Turtles get ready for their closeup

I’m Posing for the Camera by R.Miller96

From Waterfall Wednesdays to the Michigan Duckie Project to every flavor of rainbows, one of the things that keeps Michpics fun for me are my little photographic obsessions. Way back in 2011, I shared this photo on what became the all time most popular post on Michigan in Pictures: Know Your Michigan Turtles.

World Turtle Day (May 23) is just a week away so it felt like a perfect time to bring back this photogenic painted turtle for an encore! See more in R Miller’s water gallery on Flickr.

You know who needs a Happy Earth Day?

Happy Earth Day by James Eye View Photography

via Leelanau.com…

Who needs a happy Earth Day? All of us really. 2023 was the warmest year since global records began nearly 200 years ago. The global temperature beat the previous high from 2016 & the 10 warmest years have ALL been from the last 10 years. If you know anything at all about math, 10 out of 10 is 100% and we are 100% in trouble because we seem unable as a species to process what actual danger is when it is this big. There’s probably nothing I can say if you don’t believe in science, so here is a link to a story about Earth Day’s Michigan roots & here is EarthDay.org where they are trying to raise awareness about microplastics, which many scientists believe are behind the explosion of Alzheimers.

James is an Empire-based photographer who shared this barred owl – based in parts unknown – along with some other great pics to wish everyone a happy Earth Day! See more by clicking the picture & on his website.

2024 Michigan Morel Season is here!

First Morel by Rick Antiss

As you can see from the photo above, the 2024 Michigan Morel Season is now underway! Every year I try & kick off Michigan morel season by sharing some tips so here goes:

• Make your first several mushroom hunts, whether for morels or other edible mushroom species, with someone who knows mushrooms.
• Buy or download a mushroom guide. A good guidebook is “The Mushroom Hunter’s Field Guide” by Alexander H. Smith, recognized as America’s foremost authority on mushroom identification, and Nancy Smith Weber.
• Be prepared to cover a lot of ground and to experience disappointments when searching for morels. Some spots yield mushrooms year after year, while others skip several seasons between crops.
• Don’t expect to find morels easily if you are new to the pastime. Because they blend into their background of last fall’s leaves and dead grass, they are hard to see even if you are looking right at them. Your “eye” for morels will sharpen with practice, and you will need to retrain it every spring.
• Most important of all – know what you are eating! You will need to know the difference between a “true” morel and the “false morels,” such as beefsteak mushrooms, which are poisonous. (See morel identification information.)
• For more information on morel mushroom hunting in Michigan, visit Pure Michigan or Midwest American Mycological Information.
• And finally, the Morel tag on Michigan in Pictures is chock full of great advice. Happy hunting!!

My friend Rick lives in Southwest Michigan and shared this last week. If you’re a fan of cannabis & golf, check out the Cannabis Golfers Association which is getting ready to host the Hazy Holes Classic!

Purple for June: Dwarf Lake Iris

Iris lacustris by Bradford Slaughter

Some of you know that my mother Jill suffered for years from the terrifying effects of Alzheimers disease, ultimately passing last winter. June is Alzheimer’s & Brain Awareness Month, and the Alzheimer’s Association encourages us to wear purple (and of course donate) to raise awareness about a disease that afflicts tens of millions of Americans. 

June is also when you can see Michigan’s official State Wildflower, the Dwarf Lake Iris (Iris lacustris), in bloom:

The official wildflower of the Great Lakes State is right at home anywhere it can get its feet wet along the rocky coast of Northern Lake Huron, but those places are getting harder to come by.

This pint-sized perennial is known for its deep blue flowers that emerge mere inches above the ground for a fleeting few weeks in May and June—individual blossoms last just days. The rest of the time, its yellow-green leaves cling close to the ground, hiding in plain sight until springtime comes around again.

It’s a bit of a miracle this fragile flower exists at all: They grow in the thin, nutrient-poor soil that overlays limestone gravel and bedrock. The Northeast Michigan coast, rich with sand dunes and limestone deposits, creates the perfect habitat for the iris, found nowhere else outside the northern Great Lakes.

Along with a limited range that’s shrinking due to lakeshore development, the plant has been sought out by collectors who replant or sell it elsewhere. For these reasons, the dwarf lake iris was added in 1988 to the list of federally threatened species.

Read on for more at Huron Pines & for sure check out their Dwarf Lake Iris Best Practice Guide for tips on how to protect this flower!

Coincidentally, Bradford took this photo at Beavertail Point Nature Sanctuary on the northern coast of Lake Huron eight years ago on June 2nd, 2014 so I guess it’s a #TBT to boot! See more in his Iridaceae (Iris Family) gallery on Flickr 

Happy World Turtle Day from Phillip the Box Turtle!

Phillip the Box Turtle by Kevin Povenz

May 23rd is World Turtle Day, an annual day of recognition that was started in 2000 by American Tortoise Rescue to raise awareness about turtles & help preserve endangered turtles worldwide. Michigan has ten species of native turtles including the Eastern Box Turtle – check them all out and Know Your Michigan Turtles! 

Kevin took this photo of Phillip the Box Turtle for the Blanford Nature Center back in 2017. See more in his Animals gallery on Flickr.

Manistee’s Giant Sequoia Tree

Giant Sequoia Tree Manistee, Michigan by Charles Bonham

Charles shares that this Giant Sequoia (Sequoiaadendron giganteum) at Lake Bluff Arboretum in Manistee was planted in 1949 on a cliff along Lake Michigan is now over 100 feet tall! You can see another view right here and view lots more on his Flickr!

