Happy World Otter Day 2026

Posted on by farlane
Otters by Brent West

Otters by Brent West

Today (May 27) is the tenth annual World Otter Day, an annual event held the last Wednesday in May & dedicated to raising awareness of the importance of protecting otters everywhere. Russell Bassett of Environment Michigan shared five great things about Michigan’s native otter, the North American River Otter:

1. They’re good fishers
Otters spend most of their life around water, and fish typically make up the majority of their diet. These members of the weasel family travel vast distances along waterways and over land to fish other areas. They’re good explorers, often setting up multiple dens away from their homes to find the best fishing spots.

2. They’re good swimmers
River otters’ sinuous, streamlined bodies and long tails propel them through water with ease. They can turn on a dime while swimming, and hold their breath underwater for up to eight minutes. With populations in nearly every state in the U.S., their thick, warm and waterproof coats allow them to swim in very cold environments.

3. They have fun
River otters are playful animals, and as far as we can tell, they’re often having a good time — swimming, fishing, sliding, wrestling, chasing each other, and just generally having a blast. We hope to be so lucky this summer!

4. They play a key role in aquatic ecosystems
River otters need clean, watery habitat with plenty of prey, so they are a key indicator of the health of a waterway. River otters are not found in highly-polluted watersheds.

5. When we appreciate river otters, we also appreciate clean water
In the face of pollution and uncontrolled development, river otters were once eradicated from many portions of the country. Conservation, reintroduction efforts, and national legislation like the Clean Water Act have helped bring them back from the brink.

Though river otters have returned to much of their historic range, their overall population today is estimated at only 100,000. To protect the river otter, we must protect our rivers, lakes, and streams from pollution and destruction. River otters give us just one more reason – a very cute reason – to stand up for our waterways.

Brett took these photos way back in 2010. See more in his Random photo album on Flickr!

Support Michigan in Pictures with Patreon

One Buck Chuck: New “one buck” rule for Michigan’s Lower Peninsula

Posted on by farlane
Best Buck by Beth Crawford

Best Buck by Beth Crawford

WKAR Public Media shares that the Natural Resources Commission is implementing a one-buck limit for deer hunters in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula:

The Natural Resources Commission met for 10 hours Wednesday to discuss the implementation of a one-buck rule for hunters in the 2027 hunting season. The goal is to incentivize the hunting of does, which would reduce Michigan’s deer overpopulation and balance out the doe-to-buck ratio.

More than 50 people spoke during the nearly five-hour-long public comment section 😱, and opinions on the one-buck ruling were varied.

…Commissioner David Nyberg said implementing the one-buck rule on the Lower Peninsula was a compromise among the commissions. “In an imperfect process this, this proposed amendment tries to get as close as possible to achieving what we’re hearing and what the science is showing that we can support Michigan,” he said.

Beth shares that to her amazement, this buck walked right up to her so of course she took the shot. See more in her Deer photo gallery on Flickr.

Support Michigan in Pictures with Patreon

The Pack is Back: Wolf population up on Isle Royale

Posted on by farlane
Isle Royale Wolf Pack by Isle Royale National Lakeshore

Isle Royale Wolf Pack by Isle Royale National Park

The Smithsonian shares that the Isle Royale wolf population has reached the highest level in nearly 50 years. This is an excellent article you should read in full that begins:

After completing their annual survey this year, scientists estimate 37 of the apex predators are now roaming around Isle Royale, a 132,000-acre U.S. national park that’s part of Michigan and located near Thunder Bay, Canada. The moose population, meanwhile, has declined to an estimated 524 animals, according to a report released in April.

Together, the new figures suggest Isle Royale is returning to a healthier predator-prey dynamic after years of imbalance.

“The wolf and moose populations are now approaching the edge of where they have been in the past, with moose low and wolves high,” says Rolf Peterson, an ecologist at Michigan Technological University and co-leader of the Isle Royale Wolf-Moose Project, in a statement.

