Eagle Migration; Big Island Lake Wilderness Area MI

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Last fall I was out by the shore of Blush Lake, at our home in the Big Island Lake Wilderness Area, and I noticed several eagles fishing on the lake. As I got the camera out, they moved off. I went back to my yard work when I saw more eagles. We had been getting several eagles every day for a week or more, and I knew they were getting ready to migrate.

We frequently have eagles on the lake, and this year have had an immature eagle regularly perch in the trees off of our deck. This was one of the eagles I watched as I came up the hill from the lake edge with my camera.

At first I noticed an eagle low at the tree tops, and then I looked up. I counted 27 eagles soaring upward on a thermal. I raced to get my camera, and got shots which at first glance did not show. I came across these a few days ago, and cropped them to zoom in.

I am amazed at what I saw. Our own little fellow soared up to join the group. What a sight!

I will always remember that fall day here at Blush Lake!

Otters in the Big Island Lake Wilderness Area

On a walk along Kentucky Trail, the west boundary of the Big Island Lake Wilderness Area, I noticed these tracks of an otter in the snow. We returned on skis, and followed them through the woods. They eventually disappeared into a hole in the ice of Little Island Lake.

River Otters are frequently seen in the Big Island Lake Wilderness Area. They are one of the largest members of the weasel family, and generally average about 20lbs and about four feet in length. Some large males can get up to almost six feet and 40lbs, but I doubt those are from around here!

When the lake is open, we see them frequently from our deck overlooking Blush Lake. They eat fish,(primarily slow ones) clams, crayfish, and have been known to hunt muskrats and beaver, as well as other small animals. They travel cross-country through the woods between the lakes in the area as readily as following the streams.

We have had two "close encounters" while kayaking on the lake, once while along the far shore, a family of four came into the lake from the north. They fished and dove for clams, crunching them loudly as they moved south. We gave them plenty of room, and watched them play along the logs on the South shore. Later, after they had left, we came back across the lake, and noticed a floating clam which had been bitten in half floating on the surface.

Another time I was letting the wind push me across the lake. I noticed as I got close to shore that an otter was busy eating clams on a log on the south end of the lake. I watched silently as I drifted closer. Suddenly, when I was about thirty feet away, it lifted its head, looked straight at me and growled! I quickly back paddled back out into the lake and left him to his lunch

Otters are evident here on Blush Lake in the winter too. Holes in the ice appear and disappear, which I am convinced the otters make. Although the lakes are frozen,and there is usually a pocket of air below the ice which the otters can use, these holes open mysteriously, appearing off and on in different areas of the lake. They seem to relate to times when we see otter tracks in the snow, although the tracks do not go to the holes. I am keeping watch, and have the telescope trained on the lake-- at some point I hope to see a little brown head looking back at me.

Porqupine at Blush Lake, Big Island Lake Wilderness Area

Porcupines I think are really interesting creatures. They are the second largest rodent in the north, next to beaver. They are largely solitary and nocturnal creatures, and are content to munch on leaves and buds and tree bark. Their only defense is their quills, which are very effective. The quills are barbed and hollow, and when they are stuck into the attackers flesh, they work their way in. This can fatally injure the attacker, either by the quill hitting a blood vessel, internal organ, or due to secondary infection setting in. These deter most predators except for the fisher, which are known to flip them, and attack their unquilled stomach.

Porcupines den in a hollow tree in winter, but during the summer they simply rest during the day in a tree. The female gives birth in the spring to a single baby, which is very well developed. As young as two weeks of age the baby begins to eat leaves and twigs. The baby stays with the mother for about six months.

The porcupines have a reputation for causing damage to property from chewing. We have not had problems with them, in part because we have a salt block on the far end of our property for wildlife. Porcupines love salt. I was on the deck enjoying the spring weather last year when I looked up and saw this porky. Then I noticed that there was a second, smaller one on the branch. I was lucky enough to be in a position to actually watch the little one nurse and get this shot on video. I clipped out a shot for this post. A rare view from our deck!

Wolves in the Big Island Lake Wilderness Area, MI

The Big Island Lake Wilderness Area is traversed by a pack of gray wolves. Visiting the area you may see their tracks, which are LARGE 3.5-4" across. ( Coyotes are also in the area, but they are much smaller, leaving tracks about 2.5" X 2.5" .) When you see a wolf track you won't mistake it for anything else--you will say " WOW, look at the size of that"!

It will be a very rare occurrence if you actually see a wolf, they are very shy. Last summer I walked in to Coattail Lake from Co. Rd. 445. There has been much beaver activity in the area of the designated campsite, and I was looking for beaver at the lakeside, when I looked down and saw the wolf tracks. Lots of them. I figured they were looking for beaver too.

It had rained hard the previous night, and the rain had just stopped as I set out. While I know that they have rarely been documented to bother humans, being alone there with a pack of wolves hunting nearby seemed pretty stupid, so I beat it back to the road. No problems with the wolves, just my nerves.

We live on the west side of Blush Lake, more or less in the south end of the wilderness area. Not infrequently at night we can hear coyotes howl, and less often but most certainly we can hear the wolves howl. You will know the sound when you hear it, deep and loud. Not yipping or yodelling like the coyote or fox. Once we heard coyotes howling, then wolves responding in the distance. The coyotes stopped calling at once. Wolves will defend their territory from coyotes, as well as dogs.

Local bear hunters will not take their dogs into the wilderness area, because they have had dogs attacked by the wolves. We have had no problems with our dogs, but they are house dogs, and do not run at large. Actually, we have had bear dogs come up onto our deck, but never wolves. To play it safe, I would recommend that if you plan to camp in the wilderness area, don't bring your pets along.

We have seen wolf tracks in the snow on the north end of our property and twice have seen wolves on the ice of Blush Lake. They moved along the north and west shores, and once we saw two cut across the far bay on the ice. I managed to clip these photos from a video I shot.

Pike Spawning, Big Island Lake Wilderness Area

I was going through some photos and found these taken a year or so back. I happened to be down along the edge of Blush Lake with a camera, and heard splashing. It was very early in the spring, and the ice was still partially on the lake. The splashing came and went, at first I thought it was the otters, but as I got closer I could see fins.


I tried to be still along the shore as they swam my way. What a surprise! I saw three good sized pike mating along the logs and brush. The birch tree in the water that they swam across is large, maybe 14" across, just to give some scale.


I knew the lake had perch and some bluegill, but these were a something to see. There is an outlet across the lake which winds through some marshy ponds, called the "Neville Lakes", and then becomes Camp 83--which feeds down into the Indian River. It doesn't seem likely, because in some areas it is so shallow and partially blocked, but perhaps they swam in from the creek?

Trumpeter Swans at Big Island Lake Wilderness Area

Over the past five years, we have had the pleasure of watching the Trumpeter Swan population increase in the area. We have one pair which nests in the adjacent wetlands, and brings their cygnets to our lakefront area, and into the yard for grass and sun.

The largest North American swan, the male stands almost four feet tall and they have a wing span of about seven feet. The swans bugle loudly on their way in over the tree tops. We will hear them come before they land. Our lake is so quiet you can hear the wind rushing beneath their wings as they brake to land.

The swans return about April, and I was surprised this spring to look out and see swans coming up the hill from the lake to investigate the yard and our bird feeder. After their cygnets were about the size of a duck, but not able to fly, the family disappears. Later in the summer the swans fly back, this year two of the cygnets of the four made it to fledge.




They came and went from the lake this fall, and finally after the ice was almost closed, they left for the year.

A week ago, I saw a flock of ten, bugling, heading south. I will miss that sound.