Category: Vertebrates

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Bass, Birds, Buddies, and Boats

Joey, James & Jack Courtesy Joseph Kozlowski & Copyright Jack McLaren, Photographer
Joey, James & Jack
Courtesy Joseph Kozlowski & Copyright Jack McLaren, Photographer

Wilson's Phalarope Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer
Wilson’s Phalarope
Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer

Banana Boy James, Courtesy Joseph Kozlowski & Copyright Jack McLaren, Photographer Banana Boy James
Courtesy Joseph Kozlowski & Copyright Jack McLaren, Photographer

I sit on the front swivel seat of a drift boat gliding across the smooth water of Newton Reservoir. The sun begins to send morning rays of brilliance over the Cache Mountains. My only child, a 14-month-old boy named James, excitedly wriggles in my lap. Behind me in the captain’s seat is my long-time buddy, Jack McLaren. Jack and I met in graduate school where he was working on a doctorate in watershed sciences and fish ecology. Jack and I have been friends ever since, and any day fishing with Jack is one I cherish.

Jack tells me the Largemouth Bass are on the other end of the reservoir, in the shallow, weedy water where they feast on any living creature they can find, primarily small Bluegill who nest in that area. Using two oars, Jack begins paddling the boat across the reservoir. James’ eyes are mesmerized by the turbulent water eddies that form around the oars with each stroke, and I peacefully observe the world and wings around me. Western Kingbirds, with their gentle yellow bellies and grey head, play chase games as they dive and duck from one cottonwood tree to another on the water’s edge; Bank Swallows make clicking and clacking noises like pulsing electrical wires from the steep muddy embankment where a healthy colony has formed; and Wilson’s Phalaropes do a mating display where the modestly colored male hovers in the air over the brightly colored female, bobbing up and down for nearly 5 seconds, before gently landing next to her.

We reach the far end of the reservoir and begin fishing. Jack pulls a plastic green frog across the top of the water; I bounce a long, brown rubber worm with a neon tail under the water; and James, well, he grabs each bag of rubber worms from the tackle box and throws them over the side of the boat.

Just as I finally distract James with a Banana, “THWAPPP!!” a splash sounds and a commotion in the water catches my attention. A hungry bass thought frogs were on the menu and was fooled by Jack’s lure. He reels in the bass and James and I look at the beautiful, greenish/yellowish creature with the distinguishable black stripe down the side. James, with a mischievous smile, courageously reaches out his pointer finger and gently runs it along the slimy, scaly body of the fish.

We continue to fish and just take in the beautiful morning when the thought strikes me.

“This little 14-month-old is going to be my new, best buddy for the rest of my life. Observing, respecting, being aware of, and appreciating nature has always been important to me. How do I pass this same kind of love and respect for nature onto my own son, the next generation, as my father and mother did to me?”

To that, I don’t have an answer, but maybe, just maybe, James being mesmerized by the flow of swirling water eddies around oar paddles or him using his delicate finger to bravely stroke the side of a slimy fish may be just the right start.

This is Dr. Joseph Kozlowski, and I am Wild About Utah!

Credits:

Images: Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer, Used by Permission
Featured Audio: Courtesy & Copyright © Kevin Colver, https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/collections/special-collections/kevin-colver and including contributions from J. Chase and K.W. Baldwin
Text:     Joseph Kozlowski, Edith Bowen Laboratory School, Utah State University https://edithbowen.usu.edu/
Additional Reading Links: Joseph Kozlowski & Lyle Bingham

Additional Reading:

Joseph (Joey) Kozlowski’s pieces on Wild About Utah:

Experiential Education Archives, Wild About Utah https://wildaboututah.org/tag/experiential-education/

Hitchcock, Ed, 7 Tips for Fishing with Kids, Take Me Fishing, the Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation, Nov 22, 2019, https://www.takemefishing.org/blog/november-2019/7-tips-for-fishing-with-kids/

Community fisheries, Division of Wildlife Resources, Department of Natural Resources, State of Utah, Last Updated: September 12, 2024, https://wildlife.utah.gov/community-fisheries.html

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A Tropical Flash in the Desert

Collared Lizard near Hovenweep NM Courtesy US NPS Jacob W. Frank, Photographer
Collared Lizard near Hovenweep NM
Courtesy US NPS
Jacob W. Frank, Photographer
Not long ago, while walking up a gravel road in Bears Ears National Monument, my eye was distracted by a flash of brilliant, almost neon green against the red rocks and sand. Soon I got another glimpse, just as brilliant, just as green. If you’ve hiked the canyons of southern Utah, you may have already guessed what I was seeing – male Eastern collared lizards scuttling behind rocks to avoid a potential predator: me.

