Few people are aware of just how important the tongue is to a woodpecker, but researchers have found that woodpeckers rely on their extraordinary tongue to thread into insect tunnels their beak can’t reach. A typical woodpecker tongue is long and flexible enough to reach into crevices and tunnels to reach prey hidden deep inside. Clearly, drilling into wood with its beak is just the first step for a woodpecker to procuring food in bark, branches, trunks, and even beneath the ground. Two pairs of muscles guide the tongue, allowing it to move in and out, and in multiple directions when probing.

A woodpeckers’ tongue is among the longest tongues relative to body size among all bird families, and woodpeckers use their tongue with remarkable precision. When not extended, the base of the tongue wraps around the back of the skull, and in some woodpecker species, the tongue stretches all the way around the skull to the position of the right nostril.

Specialized sticky saliva on the tongue attaches to insects, larvae, or other foods on contact to procure food that might otherwise escape. The tongue tip may also have bristles or backward-facing barbs that hook insects as the tongue pulls them out of a crevice. Woodpeckers’ tongues have specialized keratin tips that naturally regenerate as they become worn.

Woodpeckers are among the most diverse and interesting families of birds, numbering more than 200 different species found on 5 continents. There is so much more to learn about their fascinating adaptations, so if woodpeckers interest you, refer to the Bird Academy at the Wonderful World of Woodpeckers to look into their online woodpecker course, which is reduced in price now. Read more

From the Boone and Crockett Club

Elk Hijinks on the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch

In northwest Montana, the Club’s Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch (TRMR) provides habitat for ungulates like mule deer, whitetails, moose, pronghorn, and the ever-endearing Rocky Mountain elk. And yes, the ranch is open to the public for hunting.

Enrolled in Montana’s Block Management program, the TRMR sits in hunting district 441. Over-the-counter elk tags can be used during archery season for bulls and cows. Rifle season requires a special permit. You do need permission to hunt the ranch prior to your hunt, and the details are available by clicking this link for BMA #77. Hunters typically harvest 8-12 elk from the ranch each year.

In the fall, the TRMR will typically hold around 300 elk, but the elk like it here year-round. They will branch off in June to drop their calves, then bunch up into herds of 30-100 in the summer months. They consistently move from mountain (sub-alpine) levels to prairie flatlands throughout warm/dry and cold/snowy weather cycles.

Alongside these elk herds, the TRMR hosts educational youth camps at the Rasmuson Wildlife Center throughout the summer. The ranch is the perfect base camp for Scout expeditions and hunter education classes. Scattered throughout the ranch are dozens of trail cameras set in key locations, which take thousands of shots every year. This is just a small sampling of what the elk are up to throughout the year.

Nine months after two cougar kittens were documented in the Upper Peninsula, a new trail camera photo indicates the elusive animals are still alive and living with their mother.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources verified the Dec. 6 photo of an adult cougar being followed by two kittens down a snowy trail in central Ontonagon County. The last time the kittens were documented – in early March – they were only about two months old and their mother was nowhere in sight, raising concerns about the kittens’ survival.

But the newly verified photo shows an adult cougar with two juvenile cougars that appear to be about a year old, according to Brian Roell, the DNR’s large carnivore specialist.

Michigan is home to very few cougars and genetic testing has confirmed the existence of only adult males. The new photo suggests one of the first instances of cougar reproduction to take place outside the cougars’ core area in the Western states.

“This is a historic confirmation for Michigan since it is the first time in over 100 years that verified cougar reproduction has occurred east of the Mississippi River and possible even east of the Missouri River,” Roell said.

A private landowner sent the trail camera photo of the cougars to the DNR on Sunday, Dec. 14. Roell verified the site of the photo Monday and the DNR’s cougar team confirmed the photo Tuesday by enhancing the nighttime image to verify the existence of the three cougars. The sex of the kittens is unknown. Read more

Ever heard of the Audubon Christmas Bird Count? It’s a wonderful way to enjoy the outdoors and observe wildlife during winter! Anyone can participate, and several events will kick off later this week across Montana.

The Christmas Bird Count is a bird census conducted by volunteers in early winter, involving participants in the U.S., Canada and beyond. Between Dec. 14 and Jan. 5, volunteers go out over a 24-hour period to count birds. The event is open to beginners and experienced birders.

