Seeing young wildlife is always exciting, but for the people working at Isle Royale National Park, some recent births are extra cause for celebration. Chief of Interpretation and Cultural Resources for Isle Royale National Park Liz Valencia was happy to announce that this summer the number of island inhabitants grew with new additions to the island’s peregrine falcon and wolf populations.
Valencia explained that island animal populations are generally small with fewer species than on the surrounding mainland. Isle Royale’s biodiversity is generally lower because the islands’ isolation has restricted migration of organisms from outside populations, she said. For example, there are approximately 19 species of mammals documented on Isle Royale, far fewer than the number of mammals on the adjacent Michigan and Minnesota mainland. “Because of this isolation, births in some species with small populations are often celebrated,” said Valencia.
Last year marked the first time in 57 years that peregrine falcons, a state-listed endangered species, nested and successfully fledged young on the island. This year that success was repeated with two chicks reared to fledging on Passage Island. “Last year was quite a shock to find a breeding pair of falcons. This year we hoped the pair would return and we were very happy to see nesting activity,” said Chief of Natural Resources Paul Brown.
Initially there were three chicks in the nest, but over the course of the next few weeks one chick disappeared. The two remaining chicks were successfully reared. With the addition of these two new birds, the island population of peregrine falcons is currently thought to be 5-7 individuals.
Also noteworthy this summer was the birth of at least two wolf pups. For the past several years the wolf population has been slowly declining, to a historic low of eight animals at the end-of-winter study in March 2013.
National Park personnel say these new animals bring the total population up to at least 10 animals. “It is always exciting when we learn about successful reproduction of wildlife in the park, and the birth of two wolf pups is especially good news,” said Park Superintendent Phyllis Green. “The wolves continue to surprise us with their resiliency. While we were very happy to learn about the birth of the pups, we are still concerned about the population and are in the process of evaluating options on how to deal with the population in the future.”
Leave a Reply