The Pictured Rocks: Lake Superior
February 7, 2012
I wanted to see peregrine falcons. I heard they were nesting on top of the Pictured Rocks. So I took the tourist boat that cruises by the Pictured Rocks and was rewarded with the rare sight of a falcon. This is a good spot for this swift bird because they like to dive on their prey. The disadvantage is that preditors can raid their nests at this location.
Peregrines do well on tall buildings and the stacks of municipal power plants where they can’t be reached by wolves, foxes, bobcats and other predators.
Years ago, before DDT was banned, these beautiful falcons were nearly wiped out. They were sensitive and the poison. The banning of DDT was an environmental victory.
Read more about this in The Dynamic Great Lakes.
Available at bn.com, Amazon and Amazon’s Kindle reader and many other stores.
The Pictured Rocks: Lake Superior
The Dynamic Great Lakes for our Planet
December 22, 2011
A critically acclaimed non-fiction book.
I wrote my non fiction book, The Dynamic Great Lakes to share some of the important information I have learned over the years, even before the first Earth Day. The book has a search inside feature on Amazon.com with key words, reading levels and now it is available for the Kindle reader. It is also available at Barnes & Noble and many other bookstores.
Above all, it is a book that encourages people to take care of the planet. It’s the only one we have.
The Dynamic Great Lakes
December 14, 2011
A Critically Acclaimed non-fiction book about the five Great Lakes
The Dynamic Great Lakes is available in the new edition at Barnes & Noble online or in stores. It is also available at Schuler Books and Music, The Bookman, Amazon.com (paper and Kindle edition) and many other fine stores.
Whitefish Run in the Great Lakes
December 1, 2011
Sophia's Lost and Found by Barbara Spring
They speed upstream to spawn after dark
slick as ice and pearly white:
whitefish from Lake Michigan’s depths
torpedo home.
With sure instincts
with DNA of generations
with chartreuse eggs; with white milt
their sleek white shapes streak
through dark river waters
now starting to freeze.
It’s been this way in the Great Lakes
since Edenic times
when Ice Age glaciers melted away.
And now in this coldest December
anyone alive can remember
fishermen risk a walk the piers
wear cleats on their boots
tie themselves to something solid.
They jig rigged lines on the river bottom
and sometimes land a sleek, slick, delicious fish
while west winds howl.
Excerpted from Sophia’s Lost and Found: Poems of Above and Below.
This book is available from Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and many other fine bookstores.
Fall Turnover of Water in the Great Lakes
November 7, 2011
Here is an excerpt from my book The Dynamic Great Lakes
available on Amazon's Kindle and Barnes & Noble
Fall Turnover of Water
On a cold November night with no clouds, the reflections of the
moon and stars sparkle on the calm surfaces of the lakes, and the
silhouette of a vee shaped string of geese migrating southward
crosses the salmon colored moon. Cold north winds have cooled the
Great Lakes waters.
As the air cools, the water becomes cooler and cooler. When
water reaches 39.2/ F, it reaches its greatest density. Waves rolling
in on the beach look heavier, almost like boiling sugar water as it just begins to thicken. The fall turnover of water is about to occur,
an important event in the natural cycle of the Great Lakes. When
surface lake water reaches 39.2/ F, its maximum density, the water
sinks since the surface water is heavier than the water below.
The sinking top layer of water causes the lake water to turn over.
The fall turnover of water in the Great Lakes is important because
oxygen poor water in the deeper areas of the lakes mixes with
surface water containing more dissolved oxygen (DO). This keeps
the bottom from becoming depleted of oxygen.
Bottom dwelling fish and plankton need dissolved oxygen in
water just as we need oxygen in air. When the layers of water turn
over, there are no longer three layers of water since mixed water
results in uniform temperatures.
The Dynamic Great Lakes is available on Kindle
September 8, 2011
Now available on Kindle
To learn about the Great Lakes and their interesting features, The Dynamic Great Lakes is for you.
Now updated in a fourth edition, Amazon has made the book available on the Kindle e reader as well as in paperback. The book is concise and suitable for all readers.
Grand Marais on Lake Superior
August 24, 2011
Grand Marais on Lake Superior is a gateway to the Pictured Rocks. It’s a great place to look for agates or simply enjoy the colors of Lake Superior waters.
Read more about all of the Great Lakes in my book, The Dynamic Great Lakes. The book has been critically acclaimed and is available to bookstores through the American Booksellers and Ingrams.
My Books are now $9.95 + s&h
August 22, 2011
The Great Lakes System
August 20, 2011
The Great Lakes from Outer Space
Here are the Great Lakes as seen from outer space. These freshwater lakes are a system with each flowing into the next.
Our Inland Seas
August 9, 2011
watercolor by Barbara Spring
My watercolor of a tern flying over a turbulent lake. These birds seem to love the air streams that flow over the lakes. Lake Michigan can be wild, but so can the other lakes. The shallowest, Lake Erie can become violent and boaters should know this before heading out.
Lake Superior is known for its storms and there are many ship wrecks lying on the bottoms of all the lakes. The waters surrounding Door Peninsula in Lake Michigan, once called Death’s Door in Wisconsin was fatal for many ships. The Bruce Peninsula in Canada is the place where many ships went down. I have taken glass bottom boats in Lake Michigan and Lake Huron to view sunken ships. These lakes behave more like oceans. They are called inland seas for good reasons.