Michpics Rewind: Whitefish & Cranes edition

Over the Moon by Todd Bielby

Here’s one of my favorite Native stories that I originally shared in back in 2013…

The 1896 book Myths and Legends of our Own Land by Charles M. Skinner relates a rather gruesome version of the tale of the origin of Whitefish:

An Indian who lived far in the north was so devoted to the chase that he was never at home for the whole of a day, to the sorrow of his two boys, who liked nothing so much as to sport with him and to be allowed to practise with his weapons. Their mother told them that on no account were they to speak to him of the young man who visited the lodge while their father was away, and it was not until they were well grown and knew what the duty of wives should be that they resolved to disobey her. The hunter struck the woman dead when he learned of her perfidy. So greatly did her spirit trouble them, however, that they could no longer abide in their old home in peace and comfort, and they left the country and journeyed southward until they came to the Sault Sainte Marie.

As they stood beside the falls a head came rolling toward them on the earth—the head of the dead woman. At that moment, too, a crane was seen riding on the surface of the water, whirling about in its strongest eddies, and when one of the boys called to it, “O Grandfather, we are persecuted by a spirit; take us across the falls,” the crane flew to them. “Cling to my back and do not touch my head,” it said to them, and landed them safely on the farther shore.

But now the head screamed, “Come, grandfather, and carry me over, for I have lost my children and am sorely distressed,” and the bird flew to her likewise. “Be careful not to touch my head,” it said. The head promised obedience, but succumbed to curiosity when half-way over and touched the bird’s head to see what was the matter with him. With a lurch the crane flung off his burden and it fell into the rapids. As it swept down, bumping against the rocks, the brains were pounded out and strewn over the water. “You were useless in life,” cried the crane. “You shall not be so in death. Become fish!” And the bits of brain changed to roe that presently hatched to a delicate white fish, the flesh whereof is esteemed by Indians of the lakes, and white men, likewise. The family pitched a lodge near the spot and took the crane as their totem or name-mark. Many of their descendants bear it to this day.

The version I read in one of my all-time favorite books, Lore of the Great Turtle : Indian Legends of Mackinac Retold by Dirk Gringhuis is pretty dark as well.

You can see more from Todd on his Flickr & view & purchase photos on his website.

Read lots more about Sandhill cranes on Michigan in Pictures. 

Fox Friday: Hanging at the Den

Hanging at the Den by TP Mann

Another year, another pair of fox kits for the Michigan in Pictures family! Last year I christened a pair Oliver & Charlotte based on Michigan’s most popular baby names. Both Oliver & Charlotte have been dethroned, so please put your hands together for Noah & Amelia (#2 & #4 in the US respectively). 

TP took this photo on Sunday. See more on his Flickr!

More foxes on Michigan in Pictures.

Blue Canary aka Indigo Bunting

Indigo Bunting by Kevin Povenz

Yesterday I saw a brilliant blue Indigo bunting on the bird feeder, so let’s talk about them! All About Birds shares that the all-blue male Indigo Bunting are sometimes nicknamed “blue canaries” and known for their bouncy songs. There’s all kinds of info including recordings of their songs and fun facts like:

Indigo Buntings migrate at night, using the stars for guidance. Researchers demonstrated this process in the late 1960s by studying captive Indigo Buntings in a planetarium and then under the natural night sky. The birds possess an internal clock that enables them to continually adjust their angle of orientation to a star—even as that star moves through the night sky.

Indigo Buntings learn their songs as youngsters, from nearby males but not from their fathers. Buntings a few hundred yards apart generally sing different songs, while those in the same “song neighborhood” share nearly identical songs. A local song may persist up to 20 years, gradually changing as new singers add novel variations.

Like all other blue birds, Indigo Buntings lack blue pigment. Their jewel-like color comes instead from microscopic structures in the feathers that refract and reflect blue light, much like the airborne particles that cause the sky to look blue.

Kevin took this a decade ago at the Upper Macatawa Natural Area in Zeeland. See more in his Birds gallery on Flickr.

Building a Backyard Habitat

Prairie by Natalie Cypher

Rayna Skiver of the Great Lakes Echo has an article on the benefits of building a backyard habitat for Michigan wildlife that says in part:

A habitat can be as simple as a place that provides food, water and shelter for wildlife, said Natalie Cypher, naturalist and educator for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Outdoor Adventure Center.

Building a habitat in your backyard can require as much or as little space as you want, Cypher said. It depends on what type of wildlife you want to attract.

Research is the first step.

“If you’re looking to provide a habitat for monarch butterflies, you have to use milkweed,” Cypher said. “Monarch butterflies only lay their eggs on milkweed plants and it’s the only food that their caterpillars will eat.”

…Backyard habitats benefit both wildlife and the people making them. For wildlife, they provide food and a safe place to nest. People benefit because of the positive feelings associated with added greenery and the presence of wildlife.

In a suburban neighborhood, a lot of land doesn’t provide habitat, Cypher said. One million acres of wildlife habitat are lost every year due to suburban development, according to the National Wildlife Federation.

“Providing a small patch of habitat can be high impact,” Cypher said.

The National Wildlife Federation reports benefits like higher percentages of native plants, indicator species, tree coverage, water conservation and wildlife presence.

Native plants use less water and sequester carbon, according to the National Wildlife Federation.

Home gardeners benefit from native pollinators such as bees and butterflies because they can increase fruit and vegetable production and help with pest control, Cypher said.

Read on for much more at the Echo. You can learn more about the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Outdoor Adventure Center & even apply for a job on their website!

More Michigan gardens & gardening on Michigan in Pictures.