Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/tag/catch-of-the-day/page/42/)
Click the audio for details and Mr. Great Lakes for the text. Mr. Great Lakes is heard at 9 a.m. Fridays in Bay City, Mich., on Delta College Q-90.1 FM NPR and is rebroadcast on Great Lakes Echo with permission.
We asked Great Lakes photographers to send us some of their favorite or toughest Great Lakes shots and a bit of a story behind the picture. This image and explanation are by David Marvin. Most people have never heard of the Crisp Point Lighthouse, much less ever visited it. It stands on the Lake Superior shore fourteen miles west of Whitefish Point, connected to the rest of the world by only a winding seasonal gravel road. Originally, Crisp Point housed only a lifesaving station, starting in 1876.
As summer winds down and people try to make the most out of the beautiful Michigan environment, many may be fighting off nature’s age-old enemy: the mosquito. But what makes mosquitoes more attracted to some people than others? Many myths have circulated about the cause of this rather annoying phenomenon, but scientific research is also out there about what factors make mosquitoes swarm to certain people (Hint: It has to do with a lot more than blood). Ned Walker, is a professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics and the Department of Entomology at MSU. He joins us to discuss the dining preferences of mosquitoes.
The National Wildlife Federation has a new president and CEO. Collin O’Mara was recently in Michigan for an environmental tour of the Detroit Area, and stopped by Current State. For a CEO, he’s fairly young at 30 years old. Current State’s Melissa Benmark asked him what environmental values he brings to this position that might be different than someone in their fifties or sixties. O’Mara says he’s going to try engaging more citizens with nature in a personal way in order to overcome urgent conservation challenges.
Photographer Ken Scott captured these fireflies streaking through the night sky near Willis, Mich., with a series of photos taken over 40 minutes. The technique of merging multiple short exposures into one eliminates the possibility of overexposing the ambient light such as that coming from a nearby city, said Scott, a Suttons Bay professional photographer. It also captured one of the beetles trundling across the ground and flashing its light. Scott said it wasn’t until he posted the image that he noted the insect’s ground trek from the lower right corner of the frame. “Yeah, that bugger was a bonus!” he said.
Lake Superior Magazine’s September issue will includes its annual Best of the Lake list. The article highlights reader favorites in dozens of categories, from best spectacular views to best boat ride to best fish sandwich. All winners are chosen from the Lake Superior states of Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, plus Ontario, Canada. Current State’s Peter Whorf spoke with editor Konnie LeMay, who explains that certain categories are voted on every year because Michigan residents are interested to know about those particular hidden Michigan treasures.
The latest annual net metering and solar pilot program report from the Michigan Public Service Commission shows an 18 percent increase in the program’s size compared to 2012. One of the biggest and most-visible astronomical events of the year is happening this month. Kids in Nature events are planned for the Discovery Preserve at Euclid Park in coming months. Click the audio for details and Mr. Great Lakes for the text. Mr. Great Lakes is heard at 9 a.m. Fridays in Bay City, Mich., on Delta College Q-90.1 FM NPR and is rebroadcast on Great Lakes Echo with permission.
A former Echo writer has won national recognition for a series of environmental stories about the Great Lakes. Brian Bienkowski, now a reporter and editor at Environmental Health News, received second place in a beat reporting category in the contest sponsored by the national Society of Environmental Journalists. The series is called Stories of the Great Lakes’ People, Places and Creatures. Bienkowski, a 2012 graduate of the Michigan State University’s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism, also received the same award in the same contest last year. While at MSU, he received the center’s Rachel Carson Award for outstanding environmental journalism graduate student.
Have an environmental image you’ve taken somewhere within the Great Lakes region and that you’d like to submit for Echo’s Photo Friday series? Send it to greatlakesecho@gmail.com along with the photographer’s name and town of residence, approximate date it was taken, where it was taken and a little bit of description of what we’re looking at. Context – how you happened to take it or whether there were physical or technical challenges in capturing it – is also helpful.
If you’ve found yourself putting on a sweater or light jacket on cool evenings this summer, you’ve probably wondered what’s going on with the weather. The polar vortex that visited us so harshly last winter made a return visit a few weeks ago, dropping temperatures below normal. It turns out that there’s at least one upside to climate change; one that could help our farm economy. At the end of June, the US Department of Agriculture published its crop acreage report. It showed a record number of acres of corn, soybeans and wheat were planted this spring in Michigan.