Calf island coastline at detroit river international wildlife refug

Calf Island is an island in the

Detroit River The Detroit River flows west and south for from Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie as a strait in the Great Lakes system. The river divides the metropolitan areas of Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario, Windsor, Ontario—an area collectively refe ...

, in

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. It has a surface elevation of 571 feet (174 m). It is located in the Trenton Channel about 1,000 feet (304 m) west of the southern tip of Grosse Ile and Swan Island, and Hamburg Island is just to the northwest. The 7-acre (2.8 ha) island is administered locally by

Grosse Ile Township Grosse Ile Township is a civil township of Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 10,777 at the 2020 census. The township encompasses several islands in the Detroit River, of which the largest is named as Grosse Ile. N ...

. Added in 2002, Calf Island was one of the newer additions to the

Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge The Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge is the only international wildlife refuge in North America. Established in 2001 and managed jointly by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the Canadian Wildlife Service, it is located in ...

. Under the refuge, the

Michigan Department of Natural Resources The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is the agency of the state of Michigan charged with maintaining natural resources such as state parks, state forests, and recreation areas. It is governed by a director appointed by the Governor a ...

and

Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources The Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry is a government ministry of the Canadian province of Ontario that is responsible for Ontario's provincial parks, forests, fisheries, wildlife, mineral aggregates and the Crown lands ...

identifies more than 29 species of

waterfowl Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which in ...

and 65 kinds of fish that make their home in and around the waters of Calf Island. The island often serves as a nesting location for a small number of

heron The herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 72 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genera ''Botaurus'' and ''Ixobrychus ...

s. Calf Island is the smallest property added to the refuge, and the island has remained relatively isolated and unused compared to other areas in the region.

References

Islands of Wayne County, Michigan Islands of the Detroit River River islands of Michigan Uninhabited islands of Michigan {{WayneCountyMI-geo-stub

See also

References