Collared lizards are among the more common reptiles of the arid Southwest, and also one of the more interesting ones. They’re known for their sprinting ability, reaching speeds of 16 mph when they feel threatened, often running solely on their hind legs. They’re also highly territorial – if two males are placed in the same cage, they’ll fight to the death. But what captured my interest on that warm spring morning was their flashy coloration.

More to the point, I was thinking that it didn’t seem to make sense for a desert animal to flaunt flamboyant colors. Most other desert lizards in Utah – whiptail and sagebrush lizards, side-blotched and fence lizards – are content to blend into the scenery. But male collared lizards look more at home in the jungle than in the desert, with blueish-green speckled bodies and tails, and a bright yellow head. Females are green, too, although their colors are more muted and often brownish.

It’s not uncommon for males and females of a species to sport different colors. The scientific term for this is sexual dimorphism. You see it often in birds like songbirds and ducks. Males will flash bright hues – the sublime sky blue of a mountain bluebird, the blazing orange of a Bullock’s oriole, the exuberant red, black, and yellow of a Western tanager – while females of the same species tend to be grayish or brown or dull yellow, with just a hint of the male’s glory.

This makes sense if the main purpose of coloration is camouflage. Female lizards are vulnerable to predators when bearing or caring for young, so there’s a survival advantage to matching their environment. First-year males are often colored much like females – helpful as they learn to fend for themselves. But shouldn’t the adult males want to blend in, too?

It seems male coloration also has to do with babies, but in a different way. A conspicuous male is more likely to find a mate. He’s visible. He stands out. A female lizard can find him when she needs him. Brightness also helps these lizards in another way. Remember how male collared lizards are viciously territorial? Conspicuous, vivid color helps them avoid unexpected confrontations with other males.

Of course, there’s a tradeoff here. If female lizards can easily find a male, so can predators.
Some years ago, scientists took some toy lizards, painted them in collared-lizard colors, set them out on rocks in classic lizard poses, and watched to see what would happen. As we might expect, they found that if a lizard stands out in contrast to its environment, it’s more likely to be attacked by snakes, birds, or rodents. So it’s a good thing that in addition to being fancy dressers, collared lizards are also world-class sprinters.

I’m Mark Brunson, and I’m wild about Utah’s colorful and camouflaged animals.

Credits:

Images Courtesy US NPS, Jacob W. Frank, Photographer, https://www.nps.gov/media/photo/view.htm?id=5B13C294-155D-451F-67F7-7D12491DF54D
Featured Audio: Courtesy & © Kevin Colver, https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/collections/special-collections and Shalayne Smith Needham https://upr.org/
Text: Mark Brunson, https://www.usu.edu/experts/profile/mark-brunson/
Additional Reading: Mark Brunson, https://www.usu.edu/experts/profile/mark-brunson/

Additional Reading

Other pieces by Mark Brunson: https://wildaboututah.org/?s=brunson

Division of Wildlife Resources. Eastern collared lizard (Crotaphytus collaris). Utah species field guide. https://fieldguide.wildlife.utah.gov/?species=crotaphytus%20collaris

Husak, J. F., Macedonia, J. M., Fox, S. F., & Sauceda, R. C. (2006). Predation cost of conspicuous male coloration in collared lizards (Crotaphytus collaris): an experimental test using clay‐covered model lizards. Ethology, 112(6), 572-580. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1439-0310.2005.01189.x
https://sci-hub.se/https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.2005.01189.x

Strand, Holly, The Lizard and His Tail, Wild About Utah, June 11, 2009, https://wildaboututah.org/the-lizard-and-his-tail/

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Forests

Forest Courtesy Pixabay, "Tom" a.k.a. Analogicus, Contributor
Forest
Courtesy Pixabay, “Tom” a.k.a. Analogicus, Contributor
Forests are beyond amazing! As a field ecologist for the U.S. Forest Service, and chairing the Smithfield City Tree Committee, their branches and roots have penetrated deep into my heartwood!

A community of trees has much in common with human communities. Trees nurture and protect one another through an intricate web of roots and mycelium. When one member of the community is suffering, other members will send resources to ward off attacks, and send water and nutrients to help the stressed tree recover.

By third grade you’ve probably learned they produce oxygen and absorb green house gases, cool the earth, filter the air, provide wildlife habitat. By fifth grade add protect watersheds, provide safe drinking water, protect communities from floods and landslides. Additionally, Older trees absorb and store more carbon dioxide than younger trees, helping us fight climate change. Many species of life are found only in mature old growth forests, adding to biodiversity. They provide banks of knowledge for complex ecosystems and blueprints for natural forest processes.