This annual event is the longest-running community science bird project. According to the Audubon Society website, on Christmas Day of 1900, Frank Chapman and 26 other conservationists initiated the Christmas Bird Count as a way of promoting conservation by counting, rather than hunting, birds. Some counts have been running since then, and 126 years later the event spans more than 20 countries in the western hemisphere. Read more

Spread holiday joy with some Pure Michigan Hunt applications, and the hunters in your life could take home hunting equipment worth thousands, as well as licenses for elk, bear, spring and fall turkey, and antlerless deer and first pick at a managed waterfowl hunt area. The drawing is in January, so make sure your favorite hunters don’t miss their shot.

Each $5 Pure Michigan Hunt application helps fund Michigan’s wildlife habitat restoration and management.

Apply for Pure MI Hunt ?

The Sportsmen’s Alliance is fighting against those who are working to bully and crater our heritage and traditions. Join us or donate to the Sportsmen’s Legal Defense Fund to help stand up against the relentless assault on our values and lifestyle by animal extremists and gun control advocates. Present and future generations are depending on your willingness to fight to protect the future of hunting, fishing, and trapping.

The U.S. House of Representatives will be acting on long awaited Endangered Species Act (ESA) legislation and wolf delisting Wednesday, December 17, and tomorrow, Thursday, December 18.

Today, the House Natural Resources Committee will determine if H.R.1897, ESA Amendments Act of 2025, should go to a vote before the entire House. This bill creates a backstop against frivolous litigation, streamlines the ESA permitting process, provides incentives for recovery listed species, promotes agency accountability, amends and adds clarity to  statutory definitions, and focuses on species recovery.

Tomorrow, H.R.845, the Pet and Livestock Protection Act is scheduled to be voted on by the full House. This bill directs the Secretary of the Interior to remove gray wolves from the list of endangered and threatened species in the Lower 48 states and return their management to the states. Last year, a similar bill passed the House but never passed the Senate. Read more

MISSOULA, Mont.  — Located in the heart of Michigan’s elk range, the Pigeon River Country State Forest in the state’s Lower Peninsula now includes an additional 8,850 acres, thanks to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation’s contribution of funds for a recent land acquisition by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The DNR’s purchase of the Black River Ranch in Cheboygan and Montmorency counties conserves the property from future development and opens the land to the public for hunting, fishing and other outdoor activities.

Contact: Jon Mayes, 517-284-5954

The Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund Board has recommended that the Michigan Legislature approve 60 recreation development projects and 15 land acquisitions totaling $45 million to be funded in 2026.

The board this year considered a total of 100 applications seeking over $56.6 million in funding. In a competitive process, all eligible applications were evaluated based on scoring criteria approved by the Trust Fund board.

The panel recommends funding to state and local agencies for development projects and land acquisitions aimed at furthering access to public outdoor recreation.

This year, the board recommended $19.1 million for development project grants and $25.8 million for acquisition grants.

Inside those amounts, there were 55 development grants totaling $17,704,000 and 10 acquisition grants totaling $10,266,000 recommended to be awarded to local units of government. In addition, five development projects totaling $1,430,000 and five acquisition purchases totaling $15,600,000 were recommended for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.”

“The Trust Fund continues to be a tremendous source of funding for important projects and land acquisitions across Michigan,” said Michigan Department of Natural Resources Director Scott Bowen. “Since 1976, more than 3,000 projects or acquisitions have been funded with the help of Trust Fund dollars, creating an outstanding legacy spanning nearly half a century.”

The Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund is a restricted fund that was established in 1976 to provide funding for public acquisition of lands for resource protection and outdoor recreation, as well as for public outdoor recreation development projects. It is funded through interest and earnings on funds derived from the revenues of state-owned oil, gas and minerals.

Over the past 49 years, the Trust Fund has granted more than $1.3 billion to state and local units of government, across 3,015 allocations, to develop and improve recreation opportunities in Michigan.

“From a Keweenaw Heartlands land acquisition in Keweenaw County to a Salsinger Trailhead land purchase as part of the Joe Louis Greenway in Detroit, to dozens of development projects scattered all over our state, the Trust Fund is making substantial progress every single year,” said Dr. Brandy Brown, chairwoman of the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund Board.

The Trust Fund board’s recommendations will go to the Michigan Legislature for review as part of the appropriations process. Upon approval, the Legislature will forward a bill to the governor for signing.

A list of the final recommendations made by the Trust Fund board is available at Michigan.gov/MNRTF.