Fly Away With Me: Cooper’s Hawk

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Fly Away With Me

Fly Away With Me, photo by palofmine2.

All About Birds has this to say about the Cooper’s Hawk (Accipiter cooperii):

Among the bird world’s most skilful flyers, Cooper’s Hawks are common woodland hawks that tear through cluttered tree canopies in high speed pursuit of other birds. You’re most likely to see one prowling above a forest edge or field using just a few stiff wingbeats followed by a glide.

You can hear the call of the Cooper’s Hawk at that link and they say that if one of these birds starts treating your bird feeder like a take out, just remove it for a few days and it will move on. More at Wikipedia’s page on the Cooper’s Hawk and at Accipiter cooperii: Cooper’s hawk from the UM Animal Diversity Web.

See this bigger in Renee’s slideshow.

Lots more Michigan birds from Michigan in Pictures!

Hoar Frost or Freezing Fog?

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Painted rolling hills

Painted rolling hills, photo by Dr. Farnsworth.

Wikipedia’s entry on fog says that freezing fog occurs when liquid fog droplets freeze to surfaces, forming white soft or hard rime. Then there’s also hoar frost…

Radiation frost (also called hoar frost or hoarfrost) refers to the white ice crystals, loosely deposited on the ground or exposed objects, that form on cold clear nights when heat losses into the open skies cause objects to become colder than the surrounding air. A related effect is flood frost which occurs when air cooled by ground-level radiation losses travels downhill to form pockets of very cold air in depressions, valleys, and hollows. Hoar frost can form in these areas even when the air temperature a few feet above ground is well above freezing. Nonetheless the frost itself will be at or below the freezing temperature of water.

Hoar frost may have different names depending on where it forms. For example, air hoar is a deposit of hoar frost on objects above the surface, such as tree branches, plant stems, wires; surface hoar is formed by fernlike ice crystals directly deposited on snow, ice or already frozen surfaces; crevasse hoar consists in crystals that form in glacial crevasses where water vapour can accumulate under calm weather conditions; depth hoar refers to cup shaped, faceted crystals formed within dry snow, beneath the surface.

Which is it? I have no idea. I’m hoping one of the weather experts in the audience can tell us!

Check this out bigger or in the Michigan snow group’s slideshow and you can also find a lot more Michigan winter wallpaper for your desktop on Michigan in Pictures.

(re) Enter the Delorean: 2010 Detroit Auto Show

Posted on by farlane

Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, photo courtesy North American International Auto Show

It’s a measure of how far the auto industry has fallen that I’ve barely heard a peep about the 2010 North American International Auto Show. What was once (still is?) the biggest event in Michigan opens to the public today through January 24th. We’ll hopefully have something on Absolute Michigan next week, but until then, check out the Freep and Detroit News coverage, Jalopnik’s Detroit Auto show page and the NAIAS slideshow in the Absolute Michigan pool, which should be updated as pool photographers attend the show!

Here’s a page on the gull-winged Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. No word as to whether it’s flux capacitor ready…

Amtrak 23

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Amtrak 23, photo by Jim Thias

Jim writes that this is Amtrak 23 at 50 MPH, blasting through a freshly plowed crossing in snowy west Michigan.

He’s got a lot more great train photos.

A Curtain of Light and Water: Hungarian Falls on the Keweenaw Peninsula

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

A Curtain of Light and Water (redux)

A Curtain of Light and Water (redux), photo by We Are CS.

I know it was just waterfalls a couple of days ago … you have to take them where you find them sometimes.

