Category Archives: Other Wildlife

Wildlife other than birds

Burbot, November 16, 2015

Burbot

Burbot (click to see the larger version)

This morning I saw a strange fish at Montrose, a fish I’ve never seen before. I’m familiar with most of the local fish and I can at least place them into larger categories, e.g., salmon, bass, pike, gar, but this one looked nothing like any fish I’ve ever seen in the wild. It reminded me of a cod and I vaguely recalled that there is a freshwater cod-like fish found in the Great Lakes called a Burbot. When I got home I did some research and my mystery fish matches up very well with a Burbot (Lota lota). According to Wikipedia, Burbot are benthic in nature, which means they inhabit the lowest levels of a body of water, which might explain why I don’t see them.

Beaver, October 11, 2015

Beaver

Beaver (click to see the larger version)

The best bird this morning wasn’t even a bird but a Beaver. I saw this one swimming south in Lake Michigan, hugging the fishing pier. I’m always surprised how big Beavers are when I see them in the wild; I’d say this one was 2.5 feet long and maybe 40 pounds. There really isn’t any suitable Beaver habitat at Montrose so I think most pass through and don’t stay long, though there is evidence in the form of chewed branches that they use the Dunes.

To see a short video of the Beaver on YouTube, follow this link. For more on Beavers in general, take a look at this Wikipedia article.

Bats, September 7, 2014

Silver-haired Bat

Silver-haired Bat (click to see the larger version)

I’ve been seeing migrating bats at Montrose for the last few weeks now. This morning, September 7, I had about 10 come in off the lake while I was standing at the east end of Montrose Beach. A couple landed on the light tower but most continued flying south over the beach and dunes and landed somewhere in the wooded area of the point. This is fairly typical behavior. Since I can’t identify bats in flight I have no idea which species I’ve been seeing, but most fall into 2 categories – large with dark underparts and small with pale brown underparts. In the past the local Peregrine Falcons would perch on the light tower at this time of the year and predate the bats as they were coming in off the lake in the morning. For whatever reason they don’t do this anymore. This morning I found a bat that I believe is a Silver-haired roosting on the side of a concrete light pole at the south end of the beach. A more thorough search of the point would almost certainly turn up more.