Male Belted Kingfisher by Charlie Schwartz
A great shot of a male belted kingfisher from last week. Definitely gonna ask him who his barber is. đ
See more in Charlie’s Birds gallery on Flickr.
Fresh Cut
2022 Michigan Morel Season is Here!
Mushrooms on Pine View Golf Course by Corey Seeman
My Michigan morel mushroom groups are starting to light up with mushroom finds so it’s a good time to remind folks that May is morel month in Michigan!
The actual fruiting period can be anywhere from late April until mid-June depending on where you are in the Mitten & what species you are hunting. Contrary to common belief, morels are not confined to the northern part of the state â some of the best picking (such as the photo today) can be found in southern Michigan.
MOREL HUNTING TIPS
- 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 âThe Mushroom Hunterâs Field Guideâ by Alexander H. Smith, recognized as Americaâs foremost authority on mushroom identification, and Nancy Smith Weber. There also is a very good mushroom identification booklet available on the U.S. Department of Agriculture website.
- 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.
- Donât expect to find morels easily if you are new to the pastime. Because they blend into their background of last fallâs leaves and dead grass, they are hard to see even if you are looking right at them. Your âeyeâ for morels will sharpen with practice, and you will need to retrain it every spring.
- Most important of all â know what you are eating! You will need to know the difference between a âtrueâ morel and the âfalse morels,â 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!!
Corey took this on May 4th in Ypsilanti last year. Head over to his Flickr for his latest!
Springtime at Root Beer Falls
Tahquamenon Falls in Michigan’s UP by Tom Clark
Tom swung by Tahquamenon Falls over the weekend and shares:
Amazing! I have never seen it with such a large volume and flow as today. It’s supplied by the spring melt-off and rain. Another benefit of the run-off is the intensity of color – again, never seen such deep rich color. That is why it’s aptly referred to as “root beer falls”.
Indeed!! See more in Tom’s UP Trip with Dave – April 2022 gallery on Flickr & view & purchase his work on his website.
Much more from Tahquamenon Falls on Michigan in Pictures!
Michigan Meltdown
mLIve’s Mark Torregrossa shares that although it might be a little cool today, much of Michigan’s lower peninsula will leap into the 70s and even low 80s on Saturday. In the Upper Peninsula and within a few miles of a Great Lake, you’ll only have temps in the 60s. Still, nothing to sneeze at right?
Julie got this great shot of the melting ice at Mackinac last April. See more in her Spring & Summer gallery on Flickr.
#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.Â
Birdhouse Beauty
Bird House by Charles Hildebrandt
Charles got this awesome shot of a birdhouse last week. Head over to “morning” on his Flickr for more including a sweet pic of a pair of birds hanging out on the roof!
Magician Lake
Sunrise on Magician Lake by Joyce Cole
WKFR Kalamazoo had a feature on some of Michigan’s oddly named lakes that links to my post on Lake Fanny Hooe on the Keweenaw Peninsula. Another lake on their list was Magician Lake near Dowagiac.  This is Magician Lake says in part:
The lake covers approximately 524 acres, is spring fed, has three islands (two accessible only by boat) and an outlet called Silver Creek. For the most part, it is a shallow lake (10-12 feet) with deep holes up to 60 feet deep. The lake is considered to be an “all sports lake” and is in the “excellent” category when it stands up to CLMP standards.
Magician Lake has a rich history that began in the late 1800s. People settled on the north and east shores and on one of the islands, starting up resorts known as Gregory Beach, Happyland, and Maple Island Resort Association. In even earlier days, it was inhabited by the Pokagon Potawatomi who gave it one version of its original name of Silver Lake. Because of its marl bottom that turned white every spring, as well as having springs which made it treacherous to cross with the winter ice, Native Americans also thought the lake to be superstitious or “magical”. Thus, the name evolved into Magician Lake. As with all names, there is also another theory that a group of “magicians” (probably vaudevillians) once lived at Happyland, an old-time resort, and entertained people in the area. Since this was the lake where magicians resided, it became known as Magician Lake.
Joyce took this photo back in August of 2012 and shares the set’s called “Where my feet take me”…….. ok, my arms actually took me out on the lake, but isn’t this a beautiful sunrise?! I just had to stop and soak it all in. See more in her Where my feet take me…Â gallery on Flickr.
The Manitou Isle
Better Stay of the Lake by Andrew McFarlane
Via Leelanau.com, here’s a photo of the Manitou Isle ferry that I took 20 years ago for . The boat was sold a year or so ago. According to the caption on the photo below that Manitou Island Transit recently shared, the beloved vessel is still sailing on the Great Lakes – off Michiganâs Thumb on Lake Huron! If anyone catches sight of it, be sure to let me know!
Manitou Transit service to North & South Manitou will begin on or before Memorial Day. More on their website.
Manitou Isle Unloading by Manitou Island Transit
Stay warm, Crocuses
Crocuses by Brooke Pennington
You might think that after thousands of years of coming up too soon and getting frozen, the crocus family would have had a little sense knocked into it.Â
-Robert Benchley
With a cold weekend ahead, I can’t help think about the bold crocuses. Stay warm, my purple pals!!
I’ve shared this stunning shot by Brooke before, and when it came up in my memories I had to share it again! More from Brooke on Flickr.
Kick out the jams at Detroit’s Grande Ballroom
And Let Me Be Who I Am by Derek Farr
“Let me be who I am, and let me kick out the jams”
-The MC5
The Detroit Metro Times recently shared that $5 million could net you Detroit’s historic Grande Ballroom:
The abandoned Grande Ballroom is up for sale for a hefty $5,000,000, according to a listing on Jim Shaffer and Associates Realtors that went online this week. The old-school music hall was a hub for classic and psychedelic rock bands in the 1960s until it closed in 1972. Since then, it has sat looming like a fading memory of a bygone era.
Back in the days of sex, drugs, and, rock ‘n’ roll, the ballroom hosted acts like Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd, Janis Joplin, and even John Coltrane and Sun Ra. MC5 became regulars on the stage and recorded its 1969 debut album Kick Out the Jams there, and in recent years a mural of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame-nominated band’s guitarist Wayne Kramer was painted on the side of the building.
You can read a lot more about the Grande Ballroom on this website & watch the awesome documentary Louder Than Love: The Grande Ballroom on the Detroit Public Television Facebook page!
Derek took this shot of the mural on the Grande a couple of years ago. See TONS more in his excellent Detroit gallery on Flickr.
Michigan in Pictures 