upon a skunk foraging right along the side of the road. Danika was enthralled and asked if she could get closer. I told her to quietly get off and slowly walk towards the skunk, but if it changed what it was doing in any way to stop. If it lifted its head, retreat! Well, she crept up closer and closer until she was about 15 feet away (It was at that point that I wondered if a five-year-old would try to pet a skunk). That was the extent of her comfort zone. She stopped and quietly watched the skunk for a few minutes. I will never know how close that skunk was going to allow her to get, nor will I ever know how long Danika's patience would've lasted because it was then that Laura caught up to us and put a quick end to the great skunk experiment of 2001!

"...out like a lamb."

Yesterday I wrote about lions. Today, lambs. As in, baby bighorn sheep. I was able to take Danika to Yellowstone National Park this past September (2010) and one of my goals was to climb Mt. Washburn with her... again. The FIRST time we climbed that together, she was 18 months old and Uncle Tom carried her the whole way. I was there with students from FLCC. Laura and Danika flew out to join us for a week and Tom and Kimberly drove up from Utah to do the same. The SECOND time we climbed it Danika was five and I hardly carried her at all.



Danika at the peak (Yellowstone NP, Sept. 2010)

 We got up early and drove to the trail head. I was excited to find we were the first car there. Our hike up was eventful, with a too-close encounter with a grizzly and her cubs ( a story for another day) and some sightings of other wildlife including some distant bighorns. These were the first for our trip so we took some time to enjoy them. We continued to the top and spent time in the small shelter there. On the way back down, we stopped to talk to a couple that were on their way up. As we talked, the woman noticed some sheep coming out onto the trail below us. Danika and I spent the next 30 minutes slowly approaching and taking photos.



Danika and bighorns (Yellowstone NP, Sept. 2010)

 Where are the "big horns", you ask? Well, on the males. Females have horns but they are smaller than those on a mature male. It is only the males that engage in the head-butting contests so the ladies do not need the heavy headgear. Typically, the males are more secretive than the females and there were no mature males in this group. There were, however, a few lambs that looked far too small to me to be mere weeks away from a Yellowstone winter...

Bighorn lamb, Yellowstone

One of the lambs walked very close to us. I should say for the record, that neither of us left the trail to approach the animals.

Bighorn lamb, Yellowstone NP

"In like a lion..."

We had a nice thaw just the other day, so I am not sure that we can say that THIS March has come in like a lion, but that old expression gives me the perfect transition to talk about my recent trip to Montana to learn about mountain lions. Meet Jay Tischendorf. Jay offers a workshop on mountain lion tracking, ecology and management through his educational entity AERIE. The course began on February 1st in Great Falls, Montana and we spent four very full days in the field identifying tracks from lions, lynx, bobcat, coyote and domestic dog. I learned a lot and feel much more prepared for the next time someone presents me with tracks they found in NY that they believe came from a mountain lion. In fact today, the USFWS issued a formal statement regarding their five year review of the Eastern cougar.

It said, in part: "The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) conducted a formal review of the available information and, in a report issued today, concludes the eastern cougar is extinct and recommends the subspecies be removed from the endangered species list."  


Jay photographing male
cougar tracks (Montana, 2/11)

I was struck by how easy it was to find lion tracks. We went to four different locations and each time, we came across at least two different trails. I asked Jay how he had discovered such rich sign, assuming he was going to tell us about his years of dedicated searching that led him to these special locations. Instead he sheepishly admitted: "These are the only canyons plowed in the winter." The trails were obvious and readily available for all to inspect. And I should note that this was AFTER the hunting season, so we had fewer lions than even a few weeks earlier. There is simply no way to hide a population of lions; their sign is just too easy to find and distincitve to identify.



Male mountain lion track, Montana

 We were able to compare tracks from similar species. We compared lion to lynx. We spent over an hour at a dog park looking at various tracks and learned the obvious and subtle differences between dogs and cats. We measured. We made plaster casts. We laid out wire rods to measure angles. It was very thorough and enjoyable.

On tha last day, I told Jay I needed some proof that I was actually present at these tracks. I had taken all the photos up to that point, but what could I do to document that I was there in person? Jay took a few photos of me posing next to a set of mountain lion prints, but I was afraid that just wouldn't do it. Then I had an idea. The conditions were such that we had a frozen layer of snow under a lighter layer of snow. This provided nice clear tracks, but also made it possible for me to actually chisel a track out of the snow to hold. We used some of Jay's spray wax to add contrast and I had my proof!

JVN holds lion track. Photo by
Jay Tischendorf

I have never seen a mountain lion in the wild. Laura and I camped in Zion National Park for Thanksgiving in 1989. It snowed a good inch the first day and when I woke up in the morning, I found lion tracks crossing (but showing no interest in) our tracks about 100 yards from our tent. I HAVE been up close and personal with captive mountain lions. We used to take the nature photgraphy classes to a place in Canada that had captive native wildlife. About the only species we couldn't actually go into the pen with was the cougar. The shooting was great though and I have managed to publish a few of my nicer pictures from those days. Here are three of my personal favorites:






Danika, age 4 (Massey, Ontario)


CUTE: One summer, Laura, Danika and I went up by ourselves to this establishment. It was nice to see the animals at a different time of year and even nicer to share this adventure with my family (they had heard all the stories...). Danika was four and it just so happened that her pre-school teacher had just given each of them a single-use camera with the assignment to take pictures of interesting things. Here she is taking a photo of a mountain lion cub. She also took photos of bobcats, fox, wolves, and a moose. When the photos were returned to the students, there was a note from her teacher that said: "What are these animals and where did you take these pictures?" :)

NOT SO CUTE: Everyone has to eat and since this is NOT a Disney movie, the predators at this place actually ate meat. Wilson, the owner, would buy the day-old chicks from a nearby egg farm (they only needed female chicks to replace their laying hens and would destroy the males). We would then feed these frozen chicks to the mountain lions, one at a time. This was a special treat for them only when photographers were there. You could get the lions to move to where you wanted them by launching some food in that direction. The encloser featured some interesting boulders, a rock face, some logs, etc. and this allowed some variety in our photos. One year, we brought a student that had a pitching arm like a pro and he could get those chicks to wherever we wanted them. That got me thinking about how good the lions would be at catching their food. So we instructed Justin to throw them just out of reach so the lion would have to lunge for it. Here are the two best photos I got of that experience.


Mountain lion feeding (Captivity)



Mountain lion feeding (Captivity)

My Favorite Faux Marten



Danika, Age 8 (Newfoundland)

 All this talk about martens reminded me that Danika dressed as a marten once. In 2004, Laura, Danika and I went to Newfoundland for our summer vacation. We flew to St. John's and camped in Terra Nova National Park. Danika was eight years old and we dropped her off at the kid's program at the visitor's center.The focus of the activity was "forest creatures" in general and the marten in particular. Martens are endangered in Newfoundland and the kids each made headbands with marten ears to wear. They learned about the adaptations that helped martens survive. Here is a photo of a slightly embarassed Danika Marten...

We saw many things on that trip, but one that stands out in particular was a bald eagle encounter. We took a tour in the bay and the captain brought along a cooler full of frozen fish. The eagles had become accustomed to taking the fish from the surface of the water and I was able to get some amazing pictures.



Captain Danika






















Bald eagle (Terra Nova National Park, Newfoundland, Canada, 2004)