Isle Royale Forums

http://www.nps.gov/isro/planyourvisit/brochures.htm

6 of the 18 mammals on I.R. are bats! Anyone ever see a marten, weasel, or mink?
Also interesting that the last caribou sighting was 1981. I was there for the summer of '79 and don't remember ever hearing of caribou on the island then.

We saw a mink at Daisy Farm. We were in the shelter you pass on the trail to the camp ranger's cabin. There is a set of steps going down to the water and we were sitting there and a mink came running along the shore and dissappeared into a brush pile. We were both surprised.

I have also seen mink at the Richie Canoe site. A few years back we observed several turtles climb up the rocks and lay their eggs, only to have them dug up by the mink shortly after. Also observed him munch on a northern pike along the shore close to camp. Not sure if he cought the fish or what. He didn't seem to be too concerned about the presence of people, but we pretty much let him be. Great fun to watch.

The river otters are a blast to watch also.

That's the first I've heard of mink before on the island. Pretty crazy.

1981 for the last caribou sighting is pretty incredible, too.

I've seen a black fox out there...that was about all the exciting mammals I've seen besides your normal moose and squirrels.

've seen a black fox out there...that was about all the exciting mammals I've seen besides your normal moose and squirrels.

I met a silver fox on the trail to Scollville Pt. once. It came down the trail straight at me. I stopped. It stayed on the trail to within 3ft, swerved around me, and kept on going. Very cool!

Hi all,

I emailed Mark Romanski, Lead Biological Science Technician at the park and he replied:

Not correct, good catch, should be around 1928. I think what happened is they put the Lynx date in the wrong place, that should be 1981.

I will forward this to the proper authorities.


Bob

Keweenaw wrote: Not correct, good catch, should be around 1928. I think what happened is they put the Lynx date in the wrong place, that should be 1981.

I will forward this to the proper authorities.

I really think we've accomplished something here today.

No chipmunks? I could swear we've seen chipmunks...

My wife and I saw otters in Chickenbone Lake playing with each other - that was pretty fun. We had plenty of bats flying near our shelter at Washington Creek as well.

Don_P wrote:No chipmunks? I could swear we've seen chipmunks...

I know, isn't it funny how you transpose the animals that should be there...
I once told someone in front of a ranger that there were chipmunks and he gave me a quizzical look. "Um, no, actually, there aren't..."

Then I realized how the little red squirrels exhibit chipmunkish behavior and that was what I was really thinking of.

I had an encounter with a short-tailed weasel at McCargoe Cove group camp in 2007. I was there with the IRNHA service trip. Got up 6 am, went to the ol' outhouse for a morning visit, and lo and behold, there was a dead wood mouse lying on the door step. Just as I was thinking, "Gee, the smell's not THAT bad..." and wondering if it was really dead or just fainted, a little brown head pops around the corner and stares at me with bright button eyes. I called my friend Alan over and we waited by the mouse for the critter to come around the corner. But no sign of it. Then, suddenly, it pokes its head out from UNDER the outhouse, right behind said mouse. But we're standing there, so it quick ducks back under the structure. It repeats this a couple more times. Finally I said out loud, "Go on and take your mouse, buddy, we don't want it."

As if it understood what I'd said, it pokes its head out, snatches the mouse, and zips off into the woods, all of this taking about a second and a half.

A few minutes later we walked down to the dock and saw a wolf as well, trotting along the opposite shore.

What a morning!

I wish I had found this years ago. I was on IR twice in '79 and '81, was within 6 Ft. of a mink my first day on the island, we also watched a short-tailed weasel and a chipmunk chase each other in and out of a tree trunk for 10 minuted one day. When we asked a ranger about it on the boat back, we were told in a very rude tone that there were no chipmunks or mink on the island. Nice to know I was'nt crazy.

Welcome to the boards Tyler. I wish I was able to get to the island back in those days to see a more plentiful Isle Royale that is known by some. Unfortunately, I was yet to be born. Caribou, huh? Never read this post until you revived it with your reply. How man Caribou were said to exist on the island at there peak? And what are all 18 mamals on the island?

Rafiki wrote:Welcome to the boards Tyler. I wish I was able to get to the island back in those days to see a more plentiful Isle Royale that is known by some. Unfortunately, I was yet to be born. Caribou, huh? Never read this post until you revived it with your reply. How man Caribou were said to exist on the island at there peak? And what are all 18 mamals on the island?

I remember hearing of caribou on the island as well, until the wolves hunted them to extinction. I believe there was quite a large population on the island to start with...many more than moose...until the wolves came over. There's a swampy area near Siskiwit Bay that was said to have had some bones from caribou found in it until rather recently (within the last 10 years?).

Also, I found this article that kind of shines some light on the caribou sitch on IR: http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_bo ... fauna3.htm

It doesn't say that the wolves caused the caribou's disappearance.

"The reason for the caribou's disappearance has not been ascertained. However, the history of the species on Isle Royale correlates well with that on the mainland. Before 1900 the caribou was common in northeastern Minnesota (Swanson et al., 1945) and in Ontario (de Vos and Peterson, 1951; Peterson, 1955), but it began to decline in numbers about the turn of the century (Hickie, n.d.). At present, it is rare along the north shore of Lake Superior. Perhaps the forest fires and invasion by man which occurred in the early 1900's altered the environment too drastically. If the Isle Royale herd was migratory, it also might have succumbed to these factors."

I was fortunate enough to see several Caribou last summer during a visit to the Slate islands. I'm not sure but belive they are free from preadators there. An awesome thing to see with your morning coffee!