Wildlife at Isle Royale National Park

It may be rare to spot a moose, and even rarer to spot the normally reclusive wolf, on Isle Royale, but there is ample chance to see all sorts of wildlife as you visit the isolated national park in Michigan.

Park animals include moose, wolves, elk, snowshoe hares, foxes, ermine, mink, muskrats, bats, reptiles like garter snakes, loons, beavers, many different birds, and other small mammals. Caribou, lynx, and deer used to call Isle Royale home, but the last of those animals on the island died out between the 1920s and 1950s.

Wolves are particularly scarce on the island, with the Isle Royale wolf population declining from 24 to 19 animals between January 2009 and January 2010. The moose population reportedly declined from an estimated 530 to 510 animals during roughly the same time period.

Isle Royale is 56 miles from Michigan's mainland, and it is within 15 miles of Ontario and Minnesota shores.

Researchers speculate that moose arrived on the island by swimming there around 1900. The first wolves appeared on Isle Royale around 1950, most likely traveling to the island by walking over the ice from Canada during the winter.

Moose are loners and eat herbs, ferns, shrubs, leaves, and other vegetation. The carnivorous wolves live in packs and developed a taste for the island's moose.

This set up a unique environment with one predator (the wolf) seeking one primary prey (the moose). Moose provide about 90 percent of the wolves' diet, while beavers and snowshoe hares provide the rest of the wolves' menu.

Researchers began studying the relationship between the moose and wolf on Isle Royale by the late 1950s. They found that as the moose population increased, so did the wolf population, and the wolf population declined as the moose population declined.

Outside factors can influence the delicate balance. During the 1980s, an island visitor brought their dog to the park (which does not allow domestic pets). The dog passed on a virus to the wolves, and the wolf population sharply declined.

While we failed to see a wolf or moose during our visit to the island, we spotted many other animals as we walked the trails and canoed near Rock Harbor.  

One of my favorite finds was a large pileated woodpecker that perched nicely on a log along the trail as I snapped its photo.

I wasn't as enthused about the garter snake we found slithering across our path, but we knew he was pretty harmless as we let him quietly slither away into the woods.

You can often spot loons or mergansers in Tobin Harbor. Loons usually don't stray too close to humans, and park rangers remind visitors to especially keep their distance from the wary birds during nesting season.

I got a few nice photos of this snowshoe hare in his summer brown coat as he led the way through the forest.

And, of course, there are always squirrels, who aren't shy around humans. This little guy joined us for lunch on the deck at Rock Harbor Lodge's Greenstone Grill, but we weren't giving him any of our burgers or beer!

 

Want to learn more about the wolves on the island? Check out The Wolves of Isle Royale: A Broken Balance by Rolf O. Peterson.

© Dominique King 2010 All rights reserved

Comments

[Angela (@AngEngland)]

Gorgeous pictures! Love the woodpecker. We have smaller woodpeckers around here but they also have that bright red head...I have never taken the time to find out their name though.

That squirrel looks like he's laughing at you. :-)

[Dominique King]

Angela-We also have the smaller woodpeckers at home, but it's even rare that I get such a good shot at seeing them because they're so high up in the trees.
I wasn't sure if the squirrel was laughing at me, or looking guilty at being caught in the act of trying to steal some food! :)