Category Archives: Animals

Invasive Species in the National Parks

Goby by swatzo Last year the National Park Service produced a series of short documentaries exploring invasive species in the Great Lakes. The series was funded by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative showing how invaders are changing the ecosystems in national parks and what’s being done to stop them. All four of them are available [...]

Weird Wednesday: Michigan Sea Monsters

The last Wednesday of every month is a ”Weird Wednesday” on Absolute Michigan. Usually we get a feature from Linda S. Godfrey, the author that fascinating tome of Michigan mysteries: Weird Michigan. Linda is hard at work on her latest book so we’ve gone down to the vault and pulled out some watery weirdness! Stay up-to-date with [...]

Urban Birding: Touring the Rouge River

Although most folks think of birding as something done “out in nature,” Bootstrap Analysis – a great site for information about Michigan birds & birding – has an interesting feature about the Rouge River in Detroit. She begins: The Rouge River is an urban river, and its urban character is nowhere better reflected than in its last [...]

Michigan Books: A 1,000 Mile Walk on the Beach

Next Friday (March 11, 2011) at Brilliant Books in Suttons Bay, Loreen Niewenhuis will release her book, A 1,000-Mile Walk on the Beach. The book chronicles her walk around the shoreline of Lake Michigan and her observations along the way. ABSOLUTE MICHIGAN: What prompted you to do this? LOREEN NIEWENHUIS: I’ve always felt connected to [...]

Avian botulism: Invasive species double team?

Today’s post comes via the Grand Vision in northwest Michigan, but through an odd coincidence, we’ve been allowed to use video & photos of dead & dying birds that many may find shocking. They were gathered by filmmaker George Desort on the north shore of Lake Michigan and you are encouraged to click to see [...]

Dead Birds by George Desort

WARNING: Viewers may find the following video & images gathered by filmmaker George Desort on the north shore of Lake Michigan to be deeply disturbing. It is our hope that they are disturbing enough to motivate people to work hard to protect our water & wildlife from the tremendous threat posed by invasive species and [...]

Weird Wednesday: Michigan Mystery Cats

The last Wednesday of every month is a “Weird Wednesday” on Absolute Michigan, when Linda Godfrey gives you a sample of what’s weird in the Wolverine State. You can listen to Linda’s latest podcasts and report your own strange encounters at weirdmichigan.com, follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/lindasgodfrey and also check out her books including [...]

Michigan Invasive Species: Zebra Mussels & Quagga Mussels

Zebra mussels by PhotoLab507 All week on Absolute Michigan & Michigan in Pictures we’re looking at invasive species and their impact on Michigan. Zebra mussels and the more recent invader quagga mussels belong to the dreissenid mussel family and many contend that they have had a more serious impact on the Great Lakes than any [...]

Michigan Invasive Species: Asian Carp

66lbs asian big head carp by radcarper It’s Invasive Species Week on Absolute Michigan & Michigan in Pictures. For our first invader, we really have to look at the scariest guy in the room, Asian Carp. The Great Lakes EPA has a page on Asian Carp and the Great Lakes that’s a solid account of [...]

Invasive Species: History of the House Sparrow

All week on Absolute Michigan and Michigan in Pictures we’re going to highlight invasive species. Last week Laura Bien of the Ann Arbor Chronicle published an article on a historical invader in Michigan titled In the Archives: Fluffy Sparrow Heads. It begins: Untitled by flatgraphic In the late 19th century, an interloper was committing thievery [...]