Although I think the picture they used is not Hungarian Falls, Keweenaw Waterfalls: Hungarian Falls says:

The Upper Hungarian Falls, about 10 feet wide, is located in a beautiful hardwood forest, and drops about 25 feet over a wall of red stone. Downstream the Hungarian Creek slides over the Hungarian Dam to create an unnamed 5-foot falls just below on the far side of the river whose rock walls and ledge appear almost handmade. About 100 yards downstream is a second unnamed falls of about 7 feet into a small pool. Another 250 feet downstream a third unnamed falls drops 25 feet in a shaded canyon whose moss covered walls extend from both sides of the falls. 400 feet downstream is the Lower Hungarian Falls, the most spectacular of all the falls, that drops another 15 feet over terraced rock. To view the entire falls, you need to walk along the top of the ridge as it extends out from the falls (use extreme caution if viewing the falls with children) to see the spectacular 50 foot-plus drop through the thick forest. Spectacular in the spring, flowage can vary greatly during summer and fall.

Check this out bigger or in Kyle’s Hungarian Falls set (slideshow).

3 channels and nothing’s on

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Untitled, photo by jenny murray.

Check it out bigger or in Jenny’s slideshow.

There is unrest in the Forest…..

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

There is unrest in the Forest.....

There is unrest in the Forest….., photo by RBS62.

There is unrest in the forest there is trouble with the trees
For the maples want more sunlight and the oaks ignore their pleas

The trouble with the maples and they’re quite convinced they’re right
They say the oaks are just too lofty and they grab up all the light
~ Rush (listen on Rhapsody)

Check this out as big as the trees and in his Winter in the UP set (slideshow).

Lots more winter wallpaper on Michigan in Pictures.

Ojibway spirit god and the Song of … Manabozho

Posted on by farlane


Manabezho Falls in the Porcupine Mountains, photo by Gittinsj

A previous post on Manabezho Falls in the Porcupine Mountains State Park offered another view of these amazing falls and some information from GoWaterfalling’s page on Manebezho Falls.

While trying to find out more about Manebezho, who also seems to be the trickster god Manabozho, I learned from Indian Names in Michigan that although Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Song of Hiawatha uses the name of a real-life Mohawk sachem (paramount chief), the deeds are those of Manabozho. That’s enough grounds for me to bring you the Manabozho and the ultimate fish story.

 

Cool Blue: Michigan Lighthouse Ice

Posted on by farlane

Cool Blue
Cool Blue, photo by Brian.H

Wind, waves and winter work create some amazing ice formations on Michigan lighthouses. To see some of them. click over to the Lighthouse Ice show from the Absolute Michigan pool!

See this photo of the St. Joseph light bigger or in Brian’s Lighthouse set (slideshow).

US-27 In Michigan

Posted on by farlane

US 27
US-27 In Michigan, photo by U.S. Highway 12

Ronnie writes:

For 76 years, from 1926-2002, US-27 was a primary highway in the state of Michigan. During the Postwar highway expansion era on the even of the Interstate Highway system, US-27 was extended to St. Ignace, Michigan, across the Mackinac Bridge. However, as I-75 was completed in sections north of Tri-Cities area, US-27 was eventually truncated to just north of Higgins Lake in 1961.

As Interstate 69 was completed in the 1970s around the Charlotte area, US-27 was moved onto the new Interstate freeway. In 1991, MDOT petitioned AASHTO, to have US-27 removed from the state of Michigan’s highway network. This request was denied because MDOT made no mention of their plans for US-27 north of Lansing. However, eight years later on in 1999, they submitted another application, and AAHSTO approved the request to truncate US-27 from south of Grayling to Fort Wayne, Indiana. The end finally came in 2002, when all of the old US-27 marker signs were removed.

When I think of US-27 and the many other U.S. Highways in Michigan, this two-lane photo from the Michigan State Highway Dept. comes to mind. This image was shot in Clare County, near the community of Harrison during Labor Day in 1955. I can just image driving along this hilly and winding highway at 105 km/h (65 mph), and having a deer run standing in the roadway as I crested the hill.

Image from the Michigan State Highway Dept. (MDOT) and is in the public domain.

Looking for more? Check out the US-27 group slideshow on Flickr and US Route 27 on Wikipedia.