meeting on Siskiwit Lake
4-5 Feb
Winter Study
notes from the field
4 Feb – Throughout the night and into the morning, most of Middle Pack traveled south across the Grace Creek drainage, over Red Oak Ridge, and on through the swamps south of Feldtmann Lake. Unable to kill the moose they’d wounded five days ago, they searched for an easier prospect. One of the Middle Pack wolves, perhaps thinking little of such a prospect, remained with the moose into which they’d already invested much. He or she ate blood-soaked snow.
Without food to unite their interest, or deep snows to restrict their walking, the wolves of CHP had various ideas for how to spend the day. The alpha pair and one subordinate traveled across the barren expanse of ice that Lake Siskiwit becomes each winter (see map below). They announced their day’s effort with scent marks, and ended up at Lake Richie. The two collared wolves of CHP traveled together from near Lake Harvey to Chickenbone Lake, one CHP wolf sauntered across Livermore Lake, and two others stayed at Harvey Lake.
While the three CHP wolves had been crossing Siskiwit Lake, Romeo stepped onto the same barren field of ice about a ½ a mile to the SE. He was walking toward a fifth, smaller (presumably female) wolf who had also just stepped onto the frozen lake about ½ a mile to the SW. Intently focused on each other, both were unaware of the CHP wolves patrolling their territory just to the NW, despite the close proximity. And the CHP wolves hadn’t noticed the tryst. The pair continued to approach each other with an interest that seemed to alternate between playfulness and restraint.
It is sometimes surprising what wolves can and cannot detect. While a human could easily see a wolf standing on ice from even a mile away, wolves often pass other wolves at such distances without seeing one another. Though finely tuned for night vision, wolves have relatively poor distance vision. But scent is an entirely different matter. Wolves know a world of smells that is entirely beyond our imagination.
A north wind betrayed the CHP wolves. In an instance, Romeo turned his body and all his olfactory attention toward the CHP wolves. A moment later he ran from the ice and into the forest. Without ever meeting on the ice, Romeo’s friend did the same. The CHP wolves continued on, never realizing the frustrated encounter.
After leaving one final scentmark at the NE end of Lake Siskiwit (see image to right), CHP continued off the lake, over a portage used by humans in the summer, and onto the next lake. Half an hour later the scene was safe. Romeo and his friend returned to the ice, laid down about 30 meters from each other and slept a short while. Then they disappeared into the forest – we don know if they left together or separately.
5 Feb – East winds don’t hit the shores of Isle Royale until they’ve passed over 100 miles of Lake Superior. When they call out to the lake, it vaporizes. Thick, churning clouds form and fly just a thousand feet or so above the lake, and then pour over the island. Beautiful, but not so good for flying.
Middle Pack returned only briefly to check on their wounded moose, and continued NE on toward Lake Desor. The two collared wolves of CHP were just north of Lake Whittlesey. The clouds were gradually lowering toward the ground. Without learning any more about the wolves, we began flying home.
In the afternoon, we helped Don perform routine maintenance on the Flagship until the feeling had left our finger tips.
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The alpha pair of Chippewa Harbor Pack patrolling their territory on Siskiwit Lake.
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