The photo is from a 2021 post by Isle Royale National Park about GPS collars they use to monitor wolf packs and their dynamics that are referenced in the Smithsonian article.

Michigan in Pictures has lots more about wolves & Isle Royale. One highlight is a look at where we were just over a decade ago in April of 2015 when the Freep reported that wolves were almost gone from Isle Royale.

Support Michigan in Pictures with Patreon

World’s oldest Loons return to Seney, drama ensues

Posted on by farlane
Return of the Loons by Dani Fegan

Return of the Loons by Dani Fegan

The Seney National Wildlife Refuge shared a report by Damon McCormick of Common Coast Research & Conservation that provides a passionate look at the World’s Oldest Loons battling over breeding territory:

On Saturday morning, April 25, a female loon on I Pool beheld a relatively frequent spring sight: two males battling, with beating wings and stabbings bills, for control of the breeding territory. The observer was Fe, who was first color-marked as an E Pool mother in 1990, and who will thus turn at least 40 this summer. The hostilities were brutal but brief, and after only a minute one of the combatants discerned that this was not his day, after which he shortly took flight for less perilous waters. With the challenger vanquished, Fe and the unbanded victor, who was likely but not certainly her mate from 2025, initiated a circling round of bill dipping and jerk diving, aspects of courtship involved in forming, or re-forming, a pair bond for the season.

Concurrently on nearby H Pool, Fe’s former partner of 25 years, ABJ, was engaged in scouting for potential nest sites with his current companion, Aye-Aye, with whom he bred unsuccessfully on H last year. Although ABJ, who will turn 39 this June, hatched a record 32 chicks with Fe, since their split in April 2022 he has failed to produce further offspring, and she remains the only mate with whom he has ever sired young. Along with the broader Seney loon population, which includes color-marked adults who are embarking upon their 24th, 27th and 33rd Refuge seasons, ABJ and Fe and their respective partners will spend the next few weeks engaged in territorial defense, habitat assessment, copulation and nest building ahead of 27-29 days of egg incubation that, with luck, will culminate in the emergence of one or two downy fluffballs in early-mid June.

You can follow along with the saga of the oldest known loons with highlights like “The World’s Oldest Loon Divorcees” on the Seney Wildlife Refuge Facebook.

Support Michigan in Pictures with Patreon

A Legitimate Snowbird

Posted on by farlane
Yogi the Piping Plover at Cumberland Island by Dan Vickers

Yogi the Piping Plover at Cumberland Island by Dan Vickers

“You think YOU’RE a snowbird? Please.” – -Yogi the Great Lakes Piping Plover

Michigan in Pictures features almost exclusively photos from Michigan, but every so often there’s one that will have me reaching beyond our borders. Such is the case with this photo of Yogi the Piping Plover from Cumberland Island all the way down in Georgia that was recently shared by the Great Lakes Piping Plover Recovery Effort. Yogi hails from the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, but his preferred nesting site is the wild and busy Silver Lake State Park.

They explain that the Piping Plover is a small shorebird that is listed as an Endangered Species and nests in three separate geographic populations in the United States and Canada: The Northern Great Plains, the shores of the Great Lakes, and along the Atlantic coast. Birds from all three populations winter on the southern Atlantic and Gulf coasts in the United States & in the Caribbean.

Regarding the distinctive bands, they say: Great Lakes Piping Plover chicks are banded between five and sixteen days of age. Since shorebirds are precocial (Like chickens, Piping Plover chicks begin running around, feeding themselves within hours of hatching), these chicks have well developed legs, which makes it possible for us to band them with adult-sized bands at a young age. The bands we use are made of either plastic or aluminum, and they are very lightweight. Every sibling in a plover brood gets the same color and arrangement of three or four bands (depending on the band color-pattern used). This is called a “brood-marker combination”. There aren’t enough possible combinations available to give every chick their own unique identifier from hatching, but by giving the chicks from the same family, or brood, the same combination we can study such things as parental success, fledging rates, and return success.

