Scarecrow Island is a small, 7-acre (0.03-km²)

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrology, Hydrologically, it comprises the easterly portion of Lake Michigan–Huron, having the same surface elevation as Lake Michigan, to which it is connected by the , Strait ...

. It forms the southern limit of

Thunder Bay Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario; its population ...

and helps define the harbor of Alpena, Michigan. It is part of Sanborn Township, in Alpena County, Michigan. In recognition of Scarecrow Island's importance as a traditional nesting site for colonial waterbirds such as cormorants, herons, gulls, and

terns Terns are seabirds in the family Laridae that have a worldwide distribution and are normally found near the sea, rivers, or wetlands. Terns are treated as a subgroup of the family Laridae which includes gulls and skimmers and consists of e ...

, it received protection as one of eight islands in the Michigan Islands National Wildlife Refuge in 1943. In 1970, it was designated as one of three islands in the

Michigan Islands Wilderness The Michigan Islands National Wildlife Refuge is a designation for nine Michigan islands in the North American Great Lakes. Owned by the United States federal government, they were set aside for ecosystem protection purposes by President Franklin ...

. The island is administered as a satellite of the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge. Adjacent waters of Thunder Bay became part of the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in 2000. Located off Hardwood Point, Scarecrow Island is situated in the center of a region rich in

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

. A 2002 study conducted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service documented the occurrence of seven species of fish in the immediate vicinity of the island, with round whitefish,

trout-perch ''Percopsis omiscomaycus'', also known as the trout-perch, the grounder or the sand minnow, is one of two species in the family Percopsidae. Its name comes from the Greek root words ''perc'', meaning perch and ''opsi'' meaning appearance. The sp ...

, and

lake chub The lake chub (''Couesius plumbeus'') is a freshwater cyprinid fish found in Canada and in parts of the United States. Of all North American minnows, it is the one with the northernmost distribution. Its genus, ''Couesius'' is considered monoty ...

predominating. Like many other islands in the Great Lakes, Scarecrow Island is a relict of the Wisconsin glacial period. A melting

Ice Age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...

glacier dumped a large quantity of rocks and gravel onto a gouged-out surface that became part of the bed of Lake Huron.

External links

Examination of fishery habitat at Michigan Islands NWR
{{authority control Uninhabited islands of Michigan National Wildlife Refuges in Michigan Protected areas of Alpena County, Michigan Islands of Lake Huron in Michigan Islands of Alpena County, Michigan