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

Island

An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...

 in Lake Huron

Lake Huron

Lake Huron is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrologically, it comprises the larger portion of Lake Michigan-Huron. It is bounded on the east by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the west by the state of Michigan in the United States...

. It forms the southern limit of Thunder Bay

Thunder Bay (Michigan)

Thunder Bay is a bay in the U.S. state of Michigan on Lake Huron. The bay extends from North Point at to South Point at .The city of Alpena lies at the mouth of the Thunder Bay River at...

 and helps define the harbor of Alpena, Michigan

Alpena, Michigan

Alpena is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Alpena County. It is considered to be part of Northern Michigan. The Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary is located in the city. The population was 10,483 at the 2010 census...

. It is part of Sanborn Township

Sanborn Township, Michigan

Sanborn Township is a civil township of Alpena County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,152 at the 2000 census.- Communities :* Ossineke is an unincorporated community in the township on Lake Huron at the mouth of the Devils River...

, in Alpena County, Michigan

Alpena County, Michigan

Alpena County is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the population was 29,598. The county seat is Alpena. It is considered to be part of Northern Michigan.It was founded originally in 1840 as Anomickee County...

.

In recognition of Scarecrow Island's importance as a traditional nesting site for colonial waterbirds such as cormorants

Double-crested Cormorant

The Double-crested Cormorant is a member of the cormorant family of seabirds. It occurs along inland waterways as well as in coastal areas, and is widely distributed across North America, from the Aleutian Islands in Alaska down to Florida and Mexico...

, herons

Great Blue Heron

The Great Blue Heron is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North and Central America as well as the West Indies and the Galápagos Islands. It is a rare vagrant to Europe, with records from Spain, the Azores and England...

, gulls

Ring-billed Gull

The Ring-billed Gull is a medium-sized gull.Adults are length and with a wingspan. The head, neck and underparts are white; the relatively short bill is yellow with a dark ring; the back and wings are silver gray; and the legs are yellow. The eyes are yellow with red rims...

, and terns

Common Tern

The Common Tern is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. This bird has a circumpolar distribution, breeding in temperate and sub-Arctic regions of Europe, Asia and east and central North America. It is strongly migratory, wintering in coastal tropical and subtropical regions. It is sometimes...

, it received protection as one of eight islands in the Michigan Islands National Wildlife Refuge

Michigan Islands National Wildlife Refuge

The Michigan Islands National Wildlife Refuge is a designation for eight 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 D. Roosevelt 1943.Charity, Little Charity,...

 in 1943. In 1970, it was designated as one of three islands in the Michigan Islands Wilderness

Michigan Islands Wilderness Area

Michigan Islands Wilderness Area, a relatively small wilderness area of 12.5 acres , consists of Pismire Island, Scarecrow Island, and Shoe Island within the Michigan Islands National Wildlife Refuge. These three islands, which constitute part of the group of islands that make up the larger...

. The island is administered as a satellite of the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge

Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge

The Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge is a 9,427 acre National Wildlife Refuge in Saginaw County managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. It is located in the central portion of the lower peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan, approximately 25 miles south of the Saginaw Bay in...

. Adjacent waters of Thunder Bay became part of the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary

Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary

The Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Underwater Preserve is a U.S. National Marine Sanctuary on Thunder Bay, part of Lake Huron, within the U.S. state of Michigan. The sanctuary and underwater preserve protects an estimated 116 historically significant shipwrecks ranging from nineteenth...

 in 2000.

Located off Hardwood Point, Scarecrow Island is situated in the center of a region rich in fish

Fish

Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate 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...

. 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

Round whitefish

The round whitefish is a freshwater species of fish that is found in lakes from Alaska to New England, including the Great Lakes. It has an olive-brown back with light silvery sides and underside and its size is generally between 9 and 19 inches long...

, trout-perch

Percopsidae

Percopsidae is a family of fish in the order Percopsiformes. Its living members are two North American fresh water species of the genus Percopsis, trout-perch Percopsis omiscomaycus and sand roller Percopsis transmontana .They are small fish with weak fin spines, and an adipose fin similar to...

, and lake chub

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 The Lake Chub, Couesius plumbeus, is a freshwater cyprinid fish found in Canada and...

 predominating.

Like many other islands in the Great Lakes, Scarecrow Island is a relict

Relict

A relict is a surviving remnant of a natural phenomenon.* In biology a relict is an organism that at an earlier time was abundant in a large area but now occurs at only one or a few small areas....

 of the Wisconsin glacial period

Wisconsin glaciation

The last glacial period was the most recent glacial period within the current ice age occurring during the last years of the Pleistocene, from approximately 110,000 to 10,000 years ago....

. A melting Ice Age

Ice age

An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...

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