Here’s a few more Piping Plover pics – visit greatlakespipingplover.org for more and to help support their work!

Support Michigan in Pictures with Patreon

Michigan Cougar Kittens are doing well!

Posted on by farlane
Cougar Cub Trailcam via Michigan DNR

Cougar Cub Trailcam via Michigan DNR

Remember the cougar cubs we met last month? The Michigan Department of Natural Resources shares this December 2025 trail cam photo of the cougar kits & mother saying:

Nine months after two cougar kittens were documented in the Upper Peninsula, a new trail camera photo indicates the elusive animals are still alive and living with their mother.

…“This is a historic confirmation for Michigan since it is the first time in over 100 years that verified cougar reproduction has occurred east of the Mississippi River and possible even east of the Missouri River,” Roell said.

A private landowner sent the trail camera photo of the cougars to the DNR on Sunday, Dec. 14. Roell verified the site of the photo Monday and the DNR’s cougar team confirmed the photo Tuesday by enhancing the nighttime image to verify the existence of the three cougars. The sex of the kittens is unknown. Cougar kittens, or cubs, generally stay with their mother for about two years before venturing out on their own. “

The kittens’ chances of survival are actually pretty high because just like bears, cougars invest a lot of their energy into their young,” Roell said. “So these kittens will stay with their mom through this winter and possibly even into next winter. They already have a leg up, seeing as how they’ve been with her for a year now.”

You can read more from the DNR & read lots more about cougars on Michigan in Pictures! Here’s a couple photos of the cubs from the DNR along with a pic of an adult cougar.

Support Michigan in Pictures with Patreon

Saving whitefish in the Great Lakes

Posted on by farlane
Fishing in Michigan by Abigail Lynch

Fishing in Michigan by Abigail Lynch

“Since first arriving in the Great Lakes in the 1980s, invasive mussels have spread to all five lakes, and altered the ecosystem in profound ways. Today we understand that zebra and quagga mussels are an existential threat to the Great Lakes and without a coordinated response, they will continue to inflict harm on the environment, infrastructure, and critical species such as lake whitefish. Just as invasive sea lamprey require a coordinated, binational response for effective control, we must partner with national, state, provincial, Indigenous, regional, and local partners to find a solution to the mussel invasion. This bill makes that happen.” –Great Lakes Fishery Commission Chair Ethan Baker

Bridge Michigan shares that two Michigan lawmakers are set to unveil legislation to dramatically increase funding to prevent invasive mussels from wiping out whitefish in the lower Great Lakes:

US Reps. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor, and Tim Walberg, R-Tipton, want to increase funding for mussel control research more than fiftyfold to $500 million over the next 10 years. (EDITOR: They released it on Tuesday)

Otherwise, the “fish that we take for granted are going to just disappear,” Dingell told Bridge Michigan.

…The damage wrought by invasive mussels is among the biggest threats to the Great Lakes in history. Yet Bridge found that while the US government has spent mightily to combat other threats, the fight against mussels has received a comparative pittance.

The main funding program for Great Lakes science has devoted an average of less than $1 million annually to the cause since 2010, according to spending records analyzed by Bridge. The federal government spends about 20 times that amount to keep sea lamprey out of the Great Lakes and has promised 90 times as much to build a barrier against invasive carp.

Read on for much more & kudos to these two Representatives for working together to protect the livelihoods and meals of Michiganders!

The photos are from Michigan Sea Grant and the one of the boat moored was taken by Brandon Schroeder. Sea Grant is an excellent organization that works hard for Michigan waters and the Great Lakes as a whole!

Support Michigan in Pictures with Patreon

Seven Generations of Walleye

Posted on by farlane

Michigan Walleye by Sault Tribe Seven Generations

People who know history know that Ben Franklin & the Founding Fathers leaned heavily on concepts developed by the Haudenosaunee Confederacy (Iroquois) when developing our own system of governance. Personally, I feel it is a shame that we didn’t integrate the principle that in every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.

