Wildlife

Photo Friday: An emerald on the beach

By |

Note: This image and explanation is by David Marvin. Kennedy’s emerald dragonflies (Somatochlora kennedyi) tend to be fairly shy dragonflies when it comes to being photographed. This female Kennedy’s Emerald got caught in a quickly moving cold front along Lake Superior that caused it to land on the sandy beach, creating a rare occasion to photograph one without first capturing it. Its wings and body have dew that formed when the front arrived and the fog rolled inland. Kennedy’s Emerald dragonflies are related to other members of the Striped Emeralds of the Somatochlora genus, including the endangered Hine’s Emerald (Somatochlora hineana).

Water

Photo Friday: Shipboard education

By |

BaySail in Bay City, Mich., is a 15-year-old non profit organization that teaches students through scientific observations and measurements of weather, water quality, aquatic life, and human impact on the environment, says Scott Ellis, the Lake Huron organization’s communications manager. Lessons on board the tall ship Appledore IV encourage collaboration with peers and experts. Some 43,000 students from schools throughout Michigan have been aboard. A new program launched this year called Windward Bound is a weekend long, sailing and camping trip for Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and other youth groups. They sail from Bay City to Tawas and participate in shipboard and land-based environmental education and sail training.

Nearshore

Photo Friday: June dawn at Middle Bass Island

By |

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 such as how you happened to take it, whether there were physical or technical challenges in capturing it or any other “story behind the picture” is also helpful.

Water

Photo Friday: Spring on the Baltimore River

By |

Kate Clover of St. Paul, Minn. took this image of the Baltimore River in late May while hiking to O Kun de Kun Falls on part of the North Country Trail in Ontonagon County, Mich. The trail head is just north of Bruce Crossing. The river is muddy with find red sediment.

Waste

Photo Friday: Tire trash

By |

Diana Popp Rossiter took this image in early June during a walk through Lyle Park in Bridgeport Township, about six miles southeast of  Saginaw. The pedestrian trail starts at a restored historic bridge across the Cass River in downtown Bridgeport and extends through Lyle Park which runs along side the Cass River. “Running alongside the trail is a railroad track and between the tracks and trail is a low area of land,” Popp Rossiter writes. “That low area of land is filled with trash that has been dumped by polluters over the years and also trash that gets deposited there every year by the flood waters. “This trash includes seven tires that are usually sitting there with water in them serving as a mosquito breeding source.”

Wildlife

Photo Friday: Map turtle

By |

 

Here’s what Great Lakes Echo reader Dan Slider has to say about capturing this image in late May:

Our backyard slopes down to the Red Cedar River in Williamston (Mich.)  When our border terrier mix, Roari, and I started our usual evening stroll, we heard something rustling in the garden bed behind us and discovered this beautiful turtle with a glossy green shell.  The terrier kept a curious eye on the turtle while I ran back into the house for my camera.  My wife looked up Michigan turtles online and identified it as a map turtle. A week later, a neighbor knocked on my door to tell me there was a large turtle laying eggs by the curb down the street.   He wondered if it could be the same turtle I had seen.

Water

Got art? We need it.

By |

You might be aware of Great Lakes Echo’s end-of-the-week series, “Photo Friday.” We want your help to make it better! Each week, we post a picture of an environmental scene or event. It can be anything from the sky to the dirt and anything in between. Sometimes these photos come from us, sometimes they come from organizations, and sometimes they come from our readers. The one you see on this story was taken by Tim Trombley up in Lake Superior.

Water

Photo Friday: Kitch-iti-kipi spring

By |

Lake, brown and brook trout are found in the 45 degree Kitch-iti-kipi spring at Palms Book State Park in Manistique, Mich. The water moves through porous sandstone and is discharged into a pond at 10,000 gallons a minute. Visitors can watch the roiling of the clean sands some 40 feet below from a viewing raft. “It’s a fascinating ever-changing floor,” said Peggy Riemer, who captured these images last October. She recently posted similar images and information on NASA’s Earth Science Picture of the Day.

Water

Photo Friday: Educational cruise

By |

The Leelanau School – an experiential boarding high school for kids with learning differences in Glen Arbor, Mich. – braved the spring chill on a field trip with the Inland Seas Education Center. Inland Seas is a Suttons Bay, Mich.,  non-profit organization that helps people of all ages experience the science and spirit of the Great Lakes through hands-on learning aboard a traditionally rigged tall ship schooner.  Image: Inland Seas Education Center. Have a photo to submit for our Photo Friday series? Send it to us on Facebook or Twitter, or in an email to greatlakesecho@gmail.com.

Water

Photo Friday: Satellite view of ice melting on Lake Baikal

By |

Russia’s Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world and holds more freshwater than all of the North American Great Lakes. This shot featured on NASA’s Earth Observatory was taken from the International Space Station on April 22. Much of the lake is covered with ice. The brightest point reflects the sun from where the ice has begun to melt, according to NASA.