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A Peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) chick after being banded by a DNR employee. Young peregrine chicks are banded so they can be identified later should they turn up in another state or are found injured. The peregrine falcon population was decimated by the use of the pesticide DDT in the 1950s and 1960s. The DNR has worked with other agencies to successfully restore peregrines in Michigan, and the banding program helps in these efforts.
A moose cow in winter, fitted with a radio collar by the DNR to help track the state's moose population.
Fisheries Division employees use gill-nets to survey inland lakes for cisco, also known as lake herring. The survey has two purposes - to find out where cisco populations exist and to, potentially, serve as brood stock lakes should the DNR ever decide to re-introduce the creatures into other waterways.
A smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) that will be tagged by DNR employees on an inland lake as part of the Large Lakes Program. This program specifies that one to two lakes, which are 1000 acres or larger, are scheduled to be surveyed every year. The fish tagged will be walleye, northern pike, musky and smallmouth bass. This study is designed to better determine population abundance, growth and survival, and harvest and fishing pressure.
The crew of the DNR's Survey Vessel Steelhead prepare a trawl mesh bag by attaching a digital sensor. The crew conducts an annual hydroacoustic (sonar) and mid-water trawl survey of alewives and other prey fishes (like the mottled sculpin) in Lake Michigan to get a snapshot of current conditions. Once the survey work is completed, estimates of total prey fish abundance are generated by managers and are used to balance predator-prey dynamics. Fisheries managers then adjust salmon stocking rates to keep alewife abundance in check with lake productivity levels.
Close-up view of an eastern massasauga rattlesnake (Sistrurus catenatus catenatus) with tongue extended.
DNR worker holding up a salmon caught for egg collection at the Fisheries egg take station.
Two peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) fly around buildings. The peregrine falcon population was decimated by the use of the pesticide DDT in the 1950s and 1960s. The DNR has worked with other agencies to successfully restore peregrines in Michigan, and the banding program helps in these efforts.
Small or big brown bat at Millie Hill Bat Viewing Site. The site is actually an old mine entrance that has a protective steel grate that allows bats to enter and leave, but keeps people out of the mine shaft. The Millie Mine is a critical hibernating and breeding location for up to 50,000 bats—one of the largest known concentrations of bats in the Midwest. Big brown and little brown bats from all over the region come here to hibernate during the cold winter months.
DNR employee holds a recently born black bear (Ursus americanus) cub. Cubs are born around January and stay in the den with the mother during the late winter months. The mother of these cubs was tranquilized and given a radio collar to help biologists track and check up on the species in Michigan.
DNR worker holding up a salmon caught for egg collection at the Fisheries egg take station.
DNR biologist Jessica Mistak measures the size of a mussel in the Menominee River watershed for her research project, which examines freshwater mussels, including the purple wartyback and elktoe, trying to determine their populations as well as unlocking the secrets to where they live.
Biologist Barb Barton captures Mitchell's Satyr butterflies in Jackson County as part of a mark-and-recapture program. The adult butterflies are caught, marked with a number on a wing with a fine-tipped felt pen and released. The number of times the marked butterflies are recaptured compared to the overall number of specimens captured gives biologists an idea about the size of the population.
Two moose, who are designed to withstand the heavy snows and cold temperatures of Upper Peninsula winters, resting in a glade.
A group of DNR employees and volunteers work on handing off coralled Canada geese individually to be banded. The DNR is responsible for banding hundreds of ducks and geese each year, with quotas set by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service according to local conditions. The banding process is performed by DNR employees and trained volunteers. Once the age and sex are recorded, a metal, pre-numbered, federal ID band is placed loosely around the goose's leg and gently pushed closed with a pair of pliers. Waterfowl hunters across the United States and Canada are asked to report any harvested birds with federal identification leg bands. Doing so assists waterfowl managers when it comes to setting future hunting seasons and bag limits.
