Since we've moved onto St. Joseph Island, we've been keeping a tally of the various animals that we've seen (with our own eyes - trail camera doesn't count), keeping track of on-property and off-property sightings separately. We reset the totals on the anniversary of our move up here (August 3, 2016) and start a new year long count.
For the year August 3, 2017 to August 2, 2018, the totals were as follows:
| Animal | On-Property | Elsewhere on the Island |
| Deer | 7 | 75 |
| Turkey | 1 | 142 |
| Moose | 0 | 0 |
| Bear | 0 | 0 |
| Sandhill Crane | 11 | 106 |
| Bald Eagle | 1 | 0 |
| Porcupine | 1 | 0 |
| Owl (Great Grey) | 0 | 0 |
| Snake | 11 | 0 |
| Humming Bird | Too Many to Count | 0 |
| Skunk | 2 - frequent visitor | 0 |
| Grouse | 13 | 0 |
| Flying Squirel | 1 | 0 |
| Snowshoe Hare | 3 | 3 |
| WAB | 10 | |
| Fox | 1 | 0 |
| Coyote | 1 | 1 |
| Turtle | 1 | 0 |
| Salamander/Newt | 3 | 0 |
| Bobcat | 0 | 0 |
| Blue Heron | 4 | 0 |
| Shrew | 5 | 0 |
| Hawk | 10 | Not noted, but lots |
* Seeing the same individual multiple times only counts as one
** No moose spotted this year vs three in the previous, but we've seen lots of sign on the property - tracks and scat.
Here are some photos of the wildlife we share our property and island with. Some were taken directly by us, others via a trail cam that we've had set up in various places on the property.
Note the ghostly image of a bobcat hot on a snowshoe hare's trail... Some of these critters are well camoflaged, so you might have to look closely in some of them.
Enjoy!
