Chart for Lake St. Clair and its delta

Chart of Lake St. Clair showing its freshwater delta, a nursery for fish and fowl.

I'm told sturgeon are making a comeback in this area.

Mayflies hatch in abundance here and that's when the fishing gets good.

Flight of the Peregrine Falcon from Detroit

Peregrine\noun a swift nearly cosmopolitan falcon that is used much in falconry


Peregrination\noun a journey

Webster’s Dictionary



Detroit, Lake St. Clair and Flight of the Peregrine Falcon



From a skyscraper in Detroit, a peregrine falcon flies northeast toward Lake St. Clair. Flying over cattails on its edge she hears the rasping voice of redwing blackbirds and the great blue heron’s loud clacking signal of alarm. She circles over heart shaped Lake St. Clair, past mansions on its shore and boats bobbing in the gentle waves. She soon reaches Lake St. Clair’s wetlands: St. John’s Marsh and the rich delta area above it where the St. Clair River fans out into hundreds of tiny channels to form the world’s largest freshwater delta, a rich breeding ground for many species of fish and birds. Her peregrination takes her to Lake St. Clair’s outlet, the Detroit River.


From the outlet of Lake St. Clair the peregrine flies eighteen miles down the Detroit River passing the large industrial centers in Windsor Canada and Detroit and River Rouge in Michigan. The Detroit River’s powerful current seems to boil as it drops about eight feet in elevation: the blue green waters of Lake Superior, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron have filtered through the marshes and Lake St. Clair and rush past Detroit, Michigan on one side of the river and Windsor Ontario on the other side.

Read more about the Great Lakes in my book, The Dynamic Great Lakes fourth edition now available for $9.95 + s&h  http://www.publishamerica.net/product95488

Beach Grass at Hoffmaster State Park

I painted this on the beach at Hoffmaster State Park where one can learn about dune succession.

This single beach grass can withstand drought and wind and helps build sand dunes.

I got much of the information for my book, The Dynamic Great Lakes from park naturalists at Hoffmaster State Park located in Norton Shores West Michigan. 

http://www.publishamerica.net/product95488

Now $9.95 + s&h

Marram Grass Builds Sand Dunes

Marram grass holds sand in place on the shores of the Great Lakes when westerly winds blow.  The roots of marram grass are a fine network that help build sand dunes.  I wrote this poem:
 
                                     














 Marram Grass

Roots of marram grass weave fine

webs under the sands as

a network expands

thousands of feet.

Stalks bow down to west winds

and multiply season after season

until the tasseled dune

waves with green grace.

Each year the dunes grow higher

in tasseled grasses

in marram grasses’

loving embrace.

 

         __Barbara Spring

         Sophia's Lost and Found: Poems of Above and Below
 
This book is available here:
http://www.amazon.com/Sophias-Lost-Found-Poems-Above/dp/1424125448

Updated: The Dynamic Great Lakes

The Dynamic Great Lakes received rave reviews when it first was released.  Now it has been updated with the latest information about the Great Lakes and their ecosystems and may be purchased online at a lower price:

http://bjspring.wordpress.com/2010/08/02/updated-the-dynamic-great-lakes/

This is the fourth edition of The Dynamic Great Lakes.

Purple Loosestrife: an invasive

Over 180 invasive species have entered the Great Lakes and their wetlands.  Pictured is purple loosestrife, a European plant that will take over a wetland like the Mafia takes over a neighborhood.

 Native species do not stand a chance against it.  Wetlands serve as natural filters for pollutants and help prevent floods.  The species of plants that evolved around the Great Lakes serve an important purpose in their ecology. 

Read more on this topic in my book, The Dynamic Great Lakes.

Lake Huron Georgian Bay

Georgian Bay on Lake Huron could almost be called another Great Lake since it is so large.  Pictured is an alvar, a limestone plain where rare plants may be found.  I used this photo for the cover of my book, The Dynamic Great Lakes.  In the Bruce Peninsula, Canada, I hiked the Bruce trail and saw plants found nowhere else.  The Bruce Peninsula is a finger of land that is part of the Niagara escarpment.  The Door Peninsula in Lake Michigan is also a part of this escarpment.

I cruised the waters of Georgian Bay in a glass bottom boat and saw shipwrecks beneath the green waters.  Many shipwrecks also lie under the waters around the Door Peninsula. Sailors used to call this Death's Door.

There are alvars on Wisconsin's Door Peninsula also. 

Books by Barbara Spring http://barbaraspring.yolasite.com/