Return of the American Bald Eagles
January 25, 2011
photo by Steve Damstra
This is an excerpt from my non fiction book The Dynamic Great Lakes
High above the sand dunes in West Michigan, a pair of American
bald eagles cavort; they dart, dive and swirl through the air at
dizzying heights. Suddenly one of them turns on its back and they
grasp talons spinning into a daring, cart wheeling free fall toward
earth. They unlock talons and flap their powerful wings, flying
upward at the last instant before hitting the ground. This, their
courtship ritual, will bond the two eagles together for life.
Today, bald eagles are seen around the Great Lakes more and
more often, but in 1978, these magnificent birds were threatened.
Threatened with extinction. Their eggs never hatched since
pesticides that lingered in the environment long after they were
sprayed to kill insects magnified in Great Lakes food pyramids. The
eagle is at the peak of the food pyramid and its favorite food is fish.
This makes the eagle an environmental indicator; a measuring stick
of how well the whole ecosystem is faring. Where the ecosystem is
healthy, eagles can live and raise their young
Since DDT was banned in 1972, the nesting eagle population has more than
tripled.
Below Zero Today on Lake Michigan
January 23, 2011
Ice ridges formed on the beach and now the lake is frozen. The temperature was below zero this morning but with the sunshine it is now 12 degrees F in the afternoon. Ten inches of snow fell last night.
Sunset with Shore Ice: Lake Michigan
February 17, 2010
The sun goes down on an icy shoreline in West Michigan. Don’t go out too far since the wind and waves change the ice patterns constantly.
Read about the science of ice in The Dynamic Great Lakes
Confessions of an Ice Watcher
February 4, 2010
On the Beach in Grand Haven, MI: February 3, 2010
As I walk out on the icy shoreline on a cold February day, the wind blows through my wool balaclava and my foot slips on glazed patches on the sand.
My leather gloves are not warm enough to keep the wind from freezing my fingers. My long down coat though is keeping me warm enough to hike along the shoreline.
I pull my Canon (camera that is) out of my pocket. I didn’t want my camera to freeze. Ice fascinates me. My distant relative, Roald Amundsen was a polar explorer from the north of Norway who studied ice and figured out how to reach the South Pole with dog sleds. Maybe that explains my fascination. Maybe. Or it may be that the way the wind and waves change the ice patterns every day is the fascination. From my perch on the dunes, I watch.
In mid-February of 1979, four of the five Great Lakes froze all the way across. This was the first year this had happened in the recorded history of the National Weather Service. For years the harbor has not had fast ice where the Coast Guard Ice breaker had to try and break through.
I watch. I walk and I watch some more.
Read more about ice in The Dynamic Great Lakes isbn:1-58851-731-4
Grand Haven, MI February 3, 2010
Great Lakes Weather
January 17, 2010
The snow fences on the beach are nearly buried. Waves crash in on the shore and the shoreline changes daily. Read more about Great Lakes weather in The Dynamic Great Lakes, a critically acclaimed non-fiction book about the ever changing Great Lakes system.
This poem is an excerpt from The Wilderness Within. It is snowing today.
This book is available in bookstores and on the www at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and many other places.
Snow
Snow swirls out of an immense
spinning wheel
each six sided shape
a perfect thought of the spinner
untouched as yet by the world.
Snow slants down across
lakes, dunes and a house where
a young girl plays
and feels she is snow.
