Untitled, photo by Brooke Pennington.
The other night I saw the afterglow of the sunset at 7:30. Reminded me that the world keeps tilting and turning along.
Is this a Paddle, Raft, Plump, Team, Brace or Dopping of Ducks?
OtisDude writes:
I was shooting some duck pictures today when all the sudden something startled all the ducks. Calm to chaos in less than a second. I managed to snap off 4-5 pics before I got a little panicked and got out of the way.
We’ve all heard of the many Inuit names for snow. In case anyone was wondering, ducks are pretty much the same. There’s quite a collection of names for a group of ducks including a paddling of ducks or a raft of ducks (when floating along), a plump or team of ducks (in flight overhead), a brace of ducks (post hunting I believe) or a dopping of ducks (when diving). More ducks on Michigan in Pictures.
None of these seemed quite right but fortunately there’s also a flush of ducks, which I’m going to assume covers exactly this scenario.
Total Lunar Eclipse of February 20, 2008
Full Lunar Eclipse, photo by gregory lee.
Gregory writes:
Taken 19 minutes before the full eclipse in North America (Ann Arbor, Michigan). This image is exposed for the area in the Earth’s shadow. The red color is the actual color of the shadow.
Check it out larger and also see more detail in this black & white shot.
You can see many more photos from around Michigan at this Flickr search for “Michigan eclipse” for February 20th (slideshow). Some cool ones so far include the celestial triangle formed by the eclipsed Moon, Saturn and the star Regulus, a montage of the progress and Sparty and the Moon. I’d keep an eye on the show, becuase I bet there’s more great ones to come and feel free to link to others below!
(I’ll look the other way when I post this link to the Lunar eclipse february 20 2008 group.)
eclipsed
Well, this was SUPPOSED to be a photo of the moon in honor of tonight’s total eclipse of the moon.
What can I say? I’m easily distracted.
Mark took this photo in Saline with a Diana camera and it’s just one of many in his outstanding alternative cameras set (slideshow) featuring images from Polaroids, 110 cameras, toy cameras, and Holgas.
Here are some ACTUAL Michigan photos from the lunar eclipse of February 20, 2008!
Pickerel Spears, Ice Shanties and the Fishing History of Saginaw Bay
Saginaw Bay Ice Shanty c.1925, photo by oldog_oltrix.
Larry writes that this photo was taken by his grandfather at his ice shanty on Saginaw Bay (probably near Bay Park) in the mid-1920s. The 6′ bar between the shovel and the axe is a “spud” used with the axe to make the hole in the hole in ice and the pole coming from the top of the shanty is likely a “pickerel spear”. The This is one of the photos in his Oldog’s OLD PHOTOS set, and it also appears in the Michigan Thumb Memories group.
Over on Michigan Sportsman, Capt. Dan Manyen has written a nice little article titled The Fishing History of the Saginaw Bay. In it, he shares a number of old photos and provides a nice overview of the last few centuries of fishing on what I’m going to guess is Michigan’s largest bay. Capt. Manyen writes that walleye was mis-identified by many back then as pickerel and sold in great numbers to both local fish market outlets and buyers from the eastern states. He says that for many in the area, the burgeoning auto industry…
…did not stop or ease the pain of the Great Depression during this time. What did for many though, including my own Grandfather, was the plentiful fishing and hunting resources the Bay area offered. When Grandpa couldn’t get a job unloading the (Bean Boat) as he called it for .50 cents a day, he’d be out hunting or fishing for a meal for his family. Grandpa talked often about spending all winter out on the ice on Saginaw Bay in a (Pickerel Shanty) spearing pickerel.
I’m not sure where you might want to take this, so here’s the Wikipedia entries for Pickerel, Walleye and Saginaw Bay. You might also be interested in the Saginaw Bay Watershed Initiative Network, the Saginaw Bay Fishing Report and a more recent photo of ice fishing on Saginaw Bay.
Also see Saginaw Bay on Absolute Michigan’s Map of Michigan.
Oh, There Were Once Great Ships On Our Mighty River!
Oh, There Were Once Great Ships On Our Mighty River!, photo by “CAVE CANEM”.
CAVE CANEM writes…
So there I was… (On Black)
rutting through some boxes for some tax documents and BAM, look what I found!
If grew you up in Detroit between 1910 and the early eighties this should make you smile. This is an Detroit icon for all us kids that had to run the concrete jungle during the dog days summer. As I remember there were few things better than to take that first step onto the boat full of excitement waiting for those big steam monsters to start up, or catching that breeze in the face, any hot August morning while traveling the island. To be honest I can still feel that gentle wind as I ran what seemed like endless decks, it’s wonderful. Cruising to and from Bob-lo was the perfect way to cap off the season before the return of school and gray skys.
This is the S.S Columbia one of “twin steam boats” made for the Detroit, Windsor, and Belle Isle Ferry Company to cruise the Detroit River in-between the ice flows. I remember it was just cool to sit and watch them lazily make their way up and down the any day you were downtown, or to hear the voices bouncing off the wateras a ship full of revelers lost themselves on hot night while I caught a breeze with pops. If I miss anything it’s the late afternoon picnics with my family we had on that amusement island (Mangos! who knew?). This was one the best things about being in the city as a kid it saddens to think me my friends will never treat their children to such a day.