As a Wilderness Ranger and recreationist, I’ve trapsed through many of Utah’s Old Growth Forests. Thanks to our National Parks, Monuments, and other public lands, we have preserved remnants of Old Growth. Magnificent ponderosa pine yet exist in Zion and Bryce Canyon national parks. I’ve found pockets of Engleman spruce in the remote parts of our national forests, along with blue spruce on Cedar Mountain and south slope of the Uintahs along river corridors. Most of old growth Douglas fir was logged off in the late 1800s.

For myself, entering an old growth forest is a spiritual experience. I stand in awe while their majesty, deep history and resilience reach deep into my core. Silence sweeps over me, interrupted by bird song, squirrel chatter, and a whisp of wind in upper branches.

For Native American cultures that developed with, and in many cases shaped the old-growth forests, they harvested medicinal plants, berries, game, or old trees and bark for ceremonial or practical use. They would tend the forest to improve ecosystem services, occasionally burning forests to complementing its utilitarian value.

Thus my alarm sounded when the U.S. House of Representatives recently passed legislation that would fast-track logging projects on federal lands, and the U.S. Forest Service has proposed opening hundreds of thousands of acres of mature (old growth) forests to commercial logging. R oads built through it will take centuries to recover. Our old growth forests are worth far more standing- economically, and for ecosystem services they provide.

Logging is warranted in younger forests, and for fire breaks near human development, while protecting water and airsheds, and sensitive species, but please, please allow Old Growth forests to continue on for the centuries it took to create them!

Jack Greene for Bridgerland Audubon Society, and I’m Wild about Utah’s Old Growth Forests!

Credits:

Picture: Forest, Courtesy Pixabay, "Tom" a.k.a. Analogicus, Contributor
Audio: Courtesy & © Kevin Colver https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/
Text: Jack Greene, Bridgerland Audubon, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/
Additional Reading: Lyle W Bingham, Webmaster, and Jack Greene, Author, Bridgerland Audubon, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading:

Jack Greene’s Postings on Wild About Utah, https://wildaboututah.org/author/jack/

Popkin, Gabriel, How much U.S. forest is old growth? It depends who you ask, Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 26 Apr 2023, https://www.science.org/content/article/how-much-u-s-forest-old-growth-it-depends-who-you-ask

Franklin, Marcy, “The benefits of public wildlands, explained,” Vox, October 9, 2017. https://act.environmentamerica.org/go/6644?t=4&akid=6407%2E1385290%2EtS_2YB
Original: https://www.vox.com/ad/16447278/wildlands-benefits-protection
US House of Representatives, “H.R.471 – Fix Our Forests Act,” Congress.gov, March 6, 2025. https://act.environmentamerica.org/go/4036?t=5&akid=6407%2E1385290%2EtS_2YB

Mapes, Lynda V., “Proposed changes would allow more logging on federal land in Northwest,” Seattle Times, December 23, 2024. https://act.environmentamerica.org/go/4787?t=6&akid=6407%2E1385290%2EtS_2YB
Original: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/climate-lab/proposed-changes-would-allow-more-logging-on-federal-land-in-northwest/

Montgomery, Ellen, and English, Amelia, “The “Fix Our Forests Act” won’t actually fix our forests,” Environment America, January 22, 2025. https://act.environmentamerica.org/go/1541?email_blast=-10076407&t=7&akid=6407%2E1385290%2EtS_2YB
Original: https://environmentamerica.org/articles/the-fix-our-forests-act-wont-actually-fix-our-forests/

Ehrlich, April, “Northwest Forest Plan update continues, despite termination of national old growth proposal,” Oregon Public Broadcasting, January 8, 2025. https://act.environmentamerica.org/go/4786?t=8&akid=6407%2E1385290%2EtS_2YB
Original: https://www.opb.org/article/2025/01/08/northwest-forest-plan-update-continues-despite-termination-of-national-old-growth-proposal/

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Eye to Eye

Eye to Eye: Lone Peak Wilderness Courtesy and Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer
Lone Peak Wilderness
Courtesy and Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer
If you spend enough time in the wilds you acquire some remarkable stories. I’ve had some noteworthy wildlife encounters over the years, but one stands out from long ago.

In May, 1991, two high school friends and I headed for Thunder Bowl in the Wasatch Range, with skis on our packs. We had a long slog ahead of us.

Lone Peak Wilderness Courtesy and Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer
Lone Peak Wilderness Courtesy and Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer
Two hours and 3,000 vertical feet into our journey we began to encounter spring snow. As we moved through a leafless stand of aspen trees, we spotted a Rocky Mountain goat high on the glacier-polished granite cliffs. What was unusual was the behavior of this particular goat. She crisscrossed her way down the granite wall, leaping and sliding—frantically at times—on the verge of tumbling head-over hooves, with a reckless display of athletic skill.

Then loud and distinct human-like cries halted our stride. The goat stopped, then took one last heart-stopping leap to a narrow ledge.

