Five wolf pups wandering down logging road
This was quite the surprise! We thought the Windsong Pack only had 4 pups this year because we only counted 4 at their den in early May…but this footage from late September clearly shows 5 pups alive and well!
So what happened? To start, the Windsong Pack had a very unusual den this year, which was basically a small bowl dug on the ground in an extremely dense conifer forest on a small rise.
The den was likely at this location because it was one of the few areas that was somewhat snow-free in April. The late winter meant there was 2 feet of snow on the ground come mid-April and wolves had very limited options for dens.
When we visited the den, it was clear the pups/pack were not using this den anymore but rather just a larger area around the den. Actually finding the pups when we visited was tough because the pups were scattered amongst the dense conifers in the area and were well camouflaged.
After a thorough search, we thought we had counted all the pups…clearly we had not. Yet in the type of habitat these pups were in, it is not hard to see how we might have missed a pup hunkered under a balsam or spruce tree.
However, the real question is: did we only miss 1 pup or was the original litter bigger than 5 pups (i.e., were there additional pups that we missed)? We did get a report in September that a pup had been hit by a vehicle in the Windsong territory but we were not able to confirm this. If true, that would be 6 Windsong pups.
One interesting note to end on, the Windsong pups have fared much better than other packs this summer. Having 5 pups alive come fall was the most of any pack. Several packs only had 1 or 2 pups alive this fall and a few packs had their entire litters fail.
The Windsong Pack successfully raised both of their pups last year and seem they are well on their way to raising a second litter successfully. Wolf V087, the breeding male, and his mate must have figured it out!
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