Oh well all good things come to an end….
The question is when will the bad things?
Probably the only link you really need is Bob-Lo Boats: a Tribute to the Bob-Lo Steamers, but lest I look too lazy, here’s the S.S. Columbia in Wikipedia which includes a 1905 photo of the Steamer Columbia on the Detroit River. I also found a 1959 video from the deck of either the Columbia or the Ste. Clair on YouTube.
The Columbia is now on the Hudson river and the S.S. Columbia Project is seeking to restore the vessel. Be sure to have a look at their gallery of historic photos. There’s a group of folks working to restore the S.S. Ste. Clair which is docked most of the year at Tricentennial Park in Detroit – get all the details and more about the boat at bobloboat.com!
All Star Weekend with Chauncey, Sheed & Rip
Chauncey steps up to the line, temper temper and he shoots, all photos by radiospike photography
Congratulations to Chauncey Billups, Rasheed Wallace and Richard Hamilton for selected for the 2008 NBA All Star Game. As an added bonus for Piston fans, Rip is in the 3 Point Challenge … he’s been practicing.
Radiospike has more Piston photos in his great Pistons 11-23-07 and Detroit Pistons sets. The shot of Rip is part of his pretty cool 2007 the year in pictures and he currently has a photography exhibition titled Detroit: The Way Things Are in Ferndale (through Feb 28).
Trumpeter Swan and the Birds of Michigan
trumpeter swan, photo by tobibritsch.
On the Michigan DNR’s page on the trumpeter swan, says that at 25-35 pounds when fully grown, the trumpeter swan is the world’s largest waterfowl with a wingspan of nearly 8′ and that:
Historically, trumpeter swans were most likely abundant throughout the Great Lakes region, even in the southern Michigan marshlands. On his travels along the Detroit River in 1701, Cadillac compared the abundance of swans to lilies among the rushes. However, with the settlement of America, the populations of trumpeters plummeted. Beginning in the late 1800s, European settlers cleared the land, draining and filling important marsh habitat, and market hunters took swans for their fine down and quills. By 1933, only 66 trumpeter swans remained in the continental United States, mainly in remote parts of the Rocky Mountains and Alaska. Nearly 100 years passed before trumpeter swans were seen again in the Michigan wilds.
In the 1980s Michigan began a swan reintroduction program as part of the North American Restoration Plan. While the program has been a success and dramatically increased the number of nesting pairs, there are some who question whether these birds did in fact historically nest in Michigan. Nuthatch at the excellent Michigan blog bootstrap analysis presents the case in with great links in swans, take 2. It’s something that merits consideration as swans are pretty rough on aquatic habitats!
For more on these birds, check out The Trumpeter Swan Society. Also, the UM Animal Diversity Web Cygnus buccinator (trumpeter swan) listing has some photos but unfortunately no sounds. Wikipedia’s Trumpeter Swan entry also includes creative commons photos of trumpeter swans for use and download.
The photographer has a cool set of waterbird photos (slideshow) and this photo is in the Birds of Michigan group on Flickr. It’s for sharing photos of birds found anywhere in the State of Michigan and they say that if you cannot identify the bird, post it to the group and likely someone there can!
Pushing the limits of Valentines … and outhouses
A Valentine, photo by John Baird.
John writes: You can’t say I’m not sentimental….
Happy Valentine’s Day all of you – hope there’s lots and lots of love in your lives.
While we’re on the subject of outhouses, don’t forget that next weekend features not one but TWO major races on the National Outhouse Racing Circuit. Absolute Michigan’s February Event Calendar says that on February 23 you can enjoy the Trenary Outhouse Classic – The Outhouse Races (see YouTube video) and The Outhouse 500 and Coopersville Chill 5-K Run (amazingly enough, there’s a video for this as well!).
Think they’ll be filming the next “Pure Michigan” installment there?
The U.P. 200 & Midnight Run Sled Dog Races
P1010050c, photo by Dan & Mary.
The web site for the annual UP 200 / Midnight Run and Jack Pine 30 sled dog races explains that 1988 a group of mushers and others began to discuss a dogsled race in the Upper Peninsula.
When the race finally began to take shape, the trail encompassed Marquette, Alger, and Delta counties, and ran from Marquette to Chatham, Rapid River, Escanaba, Gwinn, and back to Marquette…
…and on a snowy Friday evening in February of 1990, the dedication and perseverance finally paid off. To the cheers of 10,000 spectators, the mushers of the first UP 200 Sled Dog Championship ten dog race sped down Washington street in Marquette into the night. At midnight, in the community of Chatham the first Midnight Run racers departed on the long, cold journey towards Escanaba. These racers went on their way into history, with many “tails of the trails” for the years to come.
The UP200 and Midnight Run have remained successful events each year and they take place this weekend (Feb 15-17) and you can get all the details (including the trail map and Breakaway’s Blog at the link above!
Mary writes that this photo shows a team is approaching the crossing at Forest Highway 13, heading west to the next checkpoint at Munising/Wetmore, MI. It’s part of a set of UP 200 / Midnight Run dogsled races 2007 photos (slideshow)
Michigan in Pictures 