Trapped from descending further, the goat paced nervously back and forth, peering down 150 feet to the forest floor were we were curiously standing. Another set of eerie cries, amplified by the granite walls, shattered the silence again.

Mountain Goat with Kid, Oreamnos Americanus, Courtesy US FWS, Lawrence S Smith, Photographer
Mountain Goat with Kid
Oreamnos Americanus
Courtesy US FWS, Lawrence S Smith, Photographer
The mountain goat hung her head and slowly, deliberately, began to ascend the canyon wall.

My friends shrugged and started to move again. I dropped my pack in the snow. “Let’s go see what’s making all the racket,” I said.

They wanted to keep moving. I told them I’d catch up soon.

Wearing only a pair of shorts and my hiking boots, 17 year-old me, crept carefully into the aspen grove, making my way towards the base of the cliff in a round-about way, scanning the forest constantly, but I did not see anything. Whatever it was, was gone. So I cut back towards the trail. As I approached two giant boulders resting side by side, I noticed movement on the ground.

I stooped to pick up a tuft of thick white wool and rolled it in my fingers. Mountain Goat wool. Another tuft of wool trundled towards me in the breeze. Goat wool littered the ground ahead of me. I stood up, took a long slow breath, and stepped between the boulders.

A massive cougar crouched over her kill, 20 feet away. Her thick, tan fur could not hide the muscular contours of her shoulders and back. The snow at her feet was red–bright red. The lion looked up. Our eyes locked. Time stopped. I was aware of every single detail of this consummate predator’s yellow eyes.

I was too full of absolute awe and stunned marvel to feel even a remote strand of fear. It remains one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. One or two seconds passed. That is all.
There was a blur of silent movement, a glimpse of hind legs and a long tail flung high in the air, and a thrashing of brush. The cougar was gone.

My attention shifted to the crumpled newborn mountain goat on the ground in front of me. Steam rose from the pooled blood on the miniature ribcage. The little goat’s wool was pure white and contrasted with jet-back hooves and eyes.

The prints in the snow told the story. The cougar circled the newborn prey, slowly decreasing her radius. I imagine her head low, beneath shoulder blades oscillating in slow motion, and eyes laser focused. The two-week-old goat turned in an even tighter circle, letting out a series of cries, as the mother goat paced helplessly, watching from the narrow ledge above. A lethal pounce from the cougar synchronized with the final cries of the little goat—the cries we heard from the trail.

Mountain Lion Courtesy US FWS Larry Moats, Photographer
Mountain Lion (Cougar)
Courtesy US FWS
Larry Moats, Photographer
A pair of giant cat tracks, left behind when the cougar fled, were embedded in the snow bank. I set my outstretched hand and fingers into the paw prints. Then I stood up. High above, through the barren aspen branches, I could see the nanny goat on the gray-granite cliffs, peering down. I scanned the woods for one more glimpse of the big cat. I wondered where she was hiding, knowing she was watching.

At that moment I came to my senses. I realized I needed to leave and not interfere with the cycles that were in motion. I turned and walked back towards my pack on the trail, then hurried to catch my friends—glancing over my shoulder from time to time—all the while thinking about those piercing yellow eyes.

I’m Eric Newell and I am wild about Utah’s wild public lands

Credits:
Images: Lone Peak Wilderness Courtesy and Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer
Mountain Goat with Kid, Courtesy US FWS, Lawrence S Smith, Photographer, https://images.fws.gov/
Mountain Lion, Courtesy US FWS, Larry Moat, Photographer, https://images.fws.gov/
Featured Audio: Courtesy & © Anderson, Wakeman and Howe.
Text: Eric Newell, Edith Bowen Laboratory School, Utah State University
Additional Reading: Eric Newell

Additional Reading

Wild About Utah Pieces by Eric Newell

Shughart, Hilary, Mountain Lions Are Keystone Providers for Birds!, Wild About Utah, May 1, 2023, https://wildaboututah.org/mountain-lions-are-keystone-providers-for-birds/

Leavitt, Shauna, Cougars in Utah, Wild About Utah, October 7, 2019, https://wildaboututah.org/cougars-in-utah/

Greene, Jack, My Cougar Encounter, Wild About Utah, January 16, 2017, https://wildaboututah.org/my-cougar-encounter/

Strand, Holly, Mountain Lion, Wild About Utah, March 4, 2010, https://wildaboututah.org/mountain-lion/

Mountain Lion or Courgar – Puma concolor, Fieldguide, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, https://fieldguide.wildlife.utah.gov/?species=puma%20concolor

What to do if you encounter a mountain lion in Utah, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, May 21, 2024, https://wildlife.utah.gov/news/utah-wildlife-news/1906-what-to-do-if-you-encounter-a-mountain-lion-in-utah.html