More Reason for Greatness: We wanted to start out on a happy note and Samantha Ward's fun story for Awesomemitten.com strikes just the right cord. "My great-grandma used to say there are many good lakes, but only one great lake–and it’s no surprise which one she thought was superior," Samantha begins. Then she outlines five reasons her great-grand was right: Lake Superior is the Cleanest and Clearest Great Lake; Lake Superior has Iconic Rock Formations, Agates, and Shipwrecks; Secluded Towns and Beaches on Lake Superior; Lake Superior is the Largest Great Lake; Lake Superior is Ojibwe Gichigami – The Great Sea. She calls for back-up on the comments, so if you've got some reasons of your own, chime in! We might add Lake Superior hosts amazing international ports (including one shipping the most tonnage on the Great Lakes seen in this photo by David Schauer).
Going Up Again: Lake Superior started May with water levels about 7.9 inches above it long-term average for this time of year. It starts the month 3.9 inches below last year and 8.7 inches below its record high for the period, set in 1986. In April, the Lake rose 3.2 inches, typical of the month's seasonal rise, according to the International Lake Superior Board of Control. The rise is expected to continue in May. Oddly, Lakes Michigan and Huron had relatively no change for the second month in a row. Historically, those lakes also rise about 4.3 inches in April.
Nested: Raptor cams around our Big Lake region show occupied nests and hopes for a good year of raptor rearing. A peregrine pair has taken up residence at the nest box on the International Bridge between the Sault Ste. Maries, Ontario and Michigan. Nest boxes have been installed on both the U.S. and Canadian sides since 2010. Peregrine moms also seem to be settled onto nest boxes put up by Minnesota Power on Boswell Energy Center near Cohasset and on the Hibbard Renewable Energy Center in Duluth (in the photo). While not exactly in our neck of the north woods, the Minnesota DNR EagleCam in the Twin Cities area has picked up on two eaglets in its tree nest (seen here).
Move Over for Plovers: The St. Louis River Alliance reminds us that the Piping Plovers, too, are returning to nest. This was the first week of monitoring, looking for the rare birds once plentiful on our shores. The Alliance's plover project leader Carson took out a crew last week (in photo) for some Piping Plover field training. The group sent out a press release with a link to the U.S. Forest Services plover page to help with identification (this ID image is from the Alliance's page). Plovers are easily discombobulated - disturbed, that is - when they are trying to nest and rear their young. "Loose dogs and human activity are the biggest deterrent to successful nests," the Alliance notes. "On Minnesota Point (in Duluth), the public can help by avoiding the beach near the airport, observing posted signs, leashing their dogs and cleaning up any garbage and litter." On Wisconsin Point in Superior, a wildlife refuge area is closed to the public from April 1-Aug. 24 to let the plovers propagate.
DNA History Hunt: The special skills of Lakehead University's Paleo-DNA lab were put to good use recently to identify the remains of an engineer aboard the HMS Erebus, which got stuck in ice during an expedition exploring the Northwest Passage through the Arctic in 1845. (The boat, strangely, is named for the nether regions of Hades.) The expedition was under the leadership of Sir John Franklin and another vessel, the HMS Terror, also was stranded off King William Island. Franklin and 23 others died on the island. In April 1848, 105 survivors abandoned their ice-trapped ships in a desperate escape attempt, but none survived. Since the mid-19th century, skeletal remains of dozens of crew members have been found on King William Island, but none had been positively identified, says the Lakehead press release. Stories by Mark Twain and Jules Verne and a 2018 AMC series were all based on the tragedy, according to a story this week by New York Times writer Bryan Pietsch. Lakehead University researchers became involved when they joined crews from the University of Waterloo and Trent University in an effort to identify skeletal remains. DNA extracted from the tooth and bone taken from remains at King William Island matched samples taken from the living descendants of Warrant Officer John Gregory, the engineer aboard the Erebus. “Having John Gregory's remains being the first to be identified via genetic analysis is an incredible day for our family, as well as all those interested in the ill-fated Franklin expedition,” Gregory’s great-great-great grandson Jonathan Gregory of Port Elizabeth, South Africa, says in the Lakehead press release. “The whole Gregory family is extremely grateful to the entire research team for their dedication and hard work, which is so critical in unlocking pieces of history that have been frozen in time for so long.” To date, the DNA of 26 other members of the Franklin expedition have been extracted from remains found in nine archaeological sites situated along the line of the 1848 retreat. Genealogical records indicated a direct, five-generation paternal relationship between the living descendant and John Gregory. “It was fortunate that the samples collected contained well-preserved genetic material,” says Stephen Fratpietro of Lakehead’s Paleo-DNA lab, who is a co-author of the recently released work.
Mineral Waves: "If you want to learn more about what literally makes up Michigan’s U.P., you should start from the ground up," says our friend and pod producer Bick Smith of CyBick Productions. For his “Over the Waves” this week, Bick takes us to the acclaimed A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum on the campus of the Michigan Technological University in Houghton for a chat with Director John A. Jaszczak. We did a story about the museum in the magazine in 2013.
Two by Two: Several readers of last week’s Around the Circle This Week pointed out that I short-changed Michigan in U.S. senators. I said the reduction of Congressional members in that state, based on the latest U.S. Census, was in the Senate. As we all know – me, too, I promise – each state gets two senators regardless of population. My Lutheran mother would say such an embarrassing error is what comes of making fun of other folks’ mistakes. Sorry U.S. Census map builders (who left out the U.P. from Michigan on this map); at least you left the state with two senators. Uff da.
Photo & graphic credits: Photo & graphic credits: David Schauer; International Lake Superior Board of Control; Minnesota DNR; Minnesota Power; St. Louis River Alliance; Lakehead University; CyBick Productions; U.S. Census