Bay City Independence Day Celebration, photo by Charles Bonham
Happy 4th of July everyone!
View Charles’s photo bigger and see more in his Bay City Michigan album.
Morning on the Dunes
Morning on the Dunes, photo by Owen Weber
Here’s a phenomenal shot of the sunrise on Glen Lake from atop the dunes in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
View Owen’s photo bigger and see more in his Michigan album.
Happy World Turtle Day from Phillip the Box Turtle!
Phillip the Box Turtle, photo by Kevin Povenz
May 23rd is World Turtle Day, created by the good people at American Tortoise Rescue to help people celebrate and protect turtles and tortoises and their disappearing habitats around the world.
Every year I’m happy to report that one of the most popular features on Michigan in Pictures remains Know Your Michigan Turtles that I wrote back in 2013 and have added to through the years with photos and articles about every one of Michigan’s 10 native turtle species including Eastern Box Turtles.
Kevin took this at the Blandford Nature Center in Grand Rapids and you can click that link to learn all about them and the wildlife you can see there. View the photo bigger and see more in his Animals photo album.
House Drop: L Frank Baum, Oz & Michigan
The house began to pitch… by Cherie
“Oh rubbish, you have no power here. Be gone before someone drops a house on you.”
– Glinda the Good
On May 15, 1856, L Frank Baum was born. 44 years and 2 days later, he published the first of my personal favorite series of books and one of the most beloved children’s books of all time, The Wizard of Oz. While I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a gateway to the Land of Oz hidden somewhere in Michigan, I have no doubt that the magic & wonder of the Oz owes a lot to the time that the Goose Man of Macatawa spent in Michigan!
I’m not sure if there’s a wicked witch under this house, but you can check it out background big and see more in Cherie’s Rural Exploration album.
Morel Time: 2018 Edition
Twin Morels worth a zoom, photo by Mark Smith
Mark took this photo back in May of 2015, but I’m hearing from friends in Leelanau that morels are starting to pop. We’ve had some great rain over the last few days all around Michigan and the temps are about right for morel magic!
View Mark’s photo background bigilicious and see more in Mark’s slideshow.
There’s more morels action in the Michigan in Pictures Morel tag and some great tips in this Morel Madness feature on my Leelanau.com website.
More spring wallpaper for your computer too!
Happy May Day from a Dutchman!
Happy May Day from a Dutchman, photo by Dale Devries
Happy May Day everyone!
Dale took this on May 1, 2017 after a much warmer spring and writes: Took a walk to the Rosy Mound (sand dune) just south of Grand Haven this morning, and found many Dutchman’s Breeches along the trail! I was looking for red trillium, but found none of them. The anatomy of this flower is quite amazing, with the stamens and pistil hanging down.
View Dale’s photo background big and and see more in his massive The Best of West Lake album.
Get your desktop ready with lots more Spring wallpaper on Michigan in Pictures!
Lyrid Meteor Shower AND Northern Lights this weekend!!
Lyrid Meteor … sprinkle, photo by Ken Scott Photography
I got an alert this morning that the Kp levels that predict the likelihood of northern lights is at 5 to 6 over the next two nights making the aurora a strong possibility for much of Michigan. Lots about the northern lights on Michigan in Pictures.
Now let’s add into the mix the annual Lyrid Meteor Shower. It’s a more variable shower than the Perseid or Leonid showers, but it has still produced some impressive showers in the past AND we are blessed with a waxing moon that will make viewing a lot better. EarthSky shares:
The annual Lyrid meteor shower peaks this weekend! It’s active each year from about April 16 to 25. In 2018, the peak of this shower – which tends to come in a burst and usually lasts for less than a day – is expected to fall on the morning of April 22, with little or no interference from the waxing moon.
No matter where you are on Earth, expect the greatest number of meteors to fall during the few hours before dawn.
In a moonless sky, you might see from about 10 to 20 Lyrid meteors an hour at the shower’s peak on the morning of April 22. In 2018, the waxing moon will set before the primetime morning hours. An outburst of Lyrid meteors is always a possibility, too, though no Lyrid outburst is predicted for 2018.
In 1982, American observers did see an outburst of nearly 100 Lyrid meteors per hour. Around 100 meteors per hour were seen in Greece in 1922 and from Japan in 1945.
Much more including precise viewing tips at EarthSky!
Ken writes that (back in April of 2016) he shot over a 3 hour period in hopes to catch the meteor ‘shower’ and only caught this one streaker. View his photo bigger, see more in his Skies Above album, and visit Ken Scott Photography to view & purchase work!
Ice locked
Icy Sunset, photo by Chris S
This is the time of year when I should be sharing pics of bold crocuses, baby birds & other springish things. This being Michigan, we are back to full-on winter!
Chris took this Sunday at the Mackinac Bridge. Head over to his Flickr for more photos of the Mighty Mac and stay warm!!
Candle Ice on Lake Michigan
Yesterday my photos and videos of an odd phenomenon on the Lake Michigan shore in Leelanau County got featured by Tanda Gimter on mLive who writes in part:
…some of the ice-crystal creations that suddenly appeared on a Leelanau County beach last weekend had photographers excited about their find – and a little baffled. The large, column-like crystals spread out on the ground like blooming flowers.
When you touched the hand-high columns, they broke apart easily.
“It was just kind of a weird day,” said Andrew McFarlane of Leland, who works in web development and marketing. He took pictures and a couple videos of the phenomenon while he was at Van’s Beach in Leland on Sunday. “I’ve never seen it before that I can remember.”
As regular readers know, I’m not one to let a Michigan mystery alone, and after some research I’m pretty confident that this is called “candle ice”. The American Meteorological Society defines it as: A form of rotten ice; disintegrating sea ice (or lake ice) consisting of ice prisms or cylinders oriented perpendicular to the original ice surface; these “ice fingers” may be equal in length to the thickness of the original ice before its disintegration.
Here’s a video of it!
Wearing o the Green (ice)
Icicles in cave – Grand Island Ice Curtains on Lake Superior, photo by Craig
Craig writes:
A little emerald green for St. Patrick’s Day!
Viewing this ice curtain from the inside at Grand Island near Munising Michigan, highlights the blue and teal hues that nature provides.
View the photo bigger and see more in Craig’s Grand Island Ice Curtains set.
Michigan in Pictures 