Island Flora, and the hunt for moose

I wish I'd paid better attention to my botany classes. If I've identified this right, it's Red Baneberry....they're poison. Might explain why they hadn't been chewed by moose. Sure are perty, tho'. Bet if they weren't poison the moose would have chewed the berries.

These cones were hanging in a spruce thicket. See, no needles. Bet the moose ate them off last winter.

   This is called Rose Mandarin. Another name is Rosy Twistedstalk.

Where did they come up with these names? This bumblebee is dining on the nectar from Canada Hankweed. (glad we saw this before the moose chewed it up)

I thought these were gorgeous. This name seems natural, Bluebell.

I'd never seen Wild Iris before. This spectacular specimen of lichen was only one of many, many varieties we saw.

We came looking for moose. Sue searches here.

Sorry to say, this moose and the next weren't for real. We hoped these digital frauds would represent the ease with which we'd see moose. According to others we met at Isle Royale, that's how easy it was for them!

I began to figure that Isle Royale moose were like the "snipes" we used to tease first time campers into hunting.

Monday, Aug 6, 2001

We didn't take a lot of pictures today.  We spent most of the day in either a canoe or a boat and I was too big a coward to expose the digital camera to the mariner's environment where I am such a novice. I'm a bit sorry that I was too timid. We saw some great stuff that deserved photographing....that is great stuff, except moose.

How many times can I use the word "spectacular"? This is sun-up from our room.

In the morning we rented a canoe which we picked up in Tobin Harbor. Tobin is a very easy hike from the Lodge on Snug Harbor. The land separating these two bodies of water takes only 5 minutes to cross at an easy walk. Still, crossing from the Lodge area to Tobin Harbor represents a journey from near-civilization to the wilderness. At Tobin, there are decent docks where the canoes await pickup, and where folks who motor to Isle Royale could tie up. Other than that, there are few signs of the hand of men. We spent the morning enjoying the water, fresh air, occasional loons, and fairly numerous families of Mom and baby common mergansers......but no moose.

This is the Tobin Harbor dock. Paddle a few hundred yards in a canoe, and it's hard to find any sign of the hand of man.

At sundown, we saw a luna moth. One of the Park Staff said this species was endangered, but I was skeptical. I checked it out when I got home and she was mistaken about this species.

Sundown, rocks and water were surely restful.

This picture, and the one following are Tobin Harbor at dusk. Sue, Laura, and I watched for moose here this evening.

Five minutes or so after I decided it was too dark for pictures, and the mosquitoes were too voracious, Sue and Laura saw a moose where this "virtual" one has been inserted. They succeeded in their mission to see a moose (it was a bull). The best I ever saw was moose poop.

 I was struck by the lack of biological diversity, especially among mammals. There are just over a dozen mammal species here...then I recalled that this was an island....pretty darned remote from the mainland. Its isolation was the thing that made it most valuable for ecological study. The small numbers of possible species made studies easier....fewer variables.

Actually, if you think about it, it's a wonder there aren't fewer mammals here. The moose swam the 15 miles from Canada in the 1930's. Wolves came over a  few years later when a very cold winter froze the lake and provided a crossing. It's not hard to understand how otters and beavers would arrive, or how a couple bat species could fly in. But who offered rides to red fox, red squirrel and snow shoe hare?.

Anyhow, enough is enough. Suffice it to say there was much more that we saw on Isle Royale, and ever much more that we will have to see next time.