• Friday-What'sUP February 18 - 08:57 pm

E. Neil Harri's first photo, is hot off the presses. He took this photo of "alpha wolves taking a breather during mating season," while flying over Gogebic County, yesterday, for the wolf count. He said that due to the warm weather here in the U.P. the past few days (it was in the 50's and even 60° in some places), most of the wolves were hiding in thick conifers, because it was too hot for their winter coats. The female of this pair is collared for tracking purposes.
Neil's other two photos were from another wolf counting session, with the middle shot also snapped in Gogebic County and the bottom photo taken in Ontonagon County. Pretty amazing to be able to see them in the wild like that and not have to worry about an encounter with the pack.

Neil asked me to mention that they are still looking for information on recent wolf sightings in Keweenaw and Houghton counties, as this helps with the wolf survey. If you have any information, the contact person is Brad Johnson of the Baraga DNRE. His number is: 906-353-6651 - ext. 127. They appreciate the help.

Amazing pictures of these wolves! I like the first picture, Mr & Mrs Wolf.

Fantastic! Neil, you must have an eagle eye.
JT...I was thinking the same thing about the first photo, like one of them should be smoking a cigarette or something :)

The marks in the snow make me wonder if they run and chase things in their sleep like my dogs.

LOL...no kidding Alex...looks like they should be doing one of them commercials like you see on tv..the "his and her's stuff".....

Loved seeing these today! Amazing! I'm glad we have Neil with us on pastycam!

Very cool pix!

For those of you who like wolves, here is a link to a live wolf den. I have seen two white wolves there. http://joshsteinland.com/c_NewWolfCam.php

JT, Donna, and Alex: I was thinking more along the lines of 2 bathtubs at the side of the cliff kind of commercial.....

I'm really surprised the two in the top photo didn't even wake up when they heard the plane flying over. I guess they must have been out cold or something. Such wonderful creatures are wolves in the wild.

Good morning, all! Is it me, or does that collared female look pregnant? She looks a little heftier in the girth than the male. I wonder what the gestation period is for wolves? Might this pair have mated earlier this winter and she ready to give birth to pups soon?

I agree the collared female looks pregnant. I knew she was the female before I read far enough to find out that the collared one was the female, because she looks pregnant and ready to give birth. More great pictures from Neil Harri, thank you!

By the way the DNR is also looking for folks to be on the lookout for grey wolves in the northern LP now. That was in one of the Detroit papers recently.

Awesome, Neil.

Fantastic pics Neil!

The collared wolf may be impregnated but I don't think she is far enough along to show that much size.
It is just the beginning of mating season. I have had her on the air for a few years now so she is a mature animal and an alpha. I am sure she gets first feeding at the kill site.

Incredible photos, Neil. I love seeing your photos of U.P. wildlife. Wolves are fascinating animals. Thanks for sharing with us.

The sleeping wolves could be making an Ambien commercial too.

Great pics!

They're not sleeping. They're making snow angels.

'Snow puppies'?

Aw shucks, Dunerat, you stole my 'observation'...making sidewise-snowangels.:)

When we were home in November, we saw a wolf in the field of the old Wilbur farm (don't know the name of the current owners) between Greenland and Ontonagon. That's M26, I think. It was on the northeast side of the farm. That was my first wolf siting. There are a lot of calves to choose from there. I wonder how many calves that farmer loses to wolves.

Sharon Smith had a link in her blog from last night that happened to show a wolf out on the house, between her house & the lighthouse, on the bay at Copper Harbor! Apparently the photo was taken this week.