Wood Ducks Leap From Trees

In a climax forest on a dune near Lake Michigan, the cry of wood ducks rings through the air. It sounds like a squeaky wheel. Look up. Wood ducks nest in the holes of trees. When it is time for their young to leave the nest, they leap into the air and land on the ground. I drew this picture of a wood duck about to leap. From the ground, they follow their mother to water. They are the most colorful ducks found in the Great Lakes region.

Cascade Falls on the North Shore of Lake Superior

Cascade River Falls in Minnesota’s North Shore along Lake Superior.

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Hiking the Wooded Dunes of the Great Lakes

Even before the first wildflowers bloom in the wooded dunes of Lake Michigan, scarlet cup mushrooms appear among the fallen leaves.

Look for them soon. There are trails to hike and beautiful things to see on the shorelines of the Great Lakes.

Lake Superior, Coaster Brook Trout, Sulfide Mining

Here is an important video about the coaster brook trout and what threatens them in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Lake Superior.

Autumn Leaves on the Lakeshore

The Colors of Autumn Look Good Enough to Eat

Taking a drive or a walk in West Michigan right now is a tapestry of bright colors. Pictured is sassafras in the afternoon light. Soon the leaves will blow away. We have very strong winds from Lake Michigan. Read more about Great Lakes weather in The Dynamic Great Lakes.

Lake Michigan Beach in October

The days are growing shorter now but the beach is still a great place to visit this time of year.

The Great Lakes Rock

From the round surf-polished rocks of Lake Superior’s shore to the sand dunes of Lake Michigan, I have roamed and picked up stones: agates, pudding stones and some bearing copper or fossils.  And I hiked the alvars on the Door Peninsula and Ontario’s Bruce with their layered limestone shores bearing fossils of ancient salt seas.   Lake Huron’s green waters pour into Lake St. Clair and its silty marshes and then to Lake Erie teeming with birds and fish. The waters pick up speed in the Niagara River to take a tremendous plunge over Niagara Falls.  The rock underlying the falls will wear away in time I am told, but not in my life time.  Lake Ontario’s flat shores have good soil for vineyards and farm lands.  Sailors and sports fishers enjoy Lake Ontario’s riches and the lake flows out through the St. Lawrence River with a myriad rocky islands.
Read more about the Great Lakes in my critically acclaimed book, The Dynamic Great Lakes.