Bay o` Wolf

 

Yesterday, Brian zoomed across the bay with the snowmobile. Lovely, clean white snow on ice. (let us not mention that yes, there is still some slush out there, you need to watch where you go.)

He was also up grooming ski trails in the back field, and reported that there were ``a lot`` of wolf tracks  across the field.

For those who wonder what they look like -- here they are.

This morning, I took Taffy for her morning scamper.  We wandered along the snowmobile track on the lake -- and, well, there were a lot of wolf tracks there too.  The lake, however, was not quite so pristine and white...

Near the shore, in the far corner of the bay we found the remains of a wolf-kill.  This, for the deer, is about the worst possible scenario.  For the wolves, it`s about the best.  It`s the way Nature works, so we can`t be upset. 

Since I had Taffy along, I opted not to go too close. I didn`t want to get into the conversation about ancestry.com and why it`s okay to have a beef bone in the living room, but not the leg off a deer.  Brian and Dave went over instead to get some pictures for me and  do the CSI investigation.  Tonight, the group in the Lodge is coming out with me and we`re going to HOWL... chances seem good, since the pack may well be back to clean up the site.

These will be Eastern Wolves, ranging out from Algonquin Park.  If you go into the SBAA site, you can learn a lot about the research that is being done on these animals in the Park.  You can listen to some really good recordings of wolf howls there too.

A friend of ours recently saw two wolves lope across the road in front of his car while driving through the Park.  He sent us a link to a Daily Planet show, featuring wolf researcher Brent Patterson, seen here with a tranquillized wolf.   You have to get to the second half of the clip to see the wolves,  but the sight of Brent crawling head-first into a den to scoop out wolf pups is worth the wait. 

You just can`t beat the wolf pups for the CUTE FACTOR, either. Although the deer do their best.  Everybody has to eat...

Speaking of that... we`ll be keeping an eye on that deer kill. Already the area is thick with ravens, and the tracks of foxes.  Some of our guests saw an eagle when they were here a few weeks back, and there is a good chance that this will draw the eagles in here as well. They are a rare and spectacular sight, all by themselves.

Nature... seems like She is right here on the doorstep.