Nature in Tooth and Claw Outside the Window

by John Venlet

My good friend, who lives up in the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan, gave me a call yesterday. He’d just finished clearing the 6 inches of fresh snow which had fallen overnight; so far this year they’ve had just over 200 inches of snow and there’s about 3 foot or so of snow on the ground now; and he told me he noticed a dozen or so ravens milling about in the woods, about 100 or so feet from his house. As he peered into the woods where all the activity was, he spotted a deer carcass just behind a fallen tree whose trunk was kept about 3 feet off the ground by its branches, and a canine which, as it was feeding on the carcass, was keeping the ravens hopping. At first he could not ID the canine, as the thickness of the woods, and the snow-covered pines, blocked a clear view, but then the canine lifted its head just over the fallen tree, and it was a wolf. He tried to snap a picture but was unsuccessful. He did send me these two photos, though. The eagle was a late arrival, he said, but it fed, along with the ravens, after the wolf had its fill. He just now sent me a text, it’s 7:55 a.m. EST, and said the ravens are just arriving for breakfast.

 

Comments |4|

    • Well, Julie, the wolves mostly just move through his property, which is just over 22 acres, but it is wise to respect their carnivorous capabilities. He can watch most of what is going on at the carcass through his great room windows. I’d call that a great seat.

  • Takes a certain sort to live in copper country. Life seems to run at a different pace up there and those who like it won’t leave.

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