Isle Royale Forums

Here's a screen shot of today's MODIS imagery. Amazing what a few weeks of very cold air can do. Looks like an ice bridge has formed, or is forming between the mainland and IR. The red, on the Canadian Ice map, means that between 90-100% of the ice is at least 15 cm thick (5.9").

Hopefully there's no escapees in attempts to go home.

Midwest Ed wrote: Sun Feb 14, 2021 3:31 pmHopefully there's no escapees in attempts to go home.

I thought about that too. And with nobody on the island this winter, pretty hard to know what's going on. I suppose if a collared wolf left IR, somebody may know about it. But that's just a guess.

When some of the wolves were going to be deposited just before winter there was some talk of penning them up for a while (to prevent an ice bridge escape) in hopes of acclimating them to their new home. Hopefully they've gotten used to and happy with their new home for a long enough period that the urge to head home has passed.

Midwest Ed wrote: Sun Feb 14, 2021 3:44 pmWhen some of the wolves were going to be deposited just before winter there was some talk of penning them up for a while (to prevent an ice bridge escape) in hopes of acclimating them to their new home. Hopefully they've gotten used to and happy with their new home for a long enough period that the urge to head home has passed.

With an overabundance of moose, they have plenty of food. I guess the only reason they would cross the ice to Ontario is because of societal pressures. There was a lot of mortality last year with wolves killing other wolves that strayed into their territory. That may cause wolves to leave.

The Canadian Ice map from February 16, 2021. The light purple called "I" is medium thick ice, meaning 15cm to 30 cm, or about 6" to 12" thick. You could drive a snowmobile to IR right now if you wanted to.

MODIS from today, February 17, 2021. Now we'll see how long the ice bridge lasts.

The ice bridge is now gone. Looks like it lasted 7-9 days. We'll see if any wolves left the island, or any wolves came over from Ontario.

treeplanter wrote: Sun Feb 14, 2021 3:35 pm

Midwest Ed wrote: Sun Feb 14, 2021 3:31 pmHopefully there's no escapees in attempts to go home.

I thought about that too. And with nobody on the island this winter, pretty hard to know what's going on. I suppose if a collared wolf left IR, somebody may know about it. But that's just a guess.

They will definitely be able to check in on that this summer when they come back on the island. They typically need to be within a specific radius of the collar to be able to track it. but we will have to cross our fingers and wait and see.