The Pictured Rocks: Lake Superior

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

Surfing Lake Michigan

Two Surfers About to Enter the Washing Machine

My watercolor of surfers about to jump in the heavy waves. Steve Damstra took a photo of this scene and I liked it so much that I made a watercolor based on it.
This is a dangerous spot to surf. Lives have been lost here.

A Tern in Flight

Pictured is my watercolor of a tern flying over the whitecaps of the Great Lakes. It’s windy today and it seems the terns and seagulls love to ride the wind.

Cougars in Michigan

It’s official. I heard on the news today the DNR admitted there is a cougar in the upper peninsula of Michigan. It was captured on a video camera. Yet for years people have been seeing cougars in the lower peninsula. And why not? These cats could have strolled into Michigan from the West because of the over population of deer.

In my imagination I captured the cougar in the painting hiding behind a beech tree. So I painted it.

Our Inland Seas

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.

Running on the Singing Sands

I love taking kids to the beach. Here is a watercolor of a very active child running on the wet sand as waves pound in.

Watercolor of an American Bald Eagle

Eagles will begin their courtship this month. The male and female play a daring game in the air. They fly high, grasp talons and plummet to earth unclasping at the last moment before hitting the ground and then they fly up.

Read about the environmental success story in my book, The Dynamic Great Lakes The success was that eagles made a comeback after Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring . The book made people realize what they must do to bring about good changes to the environment.

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.

Sail Boarding Lake Michigan

Sailboards on Lake Michigan

With a breeze blowing, these sailboarders find perfect conditions offshore on Lake Michigan.

Tern on the Wing

Water birds such as terns (pictured) sandpipers, herring gulls, many types of ducks and swans are often seen on the wing over the Great Lakes or onthe shore.

Since DDT was banned, the American bald eagle and peregrine falcons are also spotted near the Great Lakes.