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. 

#TBT Time for Tulip Time in Holland

Tulip Time 1953 Edition

Holland’s annual Tulip Time Festival starts this Saturday and runs May 7-15, 2022. Tulip Time is the oldest tulip festival in North America that started in in 1929 when the City of Holland planted its first crop of 100,000 tulips, and it has continued to grow with national entertainment acts and events & activities for all ages.

The Tulip Time Festival shared this awesome photo from the 1950s, a perfect Throwback Thursday! Head over to their Facebook Page for more!

More tulips & Tulip Time on Michigan in Pictures.

#TBT Looking Down from Fort Mackinac

Looking down from old fort, Mackinac Island, Mich by Detroit Publishing Co

This cool old photo from the Library of Congress shows ships at dock on Mackinac Island, including the black hulled steamer Juniata. Head over to the LOC for a lot more from Mackinac. 

#TBT: Walking with the Icefoot on Agate Beach

Winter morning on Agate Beach by Gary McCormick

Here’s a special Science Term Throwback Thursday from January 14th 8 years ago!

Ernest W. Marshall talks about a common winter feature along considerable stretches of Great Lakes shorelines, the Icefoot, a narrow fringe of ice attached to the coast:

Air and water temperatures must be sufficiently low before an icefoot begins to form. The conditions favorable for icefoot formation are broad open shorelines gradually sloping below water level, and facing so that wind-blown spray is carried inland toward the shore to freeze. The character of growth of an icefoot differs during different periods of the winter. During the course of the winter the icefoot may suffer periods of denudation alternating with periods of accretion. The development of an icefoot can be held at one stage by the early freezing of fast ice offshore. An icefoot can be composed of any combination of frozen spray or lake water, snow accumulations, brash, stranded icefloes, and sand which is either thrown up on the icefoot by wave action or is blown out from the exposed beaches.

Observations of the icefoot along the shorelines of Lakes Superior and Erie indicated that the moderately steep portions of the shore were characterized by narrow terraces composed of frozen slush and brash thrown up by storm winds. The outer edge of this icefoot was often cusp-like in form, resulting from the mechanical and melting action of the waves. The inner portions of the cusps acted to concentrate the wave action, forming blowholes which threw spray back on the icefoot.

You can click to read more.

Gary took this photo at one of my favorite places, Agate Beach on Lake Superior in Grand Marais. In the distance is Grand Sable Dunes & the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. See more in Gary’s Grand Marais Michigan gallery including a shot of a staggeringly huge ice mound & view and purchase his work at Footsore Fotography.

#TBT Paw Paw Barn

Paw Paw, MI by Jeff Lamb

My friend Jeff passed away 10 years ago but I’ve never forgotten him or his unique view of photography & the world. He took this photo of a barn on Red Arrow Highway near Paw Paw in southwest Michigan way back in September of 2006 & I figured a lot of you had never seen it! See more in his Michigan gallery on Flickr.

More #TBT on Michigan in Pictures.

TBT: Last Week’s Eclipse

Eclipse June 10, 2021 by Rod Burdick

Sure it’s a little early for a “Throwback Thursday” pic, but I had to share this shot from last week’s eclipse over the foggy St. Clair River.

Head over to Rod’s Flickr for many more shots of the St. Clair River & Great Lakes marine subjects!

TBT: Elberta Beach Hang Gliding Heydays

Elberta Beach During the Hang Gliding Heydays

Here’s a post I shared way back in November of 2010. Apologies to all of you with photographic memories! ;) 

Jim shared: 

Not a lot of beach that year (and the water was high), so there was not a lot of room to land! Then you had to hope folks would Get Out Of The Way! (And usually they did, as they were mostly hang gliding families or followers.) Taken at the Elberta beach on Lake Michigan in the late 1970s. 

Jim is no longer updating his Flickr, but definitely check out his Hang Gliding / Hang Glider gallery on Flickr for some awesome pics!

PS: Here’s shot of sailplanes in the 1930s on Frankfort Beach which is just across Betsie Bay from Elberta!

#TBT Daisy June, sing me a tune

Daisy June by Andrew McFarlane

For a #ThrowbackThursday, how about this pic I took 14 years ago on the Leelanau Peninsula? More in my Leelanau photo gallery on Flickr!

#TBT Green Hornet

Green Hornet by Steve

Oh yeah. Here’s a throwback Thursday from way back in 2006!

See more in Steve’s Film Scans album.

#TBT A Blue Like No Other: Why are robin eggs blue?

A Blue Like No Other by Jamie MacDonald

Here’s a Throwback Thursday from April of 2009 in honor of Spring, which I hear is still happening. The resource on the initial post is no longer online, so I dug up this post from The Spruce explaining why robin eggs are blue:

The color of an eggshell is determined by pigments deposited as the shell is formed in the shell gland. The shell gland is the avian equivalent of a mammal’s uterus and is near the end of the oviduct, just before the cloaca. The shell is formed just before the egg is laid.

The bile pigment biliverdin is responsible for blue tones in bird eggs. Depending on the concentration of the pigment, the coloration can range from bright, bold blue or blue-green to pale ice blue and every shade in between. Smaller eggs and those laid first in a brood are usually more intensely colored than larger eggs or those laid later in the nesting cycle.

In addition to coloring eggshells, biliverdin is also responsible for blue tones in moth and butterfly wings, and is the same pigment that makes bruises turn bluish-green.

Read on for more and see a bunch more awesome shots in Jamie’s Nature photo album.