The Sault Ste Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians definitely lives this principle every day. Sault Tribe Seven Generations just released their 20 millionth walleye into Michigan waters! They share:

This year we recorded our 20 MILLIONTH walleye stocked since our walleye hatchery program began in 1995! Last month we are very proud to have released more than 1 million walleye fingerlings into Northern Michigan waters. These fish contribute to a sustainable fishery while eventually providing meals for families and recreation for fishers.

Every year, our work contributes about 1/3 of all walleye fingerlings released into 1836 Ceded Territory waters!

Click through to read more!

Support Michigan in Pictures with Patreon

River Otters and the Detroit River comeback

Posted on by farlane

River Otter by Ashleigh Mowers

River Otter by Ashleigh Mowers

Great Lakes Now has an excellent feature on the return of river otters to the Detroit River that says (in part):

On the cool morning of April 25, doctoral student Eric Ste Marie from the University of Windsor’s department of integrative biology went out for a walk with his partner along the Detroit River prior to an anticipated long day in his lab. Much to his surprise, he saw an animal pop its head out of the water. It was too big to be a mink and, as it dove, he noticed that it did not have a flat beaver tail. Ste Marie ran out to the end of a pier beneath the Ambassador Bridge to get a closer look to check, and there it was: a river otter.

River otters were quite common in southeast Michigan, including the Detroit River, up through the arrival of European explorers and fur traders,” said Gearld P. Wykes, a historian from the Monroe County Museum System. “During the fur trade era, they were much sought after for their fur, along with beaver. Based on historical records, river otters were likely extirpated from the Detroit River in the early 1900s.”

In 1986, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources reintroduced river otters into high water quality rivers and streams in eastern Ohio. The river otters thrived. As their population grew, they began to move westward – what scientists call expanding their range. By the early 2000s, they had found a home in western Ohio, particularly near Cedar Point and Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, just east of Toledo.

…Biologists studying the Detroit River and resource managers have been excited about the possible range expansion of river otters into the Detroit River. There have been a few anecdotal reports from citizens, but no photographic or videographic proof until Ste Marie was greeted with that ecological surprise on the morning of April 25.

…River otters are considered an indicator species, and their return to the Detroit River after an absence of more than 100 years is a hopeful sign of improving watershed conditions.

Ashleigh took this back in 2016 in Detroit at the Detroit Zoo. Hopefully she gets a shot of them in the wild! See more in her Detroit gallery on Flickr & for sure check out her Go See Do Photography website for more great pics!

More about River otters on Michigan in Pictures.

Support Michigan in Pictures with Patreon

Make Isle Royale your office in 2022!

Posted on by farlane

Tobin Harbor Sunrise by Carl TerHaar

Tobin Harbor Sunrise by Carl TerHaar

How would you like to wake up to this view?? Well, if you are a college student, the Isle Royale Wolf-Moose Research Project is seeking volunteers to assist with data collection for the 2022 summer field season. Students studying natural resources, conservation, ecology, or related fields will gain valuable field work experience working with distinguished researchers in Isle Royale National Park in the longest continuous study of any predator-prey system in the world. 

The opportunity is for 4-5 weeks between early-May and mid-June, and requires students to have documented experience backpacking & camping for extended periods of time in remote settings, proficiency with orienteering, and  the ability to get along with others in backcountry settings for 10-day periods of time are all critical. Get the full rundown of qualifications, activities & more on their website at IsleRoyaleWolf.org.

Carl is definitely Michigan in Pictures’s Isle Royale Bureau Chief! His photos feature prominently in our posts about Isle Royale & his photo of a Bull Moose Faceoff is one of the most popular photos of all time on Michigan in Pictures. He  took this way back in the summer of 2009, and you can see hundreds more in his Isle Royale National Park gallery on Flickr. For sure head over to his Mackinaw Scenics website to view & purchase his work!

Support Michigan in Pictures with Patreon