Chilling Out: Not much ice out there on Lake Superior or the other Great Lakes, and and with the warmer-than-average temps coming over the next two weeks, the ice cover likely will stay sparse, reports Mark Torregrossa of MLive. Currently the Lake Superior is only 6% ice covered. The long-term average ice cover for the Lake on Jan. 20 would be 17%. Lake Michigan also has less ice cover than normal. The stats show 12% ice cover right now vs. a long-term average of 19%. For some reason, Lake Huron saw a rapid increase in surface ice last week, jumping from 8% to 24%, but still below its historical average for this time of year of 29%. Lake Erie is seeing an incredible difference between the current ice cover and historical long-term coverage. Currently the smallest of the Great Lakes has less than 1% ice cover at a date that normally has 46% ice cover. We like ice, so we borrowed this nice photo of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Alder shrouded in icy sea smoke. But sorry ice lovers ... it's from this time last year in Superior.
And the Oscar Goes To: With the Academy Awards just a few weeks off, two Minnesota residents in a reality show got more screen time than most professional actors and actresses. They appeared during Season 7 of Minnesota’s Eagle Cam. Turns out bald eagles have as many individual, distinctive characteristics as they do typical bald eagle characteristics, the Minnesota DNR tells us. Some static characteristics are physical: white head and tail on adults; yellow eyes, feet and beak huge, brown wing span. Some are behavioral: they have a mostly carnivorous diet, they have stunning (some say spiritual) flight and soaring abilities, and their courtship, bonding and mating behaviors vary only slightly between pairs. The DNR folk continue: "Because the physical appearance of bald eagles is roughly identical, the individual behavior of eagles helps to distinguish one bird or pair of birds from another. Here at EagleCam central, we were fortunate for the first six years to have a female on the nest sporting a band on her left leg. The camera allowed us to read the band number and positively identify her as the same female – year after year. From 2012 until her 2019 ouster, she protected the territory, had stable partners and tended to/maintained this nest. She had different mates during this time period, mostly due to territorial battles, where a stronger male seized an opportunity to replace the resident male – taking over 'nestorations,' mating and parenting duties. Early last year, a new pair invaded the territory and seized control of the nest from the resident female and her mate. It appeared as if the female's mate was new (different from the previous year), and she was almost ready to lay eggs. Defending her territory and nest was proving too difficult and exhausting, so she abandoned her long-time territory and nest. We have reason to believe that she moved on and laid her eggs in a nest close by and is still alive and kicking. The new pair have not left the territory much at all since then. Camera watchers and photographers have distinguished each eagle by their physical characteristics: the female's "bib" appears disheveled and the pair rarely leave each other's company. They seem to be in close proximity to each other – while hunting, feeding and roosting – most of the time. They have been observed moving sticks, adding grasses and fur, and feeding together on the nest." Stay tuned for the surprising conclusions.
Becoming a 1 Percenter: 1% may not seem like much, but the folks up in Northern Ontario believe that percent of tourism growth could really add up in terms of dollars and cents, according to a release posted on SooToday. For many Northern Ontario residents, the great outdoors can easily be taken for granted. The natural beauty and recreational opportunities available can be as close as the backyard or within a few hours’ drive. But for overseas tourists travelling in RVs, those scenic backdrops, along with cultural and recreational opportunities, are bucket list items just waiting to be checked off. Established RV touring routes through Northern Ontario are a relatively new concept and one that holds great economic gain for the tourism industry. “We’re still in the early stages of developing various routes and what is driving this momentum is our mandate which is to grow tourism in our region,” says David MacLachlan, executive director of Destination Northern Ontario. “In particular, we’re looking at the overseas market because we’ve underperformed for so long.” Currently, visits from overseas markets represent only 1/10th of a percentage of all visits to Northern Ontario. Raising this number to 2% percent would create a significant impact on tourism revenue. “If we can grow the overseas visits to 2% (the Ontario average), it would generate an additional $500 million in tourism revenues for Northern Ontario,” said David.
Oldy But a Goody: "Lake Superior, the monarch of the inland waters …" So begins a pretty fun historic documentary posted by Michigan DOT (and made by those folks back in the day). "Keweenaw Crossing: Michigan's Elevator Bridge," posts MichDOT, "details the history and the engineering challenges of building one of the world's heaviest and widest double-deck vertical-lift spans – the Portage Lake Lift Bridge." We're just liking the dramatic music. Check it out.
Photo & graphic credits: US Coast Guard; Minnesota DNR; Destination Northern Ontario; Michigan DOT