Spring has Sprung

Two and a half months have passed since I last sat down and wrote out a blog post. Since that point, spring has certainly sprung in the north woods of Minnesota. It all began when.. well.. the temperatures rose of course!

At the beginning of March the temperature was often between 10°F and 30°F with occasional snow accumulation; nowadays it is generally between 30°F and 70°F with the occasional rain fall or perhaps thunderstorm. Quite the difference.

Sunset at Burntside River, in March

With a change in temperature means a change in wildlife activity. Spring Peeper, Wood Frog, and Chorus Frog emerged from the vernal pools and began to sing their breeding calls as many types of birds slowly flew back from South America to re-join us for summer breeding and nesting season. Mornings, though silent in winter, were once again filled with the songs of many different migrants. Northern Parula, Blackburnian Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Red-breasted Grosbeak, and more took to the trees while my ultimate favorite bird, the Common Loon, began to cry out their ominous melodies from the lakes. The ground-nesting Ruffed Grouse began to drum all around my cabin, trying to defend territory and attract mates, and seeing as how they are now silent - I imagine they were rather successful.

 Alas.... everyone is twitterpated. 

If you missed the reference.

Not only were the birds, bees, frogs, and everything else in the north woods singing and hollering to attract mates - February through March is prime time for wild wolves to prepare for pups as well. 

Generally a male and female will come together to form the "breeding pair". Once wolves form a bond they often will stay together for life. However, if one of the wolves in a breeding pair does die, then the living wolf of the two will move on and find a new mate. Until that may happen (a mate dying), the bonded pair will typically have pups once a year every year after. 

When the wolves do breed, the next step is finding or digging a den. Sometimes wolves will use old, abandoned, dried up beaver lodges or dens once inhabited by other animals to create their safe, dry, predator-free space for their offspring. After a gestation period of about 63 days, the female would then have her said litter of 4 to 6 pups between late April and early May. Seeing as how I write this post it is already late May, the wild pups would likely already have their eyes open and moving outside of said den to welcome the bright and vibrant world around them. Pups truly do grow relatively fast. Generally they reach full adult size by one year of age but do not reach sexual maturity until two years of age. At this point, the offspring may choose to stay with their pack to continue to help with future generations or they may leave the pack, go off on their own, and hope to one day find another wolf of the opposite sex whom may become their mate. 

Therefore, the cycle continues. If one of those offspring finds their mate, they bond, they find territory, dig their den, so on and so on. 

Axel and Grayson, as seen in order, turned one on May 2nd of 2017.

Breeding is not the only thing wolves have to prepare for at this time of the year. Summer, primarily the heat of summer, is another factor. As I have mentioned before, wolves have two layers to their fur coats. The top layer is the guard hairs which protected the bottom layer, the under coat, from various environmental factors while also providing their color for camouflage. The under coat, or the bottom layer, is a soft gray downy-like fluff that grows in thick for winter to provide insulation keep them cozy in those negative degree temperatures. Seeing as how the heat of summer can be intense at times, the wolves shed this undercoat in mid to late May and onward until all is shed out. This helps them stay cooled off. Wild wolves often travel hundreds of miles a day and therefore the undergrowth which they pass through helps pull out their fur during the shedding process. Captive wolves, however, do not travel miles upon miles in search of food and therefore part of their care includes grooming in the form of brushing. Highly trained specialized staff may do their best to brush the wolves, when the animals allow, and therefore are able to help them cool off in summer with much more ease. 

During this time the animals may seem like they are having a bad hair day due to tufts of fur stinking out in places. Once the undercoat is fully shed, you can really see what we mean by "wolves have relatively long legs in comparison to their body". Seen below is Aidan, Boltz, Luna, and Denali back during the summer of 2014 when they had shed out their undercoats. 

Summer of 2014

For comparison, this is all five current ambassadors with their winter coats. Bottom is Axel and Boltz, middle is Grayson and Denali, and top in the back is Aidan.

Notice the difference in "fluff" between the wolves? That is the result of the undercoat growing in thick in winter and being shed out for summer. Normally when someone thinks of a wolf, they think of a large fluffy creature. Due to this it is not uncommon for folks to ask us "do you feed them?" in the summer months... since they appear "skinny".

The other question that is frequently asked is "where are the wolves?" 

In winter, animals often burn more energy to stay warm. In the case of wolves this makes them also feel the need to eat more and thus hunt more as well.See my last post for all the fun facts on wolves vs prey during winter. In the summer, they are not burning as much carbohydrates to stay warm since it is warm. If anything they are doing their best to stay cool. This often results in the wolves resting most of the day in the trees and dens. Sometimes they will come out to drink water and perhaps even take a dip in the pond. Wolves cannot sweat like humans do, instead they release heat through their mouths and between their toes. That's why walking in the cool pond can help ease the heat. 

Blurry image of Denali from 2014. It was 80F that day.

Wolves in general are crepuscular; meaning active at dawn and dusk or twilight hours. Part of it is because these are the coolest parts of the day, part of it is their prey (hoofed animals like white-tailed deer) are often most active at these hours too. Predators often follow the patterns of their prey.

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As far as the center goes, the weekends remained as busy as usual while the weekdays often meant an overnight group of two or a few 'WolfLinks'. Looking back now, I am pleased to say I never once received a single bad review from any of these events. Hopefully this will not change once I leave.

I enjoyed every group which visited. Some were extremely excited and full of adventurous energy, making me feel old for only being twenty four, but this was good because it meant I had to stay on my toes and answer a lot of good questions. I recall taking groups hiking on Kawishiwi, night time hikes at the center while playing sensory games (focused on smell and sound), scavenger hunts in the dark, teaching folks how to use radiotelemetry equipment while tracking a collar I hid, and of course the standard daily programs. One particular overnight group showed their cub scouts, and myself, how to start a fire with birch bark. Sometimes you teach the groups, sometimes the groups teach you!

I was able to celebrate the center's "One Millionth Visitor", on April 22nd, where we rewarded guests with reduced admission fees, cake and punch, and an all day activity table. Many guests, including locals, came to the event to help us celebrate. Only a few pieces of cake remained at the end of the day, which was devoured by staff, and the crowd was fairly steady for still being in the "off season". 

As of May 15th, we transitioned from only being open on the weekends to now being open daily. Sunday through Friday is 10am- 5pm where as Saturdays are still the usual 9am - 5pm with the "Whats for Dinner" program held after hours. I faced this transition somewhat alone as the other intern had already accepted a new job not to far from here, working with wolf pups and other wildlife critters, and moved on. Thankfully our program specialist, wolf specialist, and even the site manager worked alongside me on giving programs and performing the usual tasks. Without their help I imagine I would have felt overwhelmed going in alone; especially this past Memorial Day weekend. We were loaded with guests this past weekend between the tourist season beginning and the continuous rain discouraging hiking and other outdoor activities.

 Seeing as how we are now open daily and the six new summer interns arrived, I am often faced with remembering all that which I experienced back in the summer of 2014. Aside from being aged, more experienced, and carrying a Bachelors degree in my back pocket - another difference between then and now of course is that we have brand new programs! Remember when I mentioned during the last post that they were a secret? Well here they are!

10: 15 a.m.	Ambassadors to the Wild
11:00 a.m.	Arctic Wolves
12:00 p.m.	Ambassadors to the Wild
1:00 p.m.	Northwoods Ecology
2:00 p.m.	Canines by Nature
3:00 p.m.	Ambassadors to the Wild
4:00 p.m.	Jurassic Wolves

Click here to learn more about each program!

The program I had worked on, Northwoods Ecology, was approved of with only a few changes here and there. It has excellent flow after said revisions and I genuinely feel the public response has improved tremendously for this program. A number of images, and their permissions, I helped find ended up in a variety of these new programs as well. Some remnants from the "Wolves of the World" program I revised even showed up on top of that. I mean how cool is that!? I am ecstatic!  

I feel absolutely blessed and honored to have had the opportunity to actually help create / put together programs for this organization. My child hood dream of wanting to come to the center was fulfilled years ago. My adult dream to return to the center and make a difference was lived this winter. Its truly quite amazing to sit back and think "wow.... I actually did that.... can you believe it? Me? An intern.... I was actually able to do something that may stick around for years to come."

I still can't believe it in all honesty. In fact I tear up at the thought. My hope is my readers are able to one day go to the center, see these programs, and learn as much as they can with or without thinking of me in the process. A lot of heart and hard work went into these said programs just for all of you out there!

Axel

Lastly, as far as other old projects go, those 50 paw casts I mentioned before... they were finished and shipped down to the Twin Cities office. From the sounds of it they were also approved, yay!

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Kawishiwi Falls in late May, close to sunset

As far as personal life goes, I have honestly been doing well since my last post. I have stayed focused on my hobbies and friends. My old passion for  Kingdom Heats, video game, was relived as I managed to find a means to acquire all games currently out, for the PS4. I have since beat the first game and am working my way through "Chain of Memories". There are, six?, more to follow. Other indoor activities include drawing, painting, practicing singing, watching movies, practicing my frog/toad and bird calls and identification, and simply relaxing. Whenever I do get the chance to go outside, on the not so rainy days, then I am out hiking, birding, and/or playing Pokemon Go.

Ely's Greenstone Outcrop

One of my old hobbies includes geocaching, an activity which involves finding real life treasures called "caches" on a global scale. In 2014, I found most of the caches but not all. The last few months I finished off finding any remaining cahces I left behind in the Ely area. I have now found a total of 77 caches. My goal is, still, to hit 100 before the end of the year. I will have to search beyond Ely for more caches. 

Thanks to geocaching, I finally made the effort to go visit Ely's own "Greenstone Outcrop". It only took my three years apparently, but I did it. This historic 15’ rock outcrop is a wonderful example of Ely greenstone, which is a “rare ellipsoidal lava flow formed beneath primeval seas 2.7 billion years ago." It is volcanic in origin and there are very few specimens like this in the world. It is easily accessible 24/7 and can be seen on the north side of Main Street in the northeast part of town. Ellipsoidal lava is also known as "pillow lava" and is any lava characterized by pillow structure and presumed to have formed in a sub-aqueous environment." Half the fun of caching is finding the treasure itself, the other half is the sights you see and history you learn along the way. 

Around the middle of April I attended at least two events; a presentation of the Minnesota Moose Project and the "Smile You're in Ely" event held annually.

Axel, whom just finished eating off a deer carcass.

During the presentation regarding moose, one of the lead biologists for the project discussed the current population of moose, what is affecting them, what the Minnesota DNR is doing to research them, and overall was a summary of a project that has been ongoing since 2013. See the next paragraph for some notes I had taken during the presentation.

The overall goal of the project was/is to understand and quantify cause-specific non-hunting mortality, to maintain at least 100 collared moose (collar should intended to last 2013-2015), and to extract carcasses in less than 24 hours so a necropsy (examination of a dead body) may be performed to determine cause of mortality. There was a 12-16% mortality rate between 2013 and 2016 due to bacterial infections, wolf predation, and parasites. 40% of the moose collared were taken by wolves already had predisposed health problems - as mentioned wolves often hunt the sick, old, and weaker animals vs trying to take down healthy animals. 13% of the moose collared died of a brainworm; a parasite which infiltrates a moose brain and thus causes disorientation, can cause paralysis in the spine, and more. 7% of the moose collared died of winter ticks. Besides carrying brainworm, winter ticks, and dealing with wolves - moose often also deal with liver flukes which cause the animals to have bad livers. To learn more about this project, beyond some notes I took, feel free to check out this link here: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/moose/index.html


"Smile You're in Ely" was held at the Grand Ely Lodge, thanks to the staff at the International Wolf Center for giving me the opportunity. It was a fun night of mingling with staff and fellow folks from Ely as well as eating an excellent dinner provided by the lodge. Prizes were given out via a raffle, which a few of my coworkers were fortunate enough to win. There was also a guest keynote speaker -- Don Ness, former mayor of Duluth, Minnesota -- whom really knew how to bring out the sense of "feeling apart of a community". It was a wonderful event.

The night the "Smile You're in Ely" event was held, was the same night my mother and grandmother arrived in town. They came up to visit for a week as a post-celebration of my birthday (March 31st) and of course so we can actually all see each other too. This was the first time they saw my cabin since I have been here and on top of that they got the chance to not only see the new pups but new places in Ely that we did not get to visit before. We drove to all kinds of places sight-seeing: Babbitt, Burntside Lake, Lake One or "the end of the road", and to other roadways and small towns. Of course we also went out to many places to eat in town, which was fabulous. No matter what we did, I was truly just happy to see them for a little while. The time felt too short. Given my current job circumstances, I will probably not see them again until August. The bright side, it will be during our family trip to Alaska to visit my aunt and uncle whom recently moved up there! Needless to say I am excited for August. It will be my first time to Alaska and, on top of that, close to Denali National Park. A bucket list item of mine! My coworker mentioned there is a Musk Ox farm up there and is going to give me a list of all the cool stuff to see. Expect pictures galore on my facebook, instagram, and snapchat.

Even though I accepted the Wildlife Technician position with the US Forest Service, I continued to remain a loyal volunteer as well. During the beginning of May I was invited out on a Frog and Toad survey with the technician I am replacing for the season, which is also why I was busy practicing my calls. The survey was truly a success. We stopped at 10 locations along a single roadway and listened to the sounds of spring peeper, wood frog, chorus frog, and leopard frog. Other species were not exactly out and about yet. Aside from hearing frogs, we also listened to the sounds of Woodcock performing their sky dance, the sound of Ruffed Grouse drumming, and I even heard my first Common Snipe. We thought we may have saw a wolf but the critter moved so fast across the road it was hard to truly tell. One other cool sight was watching two male woodcock fight for territory in the air. They flew up so high into the sky that they completely disappeared.  

 

Of course I have to show off more photos of Kawishiwi Falls, being one of my favorite natural spots in Ely. The top left photo was taken in early May, when the falls were truly raging, and the bottom left photo was taken in late May. Crazy how much the water level can fluctuate in a month. You can thank precipitation for this one. The first photo was also taken during a time when we were still transitioning from winter to spring. During the time the second photo was taken, the migratory birds had returned to nest and everything on the forest floor was sprouting. If you look closely you may notice the left tree in the bottom photo has sprouted green buds whereas the same tree in the top photo was still bare at the time. Same tree, few weeks difference.

The following day a group of us gathered together to head on over to Duluth and try our wits at the Zero Hour Escape Rooms. We attempted the "Wheelhouse" room, a room where: "You and your friends will play the part of an engineer team trapped aboard the sinking “Bill E. Irvin”. Work fast and smart to solve your way off the ship and onto the lifeboats before your vessel succumbs to Lake Superior’s icy waters." The good news, as you can see by the photo, we successfully escape with 2 minutes and 31 seconds to spare! I won't go into full detail of what all we had to do, because you should try to it your self, but I will say it was extremely fun. The props were well established, making you feel that you were on a ship without all that rocking motion, team work and attention to detail was truly needed, and everyone was able to pitch in somehow. I recommend escape rooms for anyone - family, friends, co-workers (like us), and more.

The final message from the escape room personnel:
"A heroic engineer team is being honored today after escaping certain death. They became trapped in the engine room of the sinking Bill E. Irvin, a Lake Superior cargo vessel, and against all odds used their keen ingenuity to make their way onto the bridge and eventually to the life boats, saving their own lives.
In a dark turn of events, they also uncovered evidence that the ship's captain, Dan Ridge had actually sabotaged the ship and was possibly being controlled by another party through blackmail. These brave souls deserve to be acknowledged as true heroes."

Go to google and look up an escape room near you!

Myself at Kawishiwi Falls

Otherwise our group often shows up to sing karaoke at the Ely Steakhouse with out folks in Ely. Personally I have been trying to get out and hike or walk more during the day. I took a stroll on the Trezona Trail, which goes around Miners Lake and even towards the Forest Service and Wolf Center buildings. While walking I was able to watch my first Common Loon splash about in the lake while various songbirds sang all around. The highlight of the walk was listening to the four Common Loon letting out their territorial calls. I've certainly missed my favorite bird! Speaking of which, I saw my lucky bird too - the American Goldfinch. To see my favorite and lucky bird must mean something right? Here's to hoping good fortune is around the corner!At this point of May, many flowers were blooming and everything is rather green. Strange to see after such a long winter.

Miners Lake (West, facing East)

Health wise, I have been doing good. Since the beginning of January I have manged to lose 22 pounds. I am now roughly 20ish pounds from my high school wait, which is my present goal. Now that summer is here, and I have since started working for the Forest Service, I anticipate losing the weight rather quickly in comparison to the snail pace these last few months.

Other good news! I found out I will be going to Alaska in August to see my aunt and uncle! It's been on my bucket list since grade school to go to Alaska! What makes it even better is that I am going with my mom, grandmother, and am traveling to see family. Never thought that would happen! My goal is to see Denali National Park and check out the Musk Ox farm. Folks have been suggested places to see, eat, and do right and left. Thankfully we have a week so I hope to fill it where I can while also catching a break to rest!

 

Photo Credit: Kris Kidd

As we come to a close, I have a few more details to add in prior to my last day at the International Wolf Center. One, I had the opportunity to meet the six new interns. What I saw was the beginning of an amazing summer for them. Just by observing their interactions during team building activities, I could tell they will be a tight knit group which is perfect for a busy season at the wolf center. Nostalgia overcame me because of how much it reminded me of our tight knit group during the summer of 2014. It was truly an honor to not only meet them, but also show them the northern lights (thanks to Heidi Pinkerton giving us a heads up). As soon as we gave up and went home, I happened to notice photos flying on the "Great Lakes Aurora Hunters" group and quickly ran outside to see - well - the lights of course! Immediately I texted the group and they found a great spot to watch the lights dance. It was the second best night I had ever seen. The lights danced all around and up above. Something I thought I would only observe in Alaska or Canada. Lady aurora truly blessed up this time with such a dazzling show. Kris Kidd was at it again with her absolutely amazing shots of the lights over my favorite lake, Burntside. This was where the interns and I traveled to prior to giving up. Kris and our group just missed each other actually! A wonderful way to say Welcome to Ely!

My very last group at the wolf center was truly wonderful. This one girl ignited my passion. She was so sad to leave the center and explained how her parents may never have the funds to come back. I smiled and told her my story, how I wanted to come here ever since I was a child but lived so far away and had so little money that it wasn't possible - until I made it happen. I told her to not worry, being that she was 13, for the whole world was ahead of her. How life was only truly beginning for her and soon enough she will be able to make her own adventures and tell her own stories. I watched her dull eyes become ablaze with a passionate fire and it was then that my own fire returned to me after being doused out these last three years. She reminded me how far I came, why I am here, and that I had a path ahead I needed to keep pursuing. For so long I felt so... lost. I never told anyone but there's time where I came close to giving up and neglecting all I worked for. I kept asking myself "why did I come back to Ely?" "why am I here?" "what is my actual purpose in this field?" and then.. there it was. Whether or not I changed her perspective, I have no idea. I hope I did and that maybe she will think back and remember the words I said even if she doesn't remember my name. One thing I will do my best to never forget how she helped me. Its funny how the smallest things can mean so much to people; whether it is you or another.

Lastly, as I end this post and soon this blog, my exit review for the wolf center went extremely well. I was told it truly won't be the same without my presence and was happy to see that our entire team was even rewarded with blizzards from Dairy Queen. I earned a new reference on my resume and can finally say: I have spent an entire year worth of my life serving the wolf center's mission statement.... and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Thank you for reading. Hopefully you learned a new fact or two during my journey or at least enjoyed the photos of Minnesota. My hope is that you will one day come to the Northwoods, go to Minnesota, walk where I have traveled and think of me as you become amazed by the beauty of this unique landscape. The smell of pine and flowers of spring and summer, the crisp fall, or even the chilly winter. Ely is a wonderful place that should be witnessed at all four seasons. Trust me, it was my goal to do so and now that I have achieved that I can truly say it was worth it. 

Thank you to all of those I have met or were able to see again. Without you this journey wouldn't have been the same. Here's to a wonderful summer ahead and a lifetime of adventure.

Yours truly,

Kelcie Severs