Bring the rain

Untitled, photo by kellyanne berg

“Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet.”
~Roger Miller

View Kellyanne’s photo bigger and see more in her Rain slideshow.

More rain on Michigan in Pictures.

Earth Day Daffodils

Happy Earth Day, photo by Linda

I’d like to wish everyone who wants to have a happy Earth Day a very happy Earth Day.

I love this state and I love the planet it’s on and really hope that we can do a better job taking care of it because I want my kids and grandkids to enjoy it as much or more than me.

View Linda’s photo background bigalicious and see more from Linda’s backyard.

More Earth Day on Michigan in Pictures. If you’re interested in Earth Day’s Michigan roots, check out Ann Arbor’s First Earth Day from the Ann Arbor Chronicle and this video from the first Earth Day at UM courtesy the Bentley Historical Library.

Bring on the Spring!

Untitled, photo by Brooke Pennington

Brooke has our yearly dose of spring bokeh. Drink deep and wash those winter blues away!

View his photo bigger and see more in his slideshow.

More about bokeh on Michigan in Pictures.

Menominee Ice Shoves

Everyone came out to see the ice shoves, photo by Ann Fisher

While much of the state is enjoying springlike weather, folks in northern Michigan and the UP are still going toe to toe with a winter that will not quit. In solidarity, here’s one more wintry shot.

It comes from Ann Fisher in Menominee and shows the large “ice shoves” or “ice push” that came off Lake Michigan last Sunday. In Ice Shove: Giant Ice Slabs Invade Great Lakes Shorelines, Jon Erdman of the Weather Channel explains:

An ice shove is a rapid push of free-floating lake or sea ice onshore by wind. Strong winds from the same direction over, say, a 12 to 24 hour period, are enough to drive large chunks and plates of ice ashore.

The initial slabs or blocks of ice will slow down momentarily when reaching land, creating a traffic jam of ice piling behind and on top. The result is a massive ice pile often over 10 feet high, surging ashore in a matter of minutes, surrounding and damaging everything in their path, including trees, sod, fences, and homes.

Read on at Weather.com for more including the much bigger ice shoves in Oshkosh, Wisconsin and a look at the most widespread ice coverage on record for mid-April - over 39% of the Great Lakes! You can see some more photos from Fox6 in Menominee and if you head over to Absolute Michigan, you can look back to March of 2009 and some a CNN video of the crazy massive ice shoves on Saginaw Bay.

View Ann’s photo background big and see more in her Ice slideshow.

More ice on Michigan in Pictures.

Snowshoe on out of here, Winter!

Snowshoeing the U.P., photo by Ashley Williams

Ashley took this shot in February in the Upper Peninsula, and by “February” I mean “this Monday”. It’s a beautiful scene for sure, but I think I speak for most of us when I say, “You’re drunk, Winter. Go home.”

View her photo bigger and see more in her Nature slideshow.

Nest Building Heron

Nest Building Heron, photo by Dawn Williams

Last year I cited the Michigan Natural Features Inventory entry for Great Blue Heron Rookeries. It remains the definitive source, so I guess a rewind is in order:

The great blue herons in Michigan are largely migratory, with almost all leaving the state during the winter months. Most leave by end of October and return in early to mid-March.

The great blue heron is mostly a colonial nester, occasionally they nest in single pairs. Colonies are typically found in lowland swamps, islands, upland hardwoods and forests adjacent to lakes, ponds and rivers. Nests are usually in trees and may be as high as 98 ft. (30 m) or more from the ground. The platform like nests are constructed out of medium-sized sticks and materials may be added throughout the nesting cycle. Nests are usually lined with finer twigs, leaves, grass, pine needles, moss, reeds, or dry gras. The same nests are refurbished and used year after year…

Most great blue herons return to southern Michigan heronries in mid-March although a few may remain through the winter if there are areas of open water. Courtship and nest building commences from early April in southern Michigan to early May in the extreme northern portions of the state. Both sexes are involved in the nest building process with males primarily gathering sticks from the ground, nearby trees, or ungarded nearby nests. Males pass sticks to females who then place them on the nests.

Click to read more and you can see more on these herons at the Kensington Metropark’s annual Heron Days May 17 & 18, 2014.

View Dawn’s photo background big and see more in her slideshow.

You can read more about heron rookeries and Michigan herons and get more spring wallpaper on Michigan in Pictures.

Frequency

Frequency, photo by Liz Glass

Liz says that these decaying pilings in Lake Charlevoix at Boyne City are the only remnants of the docks and roundhouse that stood at the waterfront during the town’s lumbering days. About this photo she writes:

Haven’t played with these guys in a while. This is the best time of year for them: we start having more colorful sunsets, and the ice that remains out on the lake helps keep the water still closer to shore. These pilings actually launched my ice fixation years ago when I noticed the elaborate frozen coats they grow in the winter. And then they became a year-round obsession themselves.

By the way, there’s no monkey-business here other than darkening the pilings a little to make them solid black. This is how it looked.

View her photo bigger and see more in her Pilings slideshow.

More from Liz on Michigan in Pictures